I have yet to photograph a volcanic eruption. It's high on my bucket list (tied with a tornado), but the best I've been able to photograph thus far is this picture of Mt. Arenal in Costa Rica that I captured from the balcony of my room in the Arenal Observatory Lodge during a 2009 photo tour. Mt. Arenal had a major eruption in 1968, and since then it periodically spews molten rocks and lava down its steep sides. It was very cool to hear and see the fiery boulders at night breaking into dozens of pieces, leaving dendritic rivulets of fire. With a long exposure I was able to capture the action. My settings for this -- based on several test shots -- were 30 seconds, f/2.8, 1000 ISO, and I used a 70-200mm telephoto lens.
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