Making the Photo: The Three Amigos

Welcome to the “Making the Photo” by Dear Bubbles for March 2026! This month, I'm featuring an image I made while hiking with my parents called "The Three Amigos" in San Tan Regional Park in Queen Creek, AZ in March 2023. This image is featured in the March 2026 issue of Arizona Highways magazine so I thought I'd give you a behind-the-scenes peek at how I made it. Have a look and listen to discover how to use metaphorical association to connect with the landscape, leverage focus stacking to control the focus area in more intimate scenes, and ensure your shutter speed is fast enough to handhold a long, heavy telephoto lens. (Since this is a Patreon-exclusive post, Patreon supporters will need to be logged into their Patreon account to access the video. Click Refresh at the bottom of this post, then select “Allow” if asked about information sharing).