The Sight of Freedom

 
An Air Force A-10 Warthog flies past Old Glory on its way to D-M AFB. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 76mm focal length with an exposure of 1/4000 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Cactus Wren in tree

 
This Cactus Wren was watching me take pictures around a cactus garden near the Student Union on the UofA campus, so I got his picture too. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom on my Canon 20D at 238mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

More lightning - T+10:00

 
Here is a bonus lightning shot. This was taken about 10 minutes after the planned launch time long after I should have seen the plume roughly behind the lightning visible in this frame, looking nearly due west. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 20 seconds at f/4, ISO 400. 

I didn't see the Delta IV launch, but saw some lightning instead.

 
I went out to watch a Delta IV rocket launch from Vandenberg, ending up along Gates Pass road west of Tucson hoping to see the plume from the rocket as it rose out of the SLC-6 launchpad on the California coast. I've seen a number of launches from Kitt Peak or Tucson. Unfortunately for the rocket launch, we had thunderstorms in the area. I set up about 15 minutes before the scheduled launch time as twilight faded. The sky was almost totally covered in clouds, so I figured I'd have no chance to see the rocket launch. Several thunderstorm cells were in the area and I watched warily as the nearest approached from the south over Golden Gate Mountain with bolts flashing frequently. I set up my camera and took some shots of the western sky and then tried to catch some of the lightning that approached. This shot shows the western flank of Golden Gate Mountain with bolts in the sky overhead. I had to retreat to my car and watch the western horizon for the rocket, but to no avail as the rain pounded my car and the lightning lit up the sky and the landscape. Well, at least I got some good lightning shots.... This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 15 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Halos and clouds

 
This rather bright halo appeared around the Sun in the sky over Tucson today. It was about as bright a halo as I've seen - quite spectacular and lasted at least several hours. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/5000 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

The Game winner

 
Stephen Drew of the Sidewinders hit a game winning infield grounder in the bottom of the 9th inning on Saturday night to finish a come from behind victory for the 'Winders over Las Vegas. What an exciting finish! I think the third baseman decided to hope the ball would go foul when he realized that with only 1 out in the inning, he wouldn't be able to get the runner coming down the line from third. This image was taken with my 70-300 zoom at 300mm focal length using an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800. 

Stolen Base

 
The runner was safe on this steal when the throw got past the short stop but was backed up by the center fielder. This image was taken at 214mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/5, ISO 800. 

A thorny situation

 
There is a cactus garden on the UofA mall which has a wide variety of native cactii. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/640 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Out at the plate

 
After a very accurate throw from the Center Fielder on a single, the runner tried to score from second base, but was tagged out on this close play during a game between the Tucson Sidewinders and the Las Vegas 51s on Thursday night at Tucson Electric Park. This image was taken with my 70-300mm lens at 168mm focal length with an exposure of 1/125 seconds at f/5, ISO 800. 

Rainbow over Tucson

 
We had a nice lightning storm with dust and rain over Tucson yesterday, so on the way home from work, I took a detour to A Mountain west of town. On the way up, this rainbow appeared and while it was still visible from the top, it was not aligned with the center of town up there, but it was about halfway up the road. This image was taken with the kit lens at 43mm focal length with an exposure of 1/640 seconds at f/8, ISO 100. 

Over the Rainbow

 
The lighting was very challenging in this image - the shadowed underbelly of the tree and the brightly lit canopy. I moved to place the rainbow against the dark part of the underbelly of the tree, but I would have liked to have darkened the canopy some. I bracketed +/- 1 stop, but the rainbow disappears almost in the -1 stop image and the canopy is too washed out in the +1 stop image. I didn't see it at the time, but left of the rainbow is the secondary rainbow just visible. BTW, this is the same tree viewed from the opposite direction as in yesterdays image. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/8, ISO 100. 

Light and Shadow

 
This is the color version of "Light and Shadow II" warmed up a little in Picasa. Exposure details are the same (being the same image as the B&W version.... :-) ). 

Light and Shadow II

 
The play of light and shadow in this scene is driven by a set of lawn sprinklers and trees. This version has been converted to B&W using a red filter in Picasa. The exposure was 1/50 seconds at f/8, ISO 100 using the kit lens at 18mm focal length. 

Another cactus flower

 
Yet another cactus flower. This bright red flower tops a prickly pear. This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/11, ISO 800. 

Saguaro fruit

 
Speaking of cactus flowers, this is a closeup of the top of a Saguaro with some flowers and fruit. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 55mm focal length. The exposure was 1/800 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Cactus flower

 
Even when the lack of rainfall keeps the wildflowers from reaching their potential, the cacti always come through. I found this flower just off of McCain Loop road west of the Tucson Mountains. The exposure was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D at 1/250 seconds at f/11, ISO 800. 

Raptor flight

 
I still haven't been able to ID this bird, but I saw several of them flying low and fast in the Tucson Mountains tonight. This bird is pretty small and I thought it might be a hawk or falcon. This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 55mm focal length as he flew only about 5 or 10 meters away from me. The exposure was 1/2000 seconds at f/8, ISO 400. 

Dragonfly

 
The finch yesterday was by a pond on the UofA campus which has fish and turtles (presumably dropped off by departing students who couldn't keep their aquarium's set up at the end of a semester). It's also home to dragonflies, butterflies, palm trees and other plants - a regular oasis in the desert. This is one of the inhabitants, relaxing in the sunshine. The image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom in macro mode at 300mm focal length using an exposure of 1/1000 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800. 

Finch closeup

 
I had to have my 70-300mm zoom in macro mode to focus close enough when this finch landed on the side of the palm tree next to the bench I was sitting on. It stayed long enough to get a couple shots. This image was at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800. 

Rings

 
I've been dealing with lighting issues in my wedding shots from Sunday - the wedding was held outdoors starting around 6PM and the sun was peeking through the trees to the side and the blue sky provided way too much fill light. Most images have a slight blue cast even though I was shooting with fill flash and auto WB. WB is relatively easy to adjust for, especially with the raw files I shot during the formals. One problem will be the direct sunlight on the B&G's faces early in the ceremony..... This image was taken with the 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/25 seconds at f/11, ISO 800. 

Beautiful Bride

 
The beautiful bride from Sunday evening's wedding takes a break from all those wedding photos.... This image was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 1/40 seconds at f/11, ISO 800. 

Potato Chip Girl

 
Sunday, she will be the Flower Girl, but on Saturday evening, she was the Potato Chip Girl as we rehearsed for my Neice's wedding which I have been recruited to be the photographer for. Hopefully I can get a picture of this type when we go live. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 92mm focal length on my 20D with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/4.5, ISO 400 with fill flash at -2/3 stop. 

Another stormy sunset

 
This stormy sunset was from my backyard Wednesday night. We've had a few days of monsoonish weather with afternoon lightning and rain around town. This image was taken with the kit lens at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/3.5, ISO 400. 

Lyra

 
I was experimenting with the wireless capability of my new flash using optical triggering (its a Sigma EF-500 DG Super) and took this picture of our cat Lyra. This was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 55mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/22, ISO 1600. The on camera flash was set at FEC 0 stops to fill the right side of her head while the Sigma flash was set to 1/64 power and was positioned about 3 feet to her left. 

Vermilion Flycatcher

 
This Vermilion Flycatcher likes to watch us play softball every week at Freedom Park. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/400 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.