Category Archives: Weather

Crepuscular Rays Over Phoenix

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

Crepuscular Rays are one of my favorite natural phenomena. These are exactly as they came out of the camera- I didn’t add anything to enhance these photos.

The ‘rays’ are actually all parallel- that they look like they radiate out from a central point is an optical illusion.

Crepuscular Rays Over Phoenix
Details:

  • Nikon D200 dSLR
  • AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Lens
  • 34mm (51mm equivalent)
  • ISO 100
  • f/8
  • 1/250 exposure

Crepuscular Rays Over Phoenix

Details:

  • Nikon D200 dSLR
  • AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Lens
  • 48mm (64mm equivalent)
  • ISO 100
  • f/7.1
  • 1/200 exposure

Photos taken September 10, 2011 in Phoenix, AZ. 5:16 PM.

Enjoy!

Dan, aka @PHXPhoto

Man On Fire…

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

Maybe it’s just me watching too much anime as a kid (and into adulthood), but when I got home and pulled this image out of the camera, it looked to me like a figure getting struck by lightning.

Am I the only one?  Well, if there are any sightings of Voltron, Optimus Prime, or VF-1 Valkyries around Phoenix in the next couple of days, I’ll know I was right!

Man On Fire

Taken September 9, 2011, looking Southwest over South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ. 10:30 PM.

Details:

  • Nikon D200 dSLR
  • AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Lens
  • 18mm (27mm equivalent)
  • ISO 100
  • f/3.5
  • 10-second exposure

Enjoy!

Dan, aka @PHXPhoto

Fire in the Sky…

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

…or “The one where I again put myself in danger to get another amazing photo*”.

Quite a few cells rolled into Phoenix last night from the Southwest, and the lightning was hit or miss.  There were periods where it was relatively quiet, then there were short bursts of lots of activity.  The photo below shows cloud-to-cloud lightning propagating across the sky.

Fire in the Sky

(*since my family and friends read this, I have to add the disclaimer that I wasn’t really in danger- the lightning was actually quite far away)

Taken September 9, 2011, looking Southwest over South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ. 10:28 PM.

Details:

  • Nikon D200 dSLR
  • AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5G IF-ED Lens
  • 18mm (27mm equivalent)
  • ISO 100
  • f/3.5
  • 10-second exposure

Enjoy!

Dan, aka @PHXPhoto

Haboob Sunset

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

As most locals know, during the monsoon season, Phoenix is prone to dust storms, also known as haboobs.  Weather officials say haboobs only happen in Arizona, the Sahara desert and parts of the Middle East because of dry conditions and large amounts of sand.

Yesterday (August 18, 2011), Phoenix experienced the 4th largest haboob on record.  Once the storm passed, there was still a lot of dust in the air, which led to a fantastic sunset.

This photo was taken August 18, 2011 at 7:20 pm off of Pima Canyon Road in the South Mountain Park preserve- the largest municipal park in the country, according to the Trust for Public Land.

Storm_sunset

Taken August 17, 2011, South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ.  7:23 PM (about 11 minutes after sunset).

Details:

Nikon D200 dSLR

AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED Lens

12mm (18mm equivalent)

ISO 100

5 exposures (bracketed) blended into one HDR photo: f/4, shutter 1/20; f/4, shutter 1/40; f/4, shutter 1/10; f/4, shutter 1/5; and f/4.5, shutter: 1/80;

HDR generated using Photomatix, Tone Compressed (using default settings). Adjustments include the Color Temperature being dropped to bring out the blues, as well as the Color Saturation being increased to bring out the reds and increase the overall contrast.

Enjoy!

Dan, aka @PHXPhoto

Sunset over the Painted Desert

Posted by Dan Mitchell on
Arizona_sunset

Taken August 17, 2011, South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ.  7:23 PM (about 11 minutes after sunset).

Elevation: Approximately 1,600 Feet (450 feet above the City of Phoenix).

Details:

Nikon D200 dSLR

AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor 12-24mm f/4G IF-ED Lens

12mm (18mm equivalent)

ISO 100

3-shot HDR-

f/4, shutter 1/40; f/4.5, shutter: 1/80; and f/5, shutter: 1/100 (bracketed)

HDR generated using Photomatix, Tone Compressed (using default settings). Color Temperature dropped to bring out the blue, Color Saturation increased to bring out the reds and increase the overall contrast.

Enjoy!

Dan, aka @PHXPhoto

Snow On Four Peaks

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

From Wikipedia:

Four Peaks (Yavapai: Wikopa[1]), at 7657 feet (2335 m) in altitude, is a prominent landmark on the eastern skyline of Phoenix, part of the Mazatzal Mountains. It is located in the Tonto National Forest 40 miles (64 km) east-northeast of Phoenix, in the 60,740-acre (245.8 km2) Four Peaks Wilderness. On rare occasions, Four Peaks offers much of the Phoenix metro area a view of snow covered peaks, and is the highest point in Maricopa County.

The name Four Peaks is a reference to the four distinct peaks of a north-south ridge forming the mountain’s summit. The northernmost peak is named Brown’s Peak and is the tallest of the four at 7,657 feet (2,334 m).[2] The remaining summits are unnamed, and from north to south are 7,642 feet (2,329 m), 7,575 feet (2,309 m) and 7,524 feet (2,293 m) in altitude.

Lightning over the Valley of the Sun

Posted by Dan Mitchell on

There are less than two weeks left in Arizona’s official monsoon season, and up until now, it’s been a relatively quiet one. This week, however, we’ve had a couple of storms, with a couple more predicted throughout the weekend. I got a chance tonight to try and catch a couple of lightning strikes.

I didn’t have a great angle, which means a couple of things: 1) I need t make friends with someone with a south-facing balcony, and 2) I need to buy a house with a flat roof, or somehow be allowed roof access to a few buildings in the valley so I can have unrestricted views in every direction.

Oh, and I need to buy one of those little umbrellas for my camera.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Thanks for taking the time to check out my photos! Be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think of the work!

-Dan, a.k.a. @PHXPhoto

Posted via email from phxphoto’s posterous