2 people took a photo of same lightning bolt (by chance) & someone reconstructed 3D model of it!

[Are_grits_groceries]

<snip>
Now we need to do some maths... except I don't like doing complicated maths and it turns out there is a big simplification you can make! If both pictures are taken from a long way away from the lightning bolt (i.e. the object has quite a small angular size in the image) then the shift in position between the images is proportional to the distance from the camera. Bigger shifts mean that bit of the bolt is closer to the camera. This approximation is pretty accurate for the majority of cameras, so I used it here.
Both images side by side:

The other problem is the proportionality factor. If one part of the lightning bolt shifts twice as much between the two images as another part that means it is twice as close. But twice as close as what? Without knowing exactly where the cameras were positioned that means only the relative distance, not absolute distance, can be calculated. Oh well, close enough!

So what does the lightning bolt look like in 3D? I plugged the coordinates into Blender and this is the result:
Check out the image here at the bottom:
http://calculatedimages.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/3d-lightning.html

Wow!

[hobbit709]

1. Interesting.

[shraby]

2. It sure gives more information about the bolt.

[MineralMan]

3. Very cool! Thanks.

[cwydro]

4. Cool pics!

I won't even pretend to understand the math

[Are_grits_groceries]

9. It gives me agita.

I flashback to calculus and physics. I can work through the general principles but I get a headache.

[kentauros]

5. Here's their animated gif of it:

[Jesus Malverde]

6. Sweet!..nt

[randome]

7. Nonsense. Lightning looks like this.

[hr][font color="blue"][center]The truth doesn’t always set you free.
Sometimes it builds a bigger cage around the one you’re already in.[/center][/font][hr]

[Are_grits_groceries]

8. GOP lightning. nt