different take on cactus stems

[KenC]

Same plant as my post from the other day, but a different approach ...

 

[deeky]

I like the balance of this one better than the other, but would have like the much shallower dof of the other one, focused on the lightest lobe. Somewhere between the two for me. But I do like the tonal range you got in this one. I've found this kind of plant can easily go flat if I don't watch it.

 

[KenC]

Thanks. I worked on the tonal range quite a bit, first in the basic raw --> tif conversion, then in the B&W conversion. For all of the shots I always focused on the closest stem. I dislike out-of-focus edges in the foreground and wanted the closest edge to be the sharpest thing in the image, whether the other stems were relatively sharp or not. I do have one with this framing and less DOF - I'll have to take another look at it.

 

[sleist]

A nice shot and a nice conversion.
I'm left a bit underwhelmed. Maybe it's that dark triangle at the top?
I think it pulls me out of the illusion somewhat. Hard to describe what I mean.
I think the shot is more powerful when cropped to eliminate the slice that contains that feature.

 

[KenC]

A nice shot and a nice conversion.
I'm left a bit underwhelmed. Maybe it's that dark triangle at the top?
I think it pulls me out of the illusion somewhat. Hard to describe what I mean.
I think the shot is more powerful when cropped to eliminate the slice that contains that feature.

Thanks. I thought about cropping that dark triangle, but liked the way it echoed the triangle shape at the bottom of the frame. Thanks for commenting on it - I'll play around with lightening it and see how that looks.