On February 3, I posted the last picture I took before leaving Alberta for the warmer climes of Arizona. I’ve now returned home to escape the oncoming, stifling heat of the desert. I’ve decided to post a “Parting Shot” from Arizona. In this case, it’s not the last photograph I took but one that I really like. It features that icon of the Sonoran Desert, the Saguaro cactus, silhouetted by a gorgeous sunset. The photograph was taken in Cave Creek, a small municipality adjacent to north Scottsdale. This location is less than 15 minutes from our home. It’s not far to get out into the desert!
For those interested in how this picture was taken, I used a TS-E24mm f/3.5L II (tilt-shift) lens with exposure settings of f8.0, ISO 160 and a resultant shutter speed of 1/60 sec. I also used a 4-stop, neutral density gradient filter to balance exposure between the very bright sky and the much darker foreground. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the tilt-shift lens is very useful in landscape photography, enabling me to achieve sharp focus throughout the entire depth of the image. The result is not very apparent in a small image such as this. It’s really evident on a large print. This one will likely get printed.
Spectacular!!!!!!
Helen