All hail the Fire Chief!
Earlier this week, a friend of mine posted a picture of her 24 hour blooming cactus on Facebook. Even in the harsh afternoon sunlight, the beauty of this blooming cactus captured my attention. I immediately replied that I would love to photograph her cactus while it was still blooming. She invited me over and moments later I grabbed my gear and headed into town.
I was relieved to see that these red blooms were no longer in the full sun but were resting peaceful tucked under the eves of the house. I was prepared with my large diffuser none the less. I spent several minutes trying to capture the blooms from just about every angle without getting pricked by the sharp needles of the cactus itself. And I couldn’t wait to get home and process these images.
And all I can say is Wow!
I actually had to desaturate the red blooms in Lightroom because it was too much. Looked totally fake to me. Then I took the images into Photoshop for sharpening and a few other targeted adjustments. Now I’m just waiting for my friend to tell me which image she likes best so I can gift her with a print she can enjoy all year long.
While this king of the spring makes his grand entrance but once a year in the spring, he is not a native to this desert landscape. He comes to us from Argentina and is officially known as Chamaecereus silvestrii. I refer to the cacti as “he” because this species was named for Filippo Silvestri, an Italian entomologist & botanist.
[full_width_color bg_color=”#0697cc” color=”#ffffff”]xoxo, Patricia[/full_width_color]