Lightning horse via Richard Hasbrouck.

Richard Hasbrouck in Truchas, New Mexico sent in several images in response to our article on pareidolia: seeing things that aren’t there. Richard wrote:

Shooting lightning by letting the shutter stay open for a relatively long time, then reopening it right away makes it possible to record the very short duration (a few hundred milliseconds) lightning flash. One has no idea what was captured until viewing it on the computer monitor.

This one was a surprise, looking like horse rearing up.

Camera pointed toward area of most activity. Low ISO and small aperture permitted 30-second exposures in sunset’s moderately low light conditions.

Thanks, Richard!

Another example of pareidolia from Richard Hasbrouck. He wrote: “Here at 8,100 feet in northern New Mexico spectacular sunsets are the norm. This one caught my attention; the dark cloud looks like a creature with a long tail and open mouth.”

Eleanor Imster

Eleanor Imster has helped write and edit EarthSky since 1995. She was an integral part of the award-winning EarthSky radio series almost since it began until it ended in 2013. Today, as Lead Editor at EarthSky.org, she helps present the science and nature stories and photos you enjoy. She also serves as one of the voices of EarthSky on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter and G+. She and her husband live in Tennessee and have two grown sons.