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.

Scottsdale Parada del Sol Rodeo 8 March 2020

The Scottsdale Parada del Sol rodeo finals was held at Westworld on Sunday 8 March.  The all-around top cowboy was JC Mortensen for bareback riding and bull riding. Here are the full results from the rodeo finals. 


Events included bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, tie-down roping, the ladies of barrel racing, and bull riding.  In addition to the rodeo clown, lady trick riders and ropers entertained and they were GOOD!   
   
In my opinion, the very easiest event for the fan to understand is barrel racing.   Three barrels to get around.   Knock any over and suffer a 5 second penalty.   And everything is electronically timed.  The lady and horse with  the fastest score wins.  

Westworld is an indoor arena with mixed artificial and natural light.   Although to the naked eye the arena looks well lit, it's a different challenge for a photographer.   Photos right out of the camera have a very decidedly orange tint.   The best white balance I found was fluorescent.  Because of the camera-weak lighting, I had to often use a very high ISO of 6400 or more.   Post processing in Lightroom, sometimes also in Luminar 4, and a few in Simplify 4. 


Next rodeo up for me is the Cave Creek Rodeo at the end of March.

Until My Next Adventure,

See you on down the road,

Jim Patterson

Here's a slideshow of all of my photos.... ENJOY!

Parada Del Sol Scottsdale Rodeo 11 March 2018

Sunday in the middle of March is time for the Parada Del Sol or Scottsdale Rodeo.  And once again, Westworld was host.  It’s an indoor arena with tricky lighting.  

I brought my second camera, the Canon G3x.  I got some wind from the rodeo people that they might stop me from bringing in my full size Canon 5D Mark IV.  Security could care less what I brought in.  What that ended up meaning was photos with higher grain.  Plus the G3x is a slower camera.  

Patriotism is a big part of rodeos.  That's good.  I love it.  

Bareback riding...

The ladies compete in barrel racing...

And the final event in every rodeo is eight seconds of hell, or bull riding.  

I also photographed steer wrestling, team roping, saddle bronc riding, and tie down roping.  Mark Swingler was the rodeo clown. And, we were also entertained by Whiplash The Cowboy Monkey.  

Given the limitations of an indoor arena for lighting and the limitations of the camera I used, I took more time in post processing, but I still got a decent number of photos.  

Until My Next Adventure,

(Cave Creek Rodeo!)

See You On Down the Road!

Jim Patterson

… and all the photos!