Sharp Contrast + repost

Gallery: FloraPosted May 9, 20071,334 views20 comments

I am truly amazed by the soft and delicate nature of Saguaro blossoms. Most other cacti still have spines on the bases of their flowers, except for the Saguaro. These blossoms are pretty much devoid of spines. I like the contrast of the delicate blossom against the background of spines.

Canon 30D with 300 f/4 + 1.4x TC II

1/250s
F13
ISO 200
-1/3 EC
HH

Comments and suggestions for improvement welcome. Thanks for looking.

Comments

20 comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on May 9, 2007 at 12:48 AM

Sam: I've seen lots of cactus flowers but this is unique and just a delight. Very well seen and captured. >=))>

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

Comment posted by Doug Dance on May 9, 2007 at 1:12 AM

WoW! This is really good - I like it a lot! The level of contrast is your image is perfect IMO.

Registered on April 7, 2005, 65 Posts, 428 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Buck on May 9, 2007 at 1:44 AM

The symmetry in this shot is REALLY cool Sam. I love the flower being right in the center of the shot. A really well crafted image.

Nathan

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1101 Posts, 13589 Comments

Comment posted by Jack Mroz on May 9, 2007 at 8:41 AM

Sam,
Great BG for this. The contrast really comes out with the delicate flower. Perfect DOF.

Jack

Registered on July 12, 2006, 114 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by David Schwaegler on May 9, 2007 at 8:44 AM

Very architectural. I like it very much.

Registered on December 4, 2003, 232 Posts, 1652 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Whitney on May 9, 2007 at 5:16 PM

Sam....wonderful contrast here

Love the symetry and the detail in the white blossom. Might have cleaned the white spots to the right of bloom.

Bill

Registered on May 31, 2006, 135 Posts, 1232 Comments

Comment posted by Vic Harris on May 9, 2007 at 7:18 PM

Very unusual and striking. Excellent work Sam.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 295 Posts, 2830 Comments

Comment posted by Jim Salge on May 9, 2007 at 8:05 PM

This shot has alot of structure to it, great DOF and good light. Really enjoy the presentation. I might actually try bumping the contrast even a bit more...

Registered on February 23, 2006, 269 Posts, 2210 Comments

Comment posted by Dale Williams on May 9, 2007 at 11:48 PM

Sam, the detail and color in this is perfect. I love the patterns in this too. Outstanding work.

Registered on November 15, 2006, 69 Posts, 1025 Comments

Comment posted by David Senesac on May 10, 2007 at 11:37 AM

Absolutely perfect composition with a great idea to capture the spines too. How many pixels are in the above crop? ...David

Registered on April 24, 2006, 167 Posts, 869 Comments

Comment posted by Giuseppe Guadagno on May 10, 2007 at 2:03 PM

What a beautiful and original composition, simmetric patterns, depth and clearness. Excellent work endeed!
Take care.

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

Comment posted by Sam Rua on May 10, 2007 at 2:21 PM

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions. I don't know why I didn't catch the white spots the first time around because they seem so obvious now.

For David's question, the dimensions are 535 pixels wide by 720 pixels tall. Is this what you were after?

Here is the reworked image withthe spots removed and a bit more contrast per Jim's suggestion. I also played around with B&W and will post that in the Photo Art forum.

Registered on September 9, 2006, 130 Posts, 2281 Comments

Comment posted by Larry Lynch on May 10, 2007 at 8:36 PM

Sam, a wonderful image. Love the detail and color. Thanks for bringing such an unusual flower and presenting it so well.

Registered on September 16, 2006, 773 Posts, 9940 Comments

Comment posted by Bernie Kasper on May 11, 2007 at 3:10 PM

Nice work on the repost Sam, very nice detail in this, wonderful work.

Registered on June 5, 2005, 251 Posts, 3734 Comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on May 14, 2007 at 8:17 PM

Congratulations on the moderator's pick. This is a wonderfully different plant than we normally see and the patterns of the needles/spikes help complete an already unique flower image.

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Jack Mroz on May 17, 2007 at 10:58 AM

Sam,
Congrats on the EP. Great image.
Jack

Registered on July 12, 2006, 114 Posts, 1476 Comments

Comment posted by Sam Rua on May 29, 2007 at 2:11 PM

Thanks to all for your comments. I really do appreciate the learning experience.

Registered on September 9, 2006, 130 Posts, 2281 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on September 7, 2009 at 8:10 AM

Excellent exposure, color, DOF, and detail Sam.
Love the comp with the neat symmetrical pattern, beautiful work

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on September 7, 2009 at 8:11 PM

Sam,

Have no idea how I missed this. It's an exceptional image IMO and one of the finest cactus images I've seen.

Pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments

Comment posted by usha peddamatham on September 9, 2009 at 6:29 PM

It is so unique to see a delicate blossom on a tough plant. You have done justice to the delicacy. It looks so ephemeral.

Registered on June 25, 2009, 82 Posts, 389 Comments