This pic was pulled from video and occurred in the foothills about 25 miles east of San Diego, California.

I know this looks fake, but I have to insist, there was no photoshop going on... Well, except a little contrast and other fine tuning.

I was wondering if this might possibly be a positive strike. The thunder began after three seconds, and continued for about 35-40 seconds.

The strike appeared on two video frames. The first was the the main stroke, the next frame showed a much smaller stroke in the same channel.

It almost looks like it was a thin strike surrounded by a very large/bright glow. I'm not really sure what to make of it.

I'm not quite ready to show the video yet. But I will within the next day or so.

FRAME 1


FRAME 2

AMAZING photo!!!!!

Karma for you!! That's great!

Very cool!

This is an absolutly amazing pic,i have been trying to catch thunder on my canon 450d,but it,s an pain to get the timing right!!

Thanks for the good comments and the Karma.

Below is the video, as promised.

I've been researching positive lightning and I'm just not sure. The size is a good indicator, but the thunder is questionable.

It did have a deep concussion effect that is different from the typical "rifle shot" crack that we normally get from close strikes.

Later in the day, there were some serious window rattlers that were much further away. Those strikes were about 2-3 miles away and they not only rattled the windows, but you could feel the concussion on the railing of the deck.

The thunder from this strike rattled the windows but didn't have that ultra-deep concussion that we felt from the strikes further away.

Perhaps this was a weaker positive strike.

Any thoughts on this.

Congratulations to a good photo.

Positive strikes are usually stronger than negative and they are not so disposed to re-ignite trough the same channel as the negative ones, as the discharge usually is completed trought the first ignition. With 30 rames per second, it might be hard to see the difference anyway.

Regardig the sound, your experience of the thunder depends on what angle the lightening channel had compared to your standing point. If all or most parts of the channel had the same distance to you, you may hear a thunder that is more like a rifle shot.
If the lightenng channel "was pointing inyour direction", and perhaps 1 kilometer long, you will hear a longer rolling sound.

Furthermore the type of rifle shot thunder will be percepted as so deafening that you will hardly notice the weaker echoes that may be caused by landscape details or clouds, where the longer rolling thunder with no big crecendo will appear even longer because of echoes.

Why does the far away thunder make things rattle more than the nearby?
I coud imagine that the shock wave of a nearby lightening emits in circles and so a certain part f a shock vave only hits a part of a wall, while the next part of the wall is hit milliseconds later.
With thunder far away, the radius of the shock wave is so large that the perimeter is almost a straight line, and the wall of your house will be hit in its whole lenght in what appears to be simultaneously. At least that is my theory.

Some years ago we had a heavy lightening storm here. I heard a very loud "explosion" and then silence, but could soon smell the ozon like smell. I realized that it was a close strike, and went around the house to see if everything was OK. Immediately I found nothing to be wrong, but I wondered why my neighbour across the road did not notice that their dinner was being overcooked, as smoke came out of the kitchen vent.
But their house had been hit, and caught fire, the result below is seen in the picture which I took from my roof.
Nobody got injured, not even their canary.
Police investigation stated that the metal tube of the kitchen vent had a direct strike of lightening.