Southern Arizona Monsoons

Traveling through Southern Arizona this week and we are in our Monsoon season. This brings rain showers in the afternoons, lots of clouds and some pretty scenery from it. I stopped along the road to take some shots.

#1


B/W version


Pano of the area

Hi Marshall,

That is a coincidence! We've been travelling through Arizona (and California, Utah and Nevada) in the past 10 days. We have had a lot of rainstorms in the meantime. In the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Bryce, Zion and Las Vegas! All rainy weather! To top it up, it has even rained yesterday while we were driving through the Death Valley. Can you imagine that? Some of the lowest areas of the valley were flooded.

I have zillions of similar pictures from our road trip. Maybe we should create a new thread called road trip pictures of USA and all post some there?

Thanks for sharing.

Cheers,

Marshall, I did not know one had monsoons in arid Arizona! guess one lives and learns.

Regards.

Great clouds, the B&W seems to be the most dranatic.

Gary

Thank you all for the input, appreciate your time.

Cem - This time of year is very unpredictable for rain in this area, but we need it so desperately!
Sure hope that you enjoyed your trip, sounds like you were in some great locations for pictures.
I'll be up in Flagstaff early next week, then over towards Lake Havasu.

Fahim - Our monsoon lasts about 2 months. We are accustomed to a humidity level around 10 percent or less. During the monsoon, it goes up to 50 and 60 percent for the day and higher during rain. This time is just overwhelming for us. It is also a time of year that we depend on to deliver needed water for the region.

Gary - I was pleased with the B/W myself. I've been waiting for this season to get some clouds to play with the CS3 conversion tool. Thanks for the comments.

Marshall

Marshall,

I like the classic look of the B/W version.



The skies are very full and effectively lit. You may want to also re-examine the potential of the land and trees as they seem to be rather dark.

Asher

Thanks Asher, I do agree and will be looking at the original to play with the various pieces of the shot.

Marshall

I also suggest a tighter crop from the bottom to the top of parking turn-out. This would put the road at the lower left hand corner and the fence at the lower right corner and eliminate a somewhat distracting element of the photo.

Gary

Good idea Gary, I'll do that and see what comes out. Thank you!

Marshall

Gary Ayala said:

I also suggest a tighter crop from the bottom to the top of parking turn-out. This would put the road at the lower left hand corner and the fence at the lower right corner and eliminate a somewhat distracting element of the photo.

Gary

Click to expand...

Gary,

That's a very good catch. The curve that we are left with then moves us to the right and clearly makes the image more dynamic. Previously there were two opposing curves!

Asher

Some changes

Made a few changes to the shots, thanks all for the suggestions. What are the thoughts on these?