CEREUS AT SUNRISE

This Cereus cactus only blooms at night and the bloom withers soon

after sunrise.

Image taken at sunrise with a black cloth behind and all natural light.

Sun was at a 45 degree angle over my right shoulder and just over

the horizon. I used 1/320 shutter speed so as not to blow out the

white petals and fstop of 18 to get a large DOF. Probably could have

used a lower fstop to better utilize the lens.

Your critical critique would be greatly appreciated - I am really trying

to improve my images and seriously invite both what you like and

more importantly what you don't like. All suggestions on how I could

have made this image better are also greatly valued. I will

reciprocate to all who comment.

I like the composition and the lighting.

Regards

Eystein

Good work, Dave.  Your exposure is spot-on, and I think your composition and colors are excellent.  And, thanks providing the details of shooting this image.  I never think to use a black cloth as background (or more likely I am to lazy).

The result speaks for itself, it looks fantastic!

I particularly like the fine details of the stamen in the flower itself.

Could it have been done better I ask myself ........well I don't know, but as you suggested yourself a wider aperture would have mean't a better quality image. Not that anything can be seen to be wrong with this one, I am just relaying knowledge that you probably already know yourself.

Maybe a wider aperture and an adjustment to the exposure compensation and / or a ND filter would have provided the results you required.

I know you also mentioned DOF as a reason for the smaller aperture, I would love to have seen comparison with the same image taken at say F 5.6.

My sincere compliments !

Alf

Beautiful image. Perhaps I may have reduced the highlights on the white petals a bit. Alfredo

Love the colours and composition. Reducing a bit the lighting on the white areas might improve this image. Congrats.

Hi Dave,

Aesthetically nice.

Not an F-stop that I would ever employ, but the level of details is adequate for the casual viewer.

Best Regards, Mike

Beautiful light and detail.

A really beautiful shot . The contrasts make this stand out . Bill

A very nice result with beautiful lighting and details, Dave!

Viewed large looks awesome!

Well defined graphics of that cactus stems (leaves?). To make the image popping up I would brighten the central part of the blooming flower as it is your focal point. Great work anyway!

Absolutely perfect presentation! Well seen against dark background!

Splendid image with plenty to look at. The low level light brings out the shapes with bright egdes & tips of the flower..Well done Dave.

I think I agree with Alf as far as any suggestions to help the image, but I do not have a lot of experience taking images in such low light. You did achieve some very good details again with this image. It is such a beautiful flower. I am curious Dave - if you were to approximate the circumference of the flower, how big would you say it is?? I keep thinking it is on a very large cactus, would love to know.

Warmest regards, Gail

Hi Dave, I think this is great. The light contrast and the flowers backlighting really present this well composed image very nicely IMHO. The colors are strong and vibrant. I realize this is not to everyones'  liking but it is to mine. Have a good one. 6

BR,

Holger