It was mid-June. I was in the Lagazuoi hut, in the Dolomites near Cortina D'Ampezzo, at 2752 mt. I was hunting shots that day, and the sunset was one of the most coloured I'd seen in the Alps.
After taking pics in Marmolada and the other mountains near the red sunlight, I began to look for something nice on the opposite side, near the Pelmo mount. The blue hour was coming and I saw a lightning on the cumulus cloud on the left of Pelmo mount. After that, many lightnings appeared and were very fast, on the right and on the left of the mountain.
I had stayed in front of that phenomenon for about thirty minutes and had turned off my camera when I thought I captured the biggest lightnings. I arranged the composition in order to include many mountains: from the terrace of the Lagazuoi hut I was able to see a great part of the Dolomites.
When I was at home I stacked the RAWs with the best lightnings taken in the darker part of that blue hour. The post-processing wasn't easy; the sky was already very strong and coloured, so I only put in a little contrast and managed lights and shadows with masks. The foreground could not be too dark, so I had to find a compromise and I keep some areas illuminated to get a better composition. At the end I gave the picture a sort of dark mood that always creates mystique to a scene like this.
Isabella Tabacchi
