Desert Sunset - Tucson Mountain Park

Kitt Peak in the distance

I drove over Gates Pass road into the desert just west of Gates Pass in Tucson Mountain Park for the sunset yesterday.  This first image is the view looking west with Kitt Peak in the center of the image.  This is an HDR combine of 5 images showing not only the brighter sky and distant mountains, but also the darker foreground plants.  I used Aurora HDR program for the combine.  The image was taken with my Canon 6D and the Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens.  Exposures ranged at f/4 at ISO 800 from 1/1600 seconds to 1/100 seconds.

Gates Pass to Golden Gate Mountain

 This image is looking back along Gates Pass Road with the pretty mountains ranging from Golden Gate Mountain on the right to the dip of Gates Pass on the left edge of the image.  The image is an HDR combine with 5 images taken with my Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.8 lens at f/4, ISO 800 with exposures ranging from 1/200 seconds to 1/13 seconds.

Saguaro Cactus and pretty sunset clouds

 This image looks west into the setting Sun with silhouetted cacti and bushes in the desert.  This HDR combine of 5 images taken with my Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.8 lens and exposures of  1/1250 to 1/80 seconds.

Saguaro Cactus, sunset clouds and the Moon

This last image is similar to the previous one but in portrait mode to catch the crescent Moon in the sky overhead.  It is also an HDR combine of 5 images with my Canon 6D and 50mm f/1.8 lens and exposures of 1/800 to 1/50 seconds.

Kitt Peak sunset silhouette

I was thinking it would be fun to get the sun setting right behind Kitt Peak, but the location west of Tucson along Kinney Road in Tucson Mountain Park was a bit too far north so that the Sun set on the northern flank of the Coyote Mountains that lie just east of Kitt Peak, near the right edge of this image.  With the harsh sunset lighting, I used some HDR combines of a set of 5 images to get the best range in the image.

This first HDR combine uses the Ashikhmin operator and displays the colors in the sky nearly as I saw them.  The 5 exposures that went into the combine range from 1/3000 sec at f/16, ISO 800 with my 75-300mm telephoto lens at 250mm focal length to 1/180 seconds at f/16, ISO 800.

This HDR combine using the same 5 images mutes the colors with a Mantiuk 06 operator but shows detail in the mountain rainge that is not visible in the more saturated version.

HDR Sunset

I was out playing with my new camera again at sunset tonight.  Here are a couple HDR combines (using auto exposure bracketing in the camera and a sequence of 5 shots and Luminance HDR on my Linux box for the combine)  of the desert landscape looking west into the sunset.  It's amazing how different the combines can be.

 I liked this shot because it has a lot of color saturation.  Most of the foreground detail are only visible in the longest exposure so I was very pleased at how it appears here.  With the bright sun, the shortest exposures that show the halo of sunlight show very little else.  This view is not too far from what my eye saw while composing the shot - the human eye and brain is excellent at being able to see this type of scene.  The shortest exposure was 1/8000 seconds at f/8, ISO 100 using my 24mm f/1.8 lens on my 70D.  The mid exposure was 1/2000 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.  The longest exposure was 1/250 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.  The HDR combine was a fattal operator.

This HDR combine is a Mantiuk '06 combine of the same 5 images as the previous image.  The low saturation almost gives the appearance of there being snow on the ground.

Desert hike photography

I took my new Canon 70D out on its first desert hike along the Encinas trail in the Saguaro National Park West on Saturday.  The trail hooks up with a wash and an old dirt road which was active in 1935 when several NGS markers were placed along its length - I used one of them as a location for a Geocache called "Surveying the Desert" that is still active as a virtual - that location was a goal since I haven't been out to that site in quite a few years, but the desert hike always presents lots of plant and sometimes animal life and this time of year is a good time to visit when the desert isn't so hot. Yesterday's blog posts IR in the Desert and Saguaro Moonrise has some more shots from later in this hike.

This multi-armed Saguaro cactus was nicely displayed against the shadowed hills in the distance.  This image was taken with my 75-300mm telephoto at 150mm focal length and an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/6, ISO 100.  I used the Landscape scene mode while trying to figure out different parts of my new camera.

Did I mention that there are lots of Saguaro cacti and other plant life along this trail?  Not to mention lots of hills and mountains to serve as backdrops for the nearby scenery.  This area is in the northern parts of the Tucson Mountains west of Tucson.  This image was taken at 75mm focal length with an exposure of 1/350 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.

I mentioned that this desert area is a great place to see wildlife or at least the evidence of it.  Here is a deer hoof print in the sandy wash along the trail with the toe of my shoe for scale.  The exposure was 1/90 seconds at f/11 and ISO 200 with my telephoto lens at 75mm focal length.

