Cave Creek Rodeo Finals 30 May 2021

Finally!  After over a year without fans, the Cave Creek Rodeo in Arizona opened to fans.  The stands were FULL and not a mask or muzzle in sight. 

I was in the Stockman's Club and took my perch high up in the last row.   I captured images with a Canon EOS R6 and a Tamron 100-400.   I rarely needed anything beyond 200mm so I could have used the Tamron 70-200mm.

The Servi Brothers of Colorado again supplied the stock.   They were very lively rodeo stock, too.   

The Cave Creek Rodeo featured seven events.  Steer wrestling, bareback riding, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie down roping, the ladies of barrel racing, and the popular bull riding.   

One of the interesting contestants came in the saddle bronc riding event.  Nathan Urie of Ferron, Utah was born with only a right arm!   He didn't make the eight second mark, but stayed on for a good six seconds.

Final standings for the Cave Creek Rodeo are HERE.

Post processing in Lightroom.  Sometimes in Luminar ai.   My new pre-processing takes my raw files into Adobe Camera Raw and then use the new "enhance" feature.   This cleans up any noise and also dramatically increases the size of the image so I can crop with confidence.   Then I take those new enhanced raw dng files into DxO's new PureRaw for final clean up.  

My settings for a night rodeo were shutter speed of 1/800, wide open aperture, auto white balance, and auto ISO.  I was impressed with the auto white balance.  I did not need to change white balance in Lightroom.   

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Click the photo below for all of my Cave Creek Rodeo images!

AND, my narrated video on YouTube!  

*** Have you tried Luminar ai yet?   It's what I use.  Click HERE to find out more!

*** I have consistently saved money through Greentoe.  For me, I always check prices for camera lenses and equipment.  Shipping is free and often they pay the tax!  Click HERE to get started.

Visit to the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium 23 May 2021

Canon and Tempe Camera sponsored a visit to the Wildlife World Zoo in late May in Litchfield Park, Arizona.  So there were many photographers on the premises.   They were loaning lenses but I thought I'd be ok with the Tamron 100-400mm lens on my Canon EOS R6.

Outside, I was on ISO 100 and daylight white balance.  I was also on aperture priority.

Once I got inside the aquarium, I wondered how I was going to do it with the Tamron 100-400mm lens.   I opened up the aperture and set the ISO to auto.  Some of the aquarium images were outrageously high, as high at 50,000 and 102,400!   It would take some post processing to eliminate or control noise.

Back home, I edited mostly with Lightroom.

Sometimes I also use Luminar AI   But I think something new I tried really helped me with the noise issues.   Before editing, I took all the raw files and "enhanced" in Adobe Camera Raw.  Then I took those raw files and put them through the new DxO PureRaw.  If images showed some noise, the last resort was Topaz deNoise.  And, deNoise saved many of my images I captured from the aquarium.

What I should have done was bring a second lens, perhaps the Tamron 24-70mm f/2.8 or the Canon 100mm macro lens.

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Click the photo below to see all the images I captured from  the zoo….

*** Have you tried Luminar ai yet?   It's what I use.  Click HERE to find out more!

*** I have consistently saved money through Greentoe.  For me, I always check prices for camera lenses and equipment.  Shipping is free and often they pay the tax!  Click HERE to get started.