How I did it??”Betty Sue and I attended the PSA conference, held in Tucson, AZ. in September. My Daughter Stephanie is a PSA member as well, so we were able to spend two and a half weeks together, catching up and going on some good photo outings. I am submitting a little change in subjects this month. We were looking for a good spot to shoot a Sunset and decided to look for opportunities at Saguaro West, National Park. We found an area with many adult Saguaro Cacti and connecting hilltops. My tools for the evening, Tripod, Olympus OM 1 Mark Two fitted with a f 2.8 12 to 40 mm lens, set at 24mm using a manual release. Settings were 200 ISO @ f 22, at a 5 second exposure. Some of our efforts were ruined by passing cars with their lights on. After 45 minutes, we concluded that there were
enough good images and to call it a night. I didn’t have time to look and work on images until we returned home. When this image showed up on my desktop screen, I screamed “Yes”. Seeing the Moon Rays just knocked me out. My PP in Bridge consisted of sharpening, using Layers to darken the sky and then clicked on background to highlight the Cacti. Looking forward to your remarks.
7 comments posted
R Gary Butler
Yes, you are correct we have covered the gamut. To me, if I see this and reads this right, you did a good job in PP by darkening the sky. That said I am then assuming that the light one the Cacti is natural but you have left this viewer with the impression (w/o your explanation) That you used a flat to illuminate the cacti. I hope that make sense? As always you are the master craftsman! Posted: 11/05/2024 00:43:01
Erik Rosengren
Thanks for your kind comments Gary. Flash was not needed as the Sun's Rays provided the light. I just brightened the background in Layers and f22 helped with the final touch. Posted: 11/05/2024 16:27:15
Guy Davies
Erik, I started by being a little confused when you mentioned sunset and showed a glowing white ball in the sky and a title of, "Moon Rays." My very slow brain finally worked out that the setting sun was behind you (it has to be with a full moon), illuminating the landscape and that the 5 second exposure at f/22 had made the moon into a glowing white ball with moon rays. Nice shot and very different from most moon shots.That's what I like about this group - we all seem to see things in interesting ways. Incidentally, the giveaway for the 5 second exposure is the star trail in the upper right. Posted: 11/06/2024 13:20:12
Erik Rosengren
Thanks for correcting my mistake Guy, It was a Sunset. Noe I can correct the image name. It's comforting having a photo family that looks after each other. Posted: 11/07/2024 18:16:49
Ian Chantler
Hi Erik
No sight of a bird on the wing,a bird feeding its young nor creating the young,but still a nature image of the highest quality,its moody and atmospheric love the suns rays cascading out and giving a warm natural glow to the landscape,the best part about this image is you could not only capture your own images as family but you were all together to share and capture the scene together. Posted: 11/13/2024 20:42:15
Dr Isaac Vaisman
Erik, great image and I think that almost everything about it has been said. Saguaro National Park is a great place for photography, but if you miss the spot, you have to go back and star all over again your drive (One way only). Sorry that I missed you guys this year. Posted: 11/14/2024 15:59:36
Vella Kendall
Beautiful image, I like how the light gradually gets darker from the center. The cacti look dreamlike. Posted: 11/20/2024 06:14:23