The "bones" of a dead Saguaro are surprisingly photogenic.  Sad to see the remains of one of these magestic and long-lived desert plants but with at least a few arms, it must have lived a fairly long life, almost certainly more than 100 years.  This image was taken at 135mm focal length with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/8, ISO 200.

Saguaro Forest

At the visitors center of the Saguaro National Park West, you can see one of the most dense "forests" of Saguaro Cacti there is.

 With a little bit of telephoto compression it really makes it seem like there's no room for anything but Saguaro Cacti in the desert.  This image was taken with my 75-300mm lens at 150mm focal length and an exposure of 1/6000 seconds at f/5, ISO 200.

There aren't just lots of cacti in this area, but many beautiful multi-armed cacti as well like this one, taken at 75mm focal length with an exposure of 1/4000 seconds at f/5, ISO 200.

Saguaro Moonrise

With the sun setting behind me, I watched the Moon over the hills to the east and couldn't resist a shot of it behind this well armed saguaro cactus as I hiked back to the trailhead.  This image was taken with my 50mm f/1.8 lens with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

IR in the desert

I took my new Canon 70D out for a little day hike in the desert and decided to see how it does with an infrared filter (a Hoya R72).  Here are some samples:

 This is a white light image showing the Moon rising over the hills nearby.  This exposure was made with my 75-300mm zoom at 75mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/11, ISO 200.

This is the same composition with the Hoya R72 IR filter in place.  The exposure was 2 seconds at f/4, ISO 200.  I converted the original to B&W with the GIMP and a simple desaturate followed by a little curve stretching.

This is the original frame before desaturating the image.  The exposure was 2 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400 with my 50mm f/1.8 lens on my 70D.

This is the same frame, desaturated and stretched a little with the curves tool in the GIMP.

This is the white light version of the above.  The exposure was 1/350 seconds at f/8, ISO 400 with my 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Sonoran Sunset III

When out taking photographs, don't forget to look the other way. As my previous 2 images show, I was out shooting the sunset, but the view the other direction was pretty nice too. This image was taken with my 24mm lens with an exposure of 1/25 seconds at f/4, ISO 200.

Sonoran Sunset II

Another view of the sunset in the Tucson Mountains. This is a wider view with a few more colors and the rays from the sun which is trying to peek out from behind the clouds. This image was taken with my 24mm lens with an exposure of 1/500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 200.

Sonoran Sunset approaches

This view of an a partly cloudy sunset was taken west of the Tucson Mountains not far from McCain Loop road off of Kinney Road. The suns rays beam down on the landscape with a Saguaro Cactus surrounded by typical desert plants like Ocotillo and Palo Verde. This image was taken at 70mm focal length with an exposure of 1/6400 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 800. I'd use a slower ISO normally, but I think I had forgotten to set it slower after using the camera for some astrophotography in the days before.....

Damaged saguaro

Unfortunately, in heavily trafficed areas like this near Gates Pass, many of the saguaro cacti show signs of malicious damage. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/80 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 400.

Sunset Silhouette

The sunset sky provided a great silhouette with the cacti on the side of the hill. This image was taken at 168mm focal length with an exposure of 1/250 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 400.

Ocotillo & Cacti

Always remember to look around. This view of an ocotillo and some saguaro are made spectacular by the sunset colors lighting them up. This image was taken at 24mm focal length with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/2.8, ISO 400.

Sunset

I was out chasing lightning storms the other night, but the storm never really did much, happily, the sunset in the opposite direction looked much better. This view looks to the west-northwest about 20 minutes after sunset. It was quite windy as well as you can see with the blowing palo verde tree on the left side of the image. That's one nice thing about Saguaro cacti - they don't move much, even in a strong wind. This exposure was taken at 18mm focal length with an exposure of 25 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 100.

Snowy Saguaros

This view is from the side of Signal Hill in the Saguaro National Park, West towards the Tucson Mountains across a field of Saguaro Cacti. Tucson had a rare snow day yesterday, as most of the city got at least an inch overnight. It didn't last long in most cases and only in the mountains around town did the snow linger beyond the end of the day. This image was taken at 300mm with an exposure of 1/1600 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.

Snow with cactus and mountains

On the way back home from Kitt Peak, after leaving the mountain road and heading back towards town, the snow level had dropped far enough to have fallen along the main road. Here, a Saguaro and a cholla cactus offsets the snow covered mountains behind. This exposure was made with the kit lens at 27mm focal length with an exposure of 1/200 seconds at f/8, ISO 400.