Time-Lapse Photographer Captures Tornado Forming Right in Front of His Camera

Tornadoes can be beautiful in their raw power and the epic scope of their parent storms as they sweep across the Plains. However, capturing them on camera is notoriously difficult; nonetheless, the skill of one storm chaser put him at the right place at the right time, and the time-lapse he captured is simply stunning.

Wedding Photographer Mike Olbinski also shoots storms. Tornado chasing is an incredibly difficult task that takes a lot of meteorological knowledge and good instincts to be in the right spot at the right time, which Olbinski was recently, when a tornado touched down right in front of his cameras as he was filming a time-lapse. The wedge tornado descended from the clouds on May 1 at 7:41 pm CDT in northern Saline County, KS. It had a path length of 14.5 miles and a maximum width of 880 yards and was rated an EF-3 with estimated maximum winds of 140 mph, making it a strong tornado and providing quite the photogenic material for Olbinski. At the time, he was shooting with two Canon 5DS Rs paired with the EF 11-24mm f/4L and 50mm f/1.2L lenses, each shooting at one frame per second. Thankfully, no one was injured or killed by the large tornado.