Butch Mazzuca  

Anti-Crepusular rays by Butch Mazzuca

January 2025 - Anti-Crepusular rays

About the Image(s)

Canon R5 - Canon 24-70 @24mm - ISO 800 - f7.1 - 1/2000th Tv

I was shooting in Saguaro National Park (East) hoping to capture some monsoon storms in the desert and happened to capture what I thought was a not frequently seen meteorological event, i.e., the tail end of a storm, with light rain, residual clouds, a rainbow AND anti-crepuscular rays. I had seen & shot crepuscular rays numerous times aka ‘God Rays’ which emanate from the sun, but hadn’t even heard of anti-crepuscular rays. At the same time, we all know, rainbows always appear 180* opposite the sun (provided the sun is within 40* of the horizon) so I was blown away to see ‘God Rays’ in the same sky as the rainbow. When I got home after downloading but before doing anything in post I decided to search the Internet to identify the phenomenon and learned about anti-crepuscular rays, which are similar to crepuscular rays, but appear on the opposite side of the sky and are caused by low-angled sunlight that is blocked by cloud cover. The rays appear to converge at a point called the antisolar point, but this is an illusion. The rays are actually parallel, and the convergence is due to linear perspective - but that’s just the scientific definition, which I don’t pretend to understand, but as a photographer I don’t need to understand, I just felt most fortunate to have experienced it and captured it.

In terms of capturing the shot, I knew neither the bow nor the rays would last so I really had to scramble looking for a clean yet interesting foreground and luckily found these Paddle Cactus (aka Prickly Pear Cactus) with the red tuna bulbs for color about 30 yards away - I didn’t have time to run over there carrying my tripod so I detached my R5 raced over to the cactus, recomposed and shot handheld.

Canon R5 - Canon 24-70 @24mm - ISO 800 - f7.1 - 1/2000th Tv

5 comments posted

Sherry Icardi   Sherry Icardi
Butch, Quite an accomplishments to get them all. I'm impress that was done handheld, and I totally get why...it was that or not get the shot. It is certainly worth the try. I like your angle, and the flow of the image, it draws your eyes into the rainbow. I think I might have toned down the brightness of the Cacti just a tad, my eye keeps wanting to come back to them, rather than stay with those rays and rainbow....but that is as much creators desire as viewers preferences .

Congratulations on a Trifecta so to speak!   Posted: 01/15/2025 20:16:00
Gary Jones   Gary Jones
Very nice image Butch and while luck can play a part it's much easier to be lucky when you're in the field with your camera. I like the composition and the way you've positioned the cactus with the rays in the background and the rainbow circling all of it. I agree that the cactus could be toned down a bit as my eye also kept going back to them and not taking in all of the scene. I do like how you've handled the sky and the mountain which help make the image.   Posted: 01/16/2025 22:54:47
Butch Mazzuca   Butch Mazzuca
Thank you both for the comments   Posted: 01/16/2025 23:06:28
Ian Cambourne   Ian Cambourne
A great image Butch and thinking on your feet then shooting quickly are signs of a thinking photographer, rather than just a point and clicker. All the compositional elements work together and I agree with Sherry, some minor tweaks to the bright spots would improve this image greatly. Your processing skills will surely handle that. And while you say you had to race 30 yards to get this one, I prefer to look on the positive side, at least you didn't have to race 130 yards.   Posted: 01/17/2025 23:14:41
Butch Mazzuca   Butch Mazzuca
Ian, if I had run 130 yards, I probably wouldn't have gotten the shot :-) your comment made me smile


  Posted: 01/18/2025 00:05:28

 

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