The Desert Blooms

[mdonahoe1]

These 3 photos are all of the same cactus. The first is the bloom, the second is the bloom cropped and the third is the cactus itself. I wanted to show the thorny hardness of the cactus as contrasted by the petals which are as tender as rose petals and the inside of the bloom is feather soft. CC welcomed. Thanks for looking!
Marianne
#1 and 3 f8.4, 1/500 sec, 19mm, ISO 100
#2 f6.9, 1/320 sec, 8mm, ISO 100

[delboy]

Nice photos, #1 is my favourite, you have captured the texture of the petals very well. Also your choice of aperture has put the whole bloom in focus. Great DOF.

Regards

Delboy.

[Kaye]

Beautiful shots Marianne and a lovely flower. My favourite is also No. 1.
With your fairly fast shutter speed, you have captured beautiful detail in both the stamen and the petals.
As this flower appears to be in full sun, your exposure is wonderful, as it is often too easy to get some overexposed parts on the petals.
With the crop, personally I would not have cropped quite so close to the stamen, but just my opinion.

[kinetic]

Hi Marianne, you almost slipped off the bottom of the page.
What a beautiful looking flower Marianne, the contrast between flower and cactus is like night and day...wouldn’t fancy walking in to it :eek:.
I do like the almost grass like quality of the stamen.
The cactus shot hasn’t came out a good as the other two, your first being the strongest of the three.
Lovely flower Marianne and one worth investigating more for the potential it offers.
Mark

[shirlm2]

Hi Marianne I love you first shot. Great stamen detail and nice composition. I think cactuses are lovely flowers for photography so hope you post some more.

[mdonahoe1]

Delboy, Kaye, Mark and Shirley,
Thanks for your comments. I am always amazed by how much I learn from posting and getting great feedback! I will be back in AZ next week, so hope to get some more cactus shots in then. The giant Sahuaro buds were just forming last week, so hopefully I can get some of those next week.
Marianne

[mingkywingky]

Lovely images Marianne. I've never seen this kind of flower. Thanks for sharing these. I also like no1 the best.

[mj702002]

Hi MariAnn
What a neat flower you have captured! I have to ask -- how big is this cactus? I know they can grow quite tall!!
Yes - the first image does it for me also--the details are great, I would think you could play aroud with the center for some fun macros!!

[DoctorJazz]

Marianne,
Really lovely shots. The softness is just great in 1 +3.

[mdonahoe1]

Tenny and Sandy: Thank you so much for your kind comments! It means a lot coming from both of you!

MJ: This was a small cactus in my neighborhood, maybe about 3 feet tall. (this particular cactus can grow quite large tho!) The giant sahuaros will be in bloom when I get back there next week! They are enormous and usually are very old, too. I hope to get some shots of them then!