Posts Tagged Cactus
Dangerous Curves
Posted by backup in Photography on May 29, 2010
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What first caught my eye was the smooth, almost seductive, flowing lines formed by the overlapping leaves. Contrasting those gentle curves are some formidable spikes. Like many members of the cactus and succulent families, it’s a bit like beauty and the beast. They give you a not so subtle reminder to look but not touch.
This is another image from the trip to the Bancroft botanical gardens that I mentioned in my last post. Although I managed without a tripod for that shot, one really would have come in handy with this variegated agave. I would have loved to be able spend some time in front of this scene with my tripod. The composition choices seemed nearly endless but I was at the mercy of the camera in regard to depth of field choices. Because I was hand-holding I had to be aware of my shutter speed to prevent a soft image due to camera shake. Normally, shutter speed isn’t something I even worry about.
Cheers
Pointy things
Posted by Doug Otto in Photography on July 29, 2009
As I mentioned in my previous post, we spent some time in San Francisco last weekend. The reason for the trip was, of all things, the Norcal Cactus and Succulent show. I will be the first to admit that a cactus show isn’t high on my to-do list, but we take a bus down with some locals and it’s a fun day.
Cactus, and their succulent cousins, make interesting subjects. The variations of color and form are unlike any other plant type. It’s amazing that some of these plants can take years to produce a flower while others bloom regularly. I didn’t bother to read the label on this subject but I believe that it’s in the agave family. (A family that’s near and dear to my heart, but I digress.)
The show, this year, was in the county fair building in Golden Gate Park. Because of the spacing between tables and the sheer number of people, a tripod was out of the question. I wanted to concentrate on the cactus spines and let the background dissolve to colors and shapes so set my aperture at f/2.8. I was using my 24-70 f/2.8 so I zoomed in to 62mm to eliminate distractions from the edge of the frame. Since I was forced to hand-hold the camera I raised the ISO to 400 so I could get an acceptable shutter speed of 1/50th. That’s technically still slower than I’d have liked but I got lucky and got a sharp image.
I have a few more images from this trip but I’ll save those for another day.
Cheers
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