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. 

Stormy sunset

 
Last Friday night was clouded out and this was what it looked like at the start of the evening as the sun set. The Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope is on the right with the McMath Solar Telescope in the distance and dark grey storm clouds all around. Luckily, there was no lightning in the area that would have demanded that I shut down computers as well.... This image was taken with the kit lens on my 20D at 38mm focal length with an exposure of 1/50 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 200. 

Old Wood

 
I found the texture of this dead branch on a small pine tree on Kitt Peak to be rather fascinating. This iamge was taken with my 70-300mm zoom in macro mode at 190mm focal length. The exposure was 1/320 seconds at f/5, ISO 800. I converted it to B&W using a red B&W filter which heightened the contrast as the tree was being lit by the orange sunset glow. 

Astronomer at Work

 
The photographer at work reviewing an asteroid recently detected with the Spacewatch Mosaic camera. This self portrait was made with the camera in timer mode on a tripod using the 70-300mm zoom at 70mm focal length on my 20D. The exposure was 1/20 seconds at f/11, ISO 3200. I added an incandescent light to spot my face and improve the lighting that otherwise was blue from the computer screen. 

Sunset at the ol' 36.

 
I climbed up onto the rocks north of the old Spacewatch 36 inch telescope dome to get this perspective at sunset last night. Using the kit lens on my 20D at 18mm focal length, I was able to get the whole dome despite being pretty close to it. The exposure was 1/100 seconds at f/8, ISO 200. I did a little bit of processing using The GIMP, clearing a couple dust specks and adjusting levels. 

Sunset abstract

 
The setting sun provides a backdrop for these silhouetted leaves on a bush outside one of the domes on Kitt Peak. This image was taken with my 70-300mm zoom at 300mm focal length with an exposure of 1/2500 seconds at f/5.6, ISO 200 with a little cropping. 

Milky Way

 
For an asteroid hunter, the Milky Way is much like a street light - too many stars make the asteroids we want to detect hard to find in the forest of stars. But despite that, I still have to admit that it sure is pretty this time of year, seeing the galaxy we live in rise into the sky. This image shows the Spacewatch 1.8-m telescope dome looking southeast as the Milky Way rises over it. The exposure was taken with my 24mm lens on my 20D with an exposure of 30 seconds at f/1.8, ISO 800.