This crazy Christmas cactus bloomed last winter, right on schedule. Then about a month ago, it started putting out buds again. It’s still a relatively small specimen, so when I’ve tried to photograph it in the past, the rest of the plant tended to get in the way. This time, the final bloom started opening two days ago at the end of a fairly long array of leaves, so I was able to get good separation. I photographed it two days ago in the almost open bud stage and yesterday in the fully opened state. This is my favorite angle from yesterday’s shoot.
Background. The background was a piece of light gray foam core. I added some blue to the first image and I’ve also posted a gray version. I’ve increased brightness on the background of some to near white, but thought they looked a bit too plastic.
Pertinent technical details or techniques:
Canon 5DIII, 100 mm, f/2.8 macro lens, tripod and 2 second timer, all images taken at f/16, 1/20, iso 1600, manual exposure and manual focus. This is a 7 image stack using Helicon Focus (not the latest version). Taken in my bathroom with light from a skylight on a rainy day.
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Very lovely Dennis. It has such a graceful composition to it. I favor the lighter (gray) background, seems to make a nice contrast for me. I have heard that sometime the Christmas cactus will bloom around Easter, depending on the variety of cactus you have.
So glad you posted this Dennis, as a reminder that my wife has been asking me to shoot hers, ha ha. I usually like contrast, the more the merrier, but I think the top one seems to frame the plant better; I like the more subdued shading. Very sharp, nicely rendered colors, great composition, coming from the left and hanging down but not too tight. Also like that you included the leaves, for interest and color. Thanks for sharing Dennis.
A lovely sweep to the composition, Dennis, in fact a nice capture all round. I do prefer the grey ground and maybe, as Bill has suggested, you could go even more high key with that. I had one of these in a pot once but it never offered itself so well for a photo !
Very nice shot of this Christmas Cactus, Dennis. Amazing to see it blooming again so soon. I keep clicking back and forth on the images, and I think I prefer the gray, but also as Bill mentioned, maybe even make it brighter. A wonderful shot with great details in it.
