Hedgehog Cactus

I have tried Macro and also stacking to get good close ups. I don’t have a macro lens and use extension tubes. So I am now experimenting with my 500mm zoom lens and it seems to perform well . Standing 5 feet away is easier than my tripod and macro set up. Inner petals on right front are not really sharp but, it’s the edge. I guess I like the idea of the composition as apposed to the macro detail for this flower. This was shot in the evening.

Specific Feedback Requested

All comments appreciated.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Canon EOS R6, Canon RF 100-500mm, 1/250sec, f/13, 363mm, ISO 6400, hand held.
LR classic

Boy do cactuses make some beautiful flowers. The richness in color and texture is a real treat. Especially since we won’t even have spring ephemerals blooming for a couple weeks at least. I’d love to see a little more room in the right corner. That top bud is framed a little tightly, especially the spines. It seems a bit magenta to me as well. I know some cactus flowers are a dusty purple, but I’m not sure that’s it. It’s too bad the stamens (?) in the center aren’t in crisp focus, but enough of the flower is that it doesn’t bother me too much.

What does is the noise. Why ISO 6400? That’s an interesting choice over just putting it on a tripod and having more latitude. Yeah, sometimes I handhold my long lens for “macro” work, but if it’s easy and convenient to use a tripod I will. All part of the experimentation process! Thanks for the shot of spring.


Thanks. Redo of a slightly different image ISO 2500, f/10, 1/80 sec. Topaz Denoise AI. Less crop.

Oh I like the second one. The room at the top and the slightly different focus point. Sweet. Thanks for letting me know it was up. Desert flowers are amazing.

A gorgeous bloom!! But I’m with @_Kris on the tripod. Why handhold something like this, especially at a long focal length? A tripod lets you go to a lower ISO and (if the air is calm) do a stack to get all the petals sharp.

In a case like this with a gray BG (a wall or driveway?) I’ll try to prop up a black card to block it – that would really make the flower and buds jump out even more.

I actually like the first image. I am not bothered by soft focus of some of the petals as they are not the main interest of the photo. I think the image would be helped by darkening the back ground. It would focus your attention on the spectacular bloom. Nice capture.

I prefer the first image too. It has more emphasis on the the flower itself, which should be the focal point for the image. Composition is quite nice. The flower is off-center, and the other elements (the buds) are thematically similar to the main element (the open flower). If anything, I might add a little blur to the bud in the upper right corner to make it match the blur of the other two buds.

Charlie: A beautiful subject nicely composed and captured. I would think that handholding at 350mm+ at 1/250 would really be close to the limit of image stabilization. I can see the high ISO to give you a faster SS but that also indicates to me that the light was not real strong. Still a very nice result on both shots. >=))>

Thanks. It was fairly dark. I wanted to try hand held, certainly the tripod makes more sense. I like the suggestion of blurring the other buds and darkening the background. I probably get too fixated on getting everything sharp.