Just look at that . . . Sunset approaches, giving the red sands of Papago Park a warm pinkish cast. Because this is winter in Phoenix, the temperature may be in the mid 70′s, perfect “snow-bird” weather. Look at that gentle sky . . . the soft blues providing a perfect balance to the red rock landscape. Nice, isn’t it? This was my favorite afternoon, after-work getaway. Grab a light dinner, run to Papago for a quick hike, and then watch the light play on the landscape. Granted, this is not the Grand Canyon or Bryce, but it was my slice of southwest open country only minutes from home!

This photo was captured with an Olympus E-300 and kit lens. I converted it from RAW with the superb new Adobe Lightroom version 3. Advanced raw converters like this new release from Adobe provide a good reason to shoot in raw. I find that it is extracting better image quality from my old photos than any raw conversion software that was on the market when I owned this camera two years ago.