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Cellpic Sunday – Arizona Sunset

Sunset in Scottsdale.

Scottsdale, Arizona.

As I write this, we are within ten days of returning home to Fargo. I scheduled the post for publication about a week after returning to our Fargo condo. Longtime readers of this blog know that I have always marveled at Arizona sunsets, and for the decade or so that we wintered in Buckeye, I shared many sunset photos with you, dear reader.

Near our rented condo, there’s a connection to a more than marathon-length improved trail (think concrete with a painted center line). It was our pleasure to walk along this trail on our evening walks, taking different directions to explore. On any night, dog walkers, bikers, skateboarders, scooter riders, and others would pass us, or we would meet them as we passed in the opposite direction.

Our usual walk was over a mile and a half (about 2.5 km). Leaving the condo complex, we would head for the trail intersection, then walk the concrete path until it intersected with a path that led to Mountain View Park. From there, we would connect with the sidewalk that led us back to the condo.

Not wanting to walk in the dark, we would be sure to be home before sunset, but we got a late start one night. As we were leaving the park, I looked westerly toward the elementary school next to the park. The sun was already below the horizon, and the last vestiges of the golden hour would soon disappear.

About the photo: I reached for my Samsung S23U and snapped a picture of the disappearing colors. The image turned out to be a pseudo-panorama. The standard 16×9 aspect ratio included some utility structures in the foreground. I simply cropped the foreground to eliminate those distractions in Adobe Lightroom Classic and then shipped the image to Luminar Neo for final processing. Even though there was very little noise in the ISO-80 image, I used Neo’s Noiseless extension tool anyway. I then used the Erase tool to remove a street light on the far right. I tweaked the Enhance AI tool, which slightly raised the exposure in the foreground and lightened the sky. I didn’t enhance it much as I wanted the foreground dark to not distract the viewer from the sunset colors. Click on the image above to view it on my Flickr site in 2K HD.

Even though we are back in Fargo when you read this, I haven’t yet finished processing all the photos captured from our two-month stay in Arizona in 2024. There will be more to come.

I encourage fellow bloggers to create their own Cellpic Sunday posts. I never have a specific topic for this feature, and the only rules are that the photo must be captured with a cell phone, iPad, or another mobile device… If you have an image from a drone or even a dashcam, that’s also acceptable. The second rule is to link your challenge response to this post or leave a comment here with a link to your post in the comment. Oh, you don’t have to post it on a Sunday.

John Steiner

42 comments

  1. Fab golden hour! Beuatifully captured! Creative!

    “In the golden hour of inspiration, when the mind is ablaze with creativity and the heart dances with passion, even the most daunting tasks become mere stepping stones to greatness.” Anonymous

    Reply

  9. Wow, John, what a stunning shot of the many stunning sunrises and sunsets we viewed while we were in AZ in January. When we edit images like this the image becomes more like how our human eyes and brain interpret the scene. Truly gorgeous! Hope you are home safe and sound. Here is my cellpic collection this week (Most of the bird pics were shot with a camera) but the rest are legit: https://secondwindleisure.com/2024/04/28/sunday-stills-pets-and-kids-make-life-exciting/

    Reply

  20. How fun to see our AZ community through your eyes. The sunsets there are so gorgeous! We rarely walked through the park, so that was a view I never took a picture of. I can’t wait to see the rest of your pictures. My photos are coming tomorrow. There are some great ones of you and Lynn. I particularly love the one where you are really connecting with the Pink Evening Primroses.

    Reply

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