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marquis1955
Simply Cactus
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Simply Cactus



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Spotted this glorious bloom driving down the road took the shot !

Spotted this glorious bloom driving down the road took the shot !
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cameraPENTAX K-30

settings Aperture f/8.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/250 

upload_dateJun, 2014

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4 Comments |
B-D-S
 
B-D-S June 28, 2014
Awesome Photo !!!
vbovbo
 
vbovbo April 29, 2015
Great gallery.I enjoted it very much.Rgds
marquis1955 Ultimate
marquis1955 November 09, 2016
Thank you very much !
thatunicorngal PRO
 
thatunicorngal October 24, 2019
Really beautiful!
Vash01Photo Platinum
 
Vash01Photo May 15, 2022
Beautiful colors

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Tags

#blooms #cactus #color #flowers #simply cactus
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Behind The Lens

Location

While heading out of town for an appointment from Lometa, TX I spotted something that looked very colorfull on the roadside so I stopped and wow there they were several beautiful blooms !

Time

It was early in the morning a little after 8am, I remember because I was running a little late for an out of town Dr. appt. and when I spotted the colors I had to stop. It was also windy that morning so I quickly grabbed my tripod and set up to take the shots trying to get a shot with the least amount of wind and movement I could get. I also after some research learned that these particular Echinopsis Hybrid blooms are nocturnal and they were actually starting to close so the early morning timing worked out nicely.

Lighting

It was very close to golden hour and the natural light fell on the cactus illuminating them in their full brilliant colors.

Equipment

For the shot the gear I had with me was a Pentax K30 camera body with a Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 lens, I used a Davis & Sanford Magnum XG tripod to stabilize the camerA.

Inspiration

I am always in search of photo opportunities for nature shots. My wife Michelle is always a great help especially when we are driving down the roads and highways on the lookout for interesting and beautiful. My inspiration is a passion for mother nature and making photographs that reflect to my very best ability the scene as I actually observed it. Mother nature never fails to Wow me !

Editing

I shoot all of my photographs in RAW format, I use photoshop and Lightroom for most of my post processing. This shot I processed in lightroom which took less than 30 seconds, I try to get my photos right in camera whenever I can and as a result this shot took very little PP time.

In my camera bag

I have been shooting with Pentax gear for more than 30 years the gear I use right now, for camera bodies I always pack A Pentax K5 and a Pentax K5IIs along with two bags that carry my lenses which are varied from older manual focus primes to modern zooms. I carry a lot of gear all the time but mainly I use my Pentax 50mm f1.4,Tamron 70-200mm f2.8, Sigma 150-500mm f5.6-6.3 and a 1.4 Tamron HD tele-converter and Pentax 15mm prime. I always have my Davis & Sanford tripod for the heavy lifting along with a few speed lights and filters, Neutral density and circular polarizers (Tiffen) and of course extra batteries. This gear has been incredibly and remarkably trouble free and rugged so it works very well for me.

Feedback

Keep a constant watch of the ever changing light along with subjects to properly compose. My eyes are always on the lookout for opportunities to capture images that are interesting and beautiful, time of day can be very important. When composing your shot look at the entire frame of the viewfinder, keep an eye on the shadows, look for things you do not want in the frame and recompose if necessary. Take your time and understand the fundamentals of your DSLR, practice,practice and more practice !

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