Cactus Scape

Gallery: FloraPosted March 11, 20185,713 views6 comments

These pink cactus blossoms were incredible against the background of pipes and aloes at the Huntington Gardens last May. I can hardly wait until they start blooming again this year. Canon 60D, f16, 1/80 sec, iso 400, -0.7 EV, 24-105 ISL at 24 mm. Thank you for your thoughts. I know it is a bit messy, but that kind of adds to the prehistoric feel of this for me. I tried to get as low a perspective as I could on this.

Comments

6 comments

Comment posted by Skip Layman on March 11, 2018 at 1:19 PM

Lovely shot. I would suggest you might want to tone down the brightest parts of the flowers.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 558 Posts, 1704 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on March 11, 2018 at 7:17 PM

Ed: Not sure if you're letting the site downsize your large image but the gallery image does look blown in a few spots but the large version - a MUST SEE BTW - looks spot on perfect. I like your POV but I think I would have gotten just a tiny bit higher to eliminate the empty sky in the ULC. All the good stuff looks like its down and to the right anyway so keeping the bright stuff out of the comp would work better for me. I do like the chaos. Nicely done.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on March 11, 2018 at 8:02 PM

Gorgeous flowers and nice details. Makes me wish for a view down inside the flowers as well. The large version is exposed perfectly and highlights not blown at all. Beautiful!

Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 11, 2018 at 9:30 PM

The large look at it is lip smacking great! My one small suggestion would be to darken, or darken at least the mid-tones behind the tree, aloe and cactus flowers to where it is not a distraction from those gorgeous flowers.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lowe on March 13, 2018 at 3:28 PM

Really great environmental portrait. It's nice to see flowers in their natural habitat, and not always closeups. the detail in the large view is outstanding and the whites don't look clipped on my screen.

Registered on February 11, 2004, 777 Posts, 5252 Comments

Comment posted by Giuseppe Guadagno on March 14, 2018 at 10:19 AM

Yes these flowers are splendid. I love colors and composition. Ed, have you tried to lower the light in a decisive way?

Registered on February 3, 2007, 827 Posts, 5052 Comments