I don't know how much the photo was tampered with, but there are a few things that are real concerning.
The purple color is way off. There is still light in the sky from the right side, and if the clouds were illuminated by a city or such, should have a much more orange glow from most of the lights used nowadays, plus it would have to be very bright.
Then, look at the two clouds just to the left and below the origin of the strike. The side towards the viewer is illuminated and there are no 'shadows' from the light source, which is the strike. With the intensity of that arc light going off, you'd expect the clouds to be darker, not lighter.
It to me looks like a time exposure, of at least a few seconds, with the purple color enhanced and the strike not being the only source of illumination of the clouds. And the peculiar thing is the after-sunset lighting in the blue of the sky to the right side of the picture.
Something isn't right here, but it may be do to just too much tweaking and all.
There was a series of magnificient lightning bolts from a young man in Romania or such here a few years ago, and when his bolts illuminated the surrounding area, it was pretty obvious from shadows and all. Even with a bright strike, the light intensity fall off should be pretty marked over the miles across the bottom of the cloud and yet it doesn't seem to be.
Tweaking? Maybe. Faked? also possible.
I'm curious what others think.
