But more pink than Photoshop could handle... This one had to go through Capture before I could play with it in Photoshop; CS3 just couldn't hack the shady pinkness of the flower in RAW mode.
This is an unidentified Fishhook Cactus, found in Capitol Reef.
Nikon D2X, 28-105mm with polarizer, tripod, trigger release, human diffuser/shade. Same background de-emphasis technique as with the Claret Cup.
Can it be unidentified and a fishhook cactus?
Beauty of a shot, Les. There almost seems to be some shadow/highlight effect going on, where maybe some of the shadows could've been left a little bit darker instead of making the blossoms look like they were more evenly lit. It's something only a photo nerd would notice, and I might be wrong besides. Regardless, it's stunning, and Mr. Bug adds a nice touch.
Posted by Laurent Baig on May 23, 2007 at 11:16 AM
I like Mr bug and the ring the flowers make. Nice image. Can you clone out the hot spots?
I don't know what *kind* of a Fishhook Cactus it is - I think there are several varieties... I also got a white-flowering Fishhook Cactus the next day.
The even lighting on the flowers is from me standing up-light of the cactus; the lighting was variable during the day, and as I was taking this series, the Sun decided to come out and make my shot difficult - so I used the only diffuser/shade I could find: me.
There is a shadow/highlight effect here - actually two - but the one applied to the flowers was to enhance contrast, not reduce it; the background, like the Claret Cup picture, had a significant highlight reduction applied. Laurent, I agree with your suggestion; I'll see if I can't get around to clearing out those hot spots and reposting - the one downside of using the highlight tool or equivalent curves adjustment to modify the BG is that truly hot spots don't go along for the ride.
Discussion
4 repliesThis is an unidentified Fishhook Cactus, found in Capitol Reef.
Nikon D2X, 28-105mm with polarizer, tripod, trigger release, human diffuser/shade. Same background de-emphasis technique as with the Claret Cup.
Beauty of a shot, Les. There almost seems to be some shadow/highlight effect going on, where maybe some of the shadows could've been left a little bit darker instead of making the blossoms look like they were more evenly lit. It's something only a photo nerd would notice, and I might be wrong besides. Regardless, it's stunning, and Mr. Bug adds a nice touch.
The even lighting on the flowers is from me standing up-light of the cactus; the lighting was variable during the day, and as I was taking this series, the Sun decided to come out and make my shot difficult - so I used the only diffuser/shade I could find: me.
There is a shadow/highlight effect here - actually two - but the one applied to the flowers was to enhance contrast, not reduce it; the background, like the Claret Cup picture, had a significant highlight reduction applied. Laurent, I agree with your suggestion; I'll see if I can't get around to clearing out those hot spots and reposting - the one downside of using the highlight tool or equivalent curves adjustment to modify the BG is that truly hot spots don't go along for the ride.
BTW, I think this is a Desert Valley Fishhook Cactus - so it's no longer unidentified.