Small Cactus with Flower

[aram535]

C&C welcome, this was a first attempt at these small cacti.

They seem to have gotten a lot darker moving from raw to jpeg so I'll have to fix that later.

1.
http://www.mbcli.com/%7Eawm/2009/cactus-yellow-small-3.jpg

2.
http://www.mbcli.com/%7Eawm/2009/cactus-red-small-4.jpg

[Grimlock]

I really like the lighting you used on these. (1st one especially)

Is the yellow flower attached to the cactus?

[aram535]

Its a AB400 at 1/8th with a shoot through umbrella about an inch out of view. There is a small white reflector on the opposite side which for some reason gave off a blue tinted reflection (not sure why).

[griptape]

I like them. They're borderline abstract, but have enough recognizable features to make them worth looking at. As you said, they are pretty dark, and maybe they aren't technically "correct", but they made me do more than just a quick glance, and I like looking at them, so that's what counts for me.

[aram535]

A re-edit ... and the talk of abstract made me do a IR version too ... they should be brighter and more close to what I wanted:

1.
http://www.mbcli.com/~awm/2009/cactus-yellow-small-3-edit1.jpg
2.
http://www.mbcli.com/~awm/2009/cactus-red-small-4-edit1.jpg

The new IR version which was just for fun, as it turned out pretty wacky:

http://www.mbcli.com/~awm/2009/cactus-red-small-4-edit2.jpg

Looks like the EXIF was eaten by PS, so here it is:

Make - Canon
Model - Canon EOS-1Ds Mark II
ExposureTime - 1/10 seconds
ExposureProgram - Manual control
ISOSpeedRatings - 100
ShutterSpeedValue - 1/10 seconds
ApertureValue - F 22.00
ExposureBiasValue - 0
MaxApertureValue - F 2.83
MeteringMode - Partial
Flash - Flash not fired, compulsory flash mode
FocalLength - 173 mm
ExposureMode - Manual
White Balance - Custom
SceneCaptureType - Standard

[Sisyphus]

I think they're gorgeous. The colors really pop now. Focus is just about perfect. Could apply a smidge of sharpening, but it's probably not really necessary. Good stuff, I like

[aram535]

I was going to enter the yellow one in the local club competition just to see how it does, as I don't think many people have seen these flowers.

Anyone know the Latin or common names for these Cacti?

[jetboy]

I really think the first one would have looked amazing with a backlight to really make the fuzz glow and seperate it from the dark background. Although, you did say that they seem darker after the conversion and maybe there is more seperation in the RAW.

[aram535]

Yeah not sure why JPEG at level 10 is loosing so much light difference, it usually doesn't. Brightning helped a little.

The other problem which you noticed was that the thing is only about 1.25" tall and maybe 0.5" wide so I couldn't get a light back with a snoot without it being in the frame (Just physical constraints). I'll try that again next weekend to see if I can move the whole rig so that I keep the black background yet get a light to back light it.

I think I even have some 1/2 CTG filters around so that I can color the flash.

[janderson91z]

Those look freaky.