Arizona Barrell Cactus Blooms

Hi Folks: Photographed this Arizona Barrell Cactus in full bloom yesterday.

Comments Welcome and appreciated - Redo's too

Gus

Olympus E-3, Zuiko ED 50-200mm f2.8-3.5 SWD, @ 100mm, Gitzo monopod

AP: F/11, 1/320s, ISO 100, 0.30eV, CWA, sRGB, AWB - Border done with Stroke>50 px>Color>white> Inside>Blending Mode>Screen> Opacity>50%

Wow, Gus, what an awesome blossom! That's too cool!

I really like the blossom itself - good details throughout and beautiful, vibrant colors. I'd either straighten the image with a CCW rotation so the center was more in a "cross" shape or I'd think about twisting it even more so it was more in an "X" shape. Also, any chance you can get some detail in the darker areas on the right hand side?

Such a neat thing to see. Living in the Midwest I don't get to look at cactus blossoms very often so thank you for sharing this one!

Hi Julie; Never thought of making it symetrical -"The best man for the job is a woman" Did the level bit, but the X idea would probably look better with the one off kilter line. Just made another photo as rotating the OP resulted in not enough to recrop. Is this what you had in mind?

Gus

Gus, I like what you did. I also think the "X" would work but this really makes it stronger IMO. Very nice!!!

perhaps it is my monitor, but can you also get more details in the brightest yellow areas? especially in the lower right blossom.

I like this one very much Gus. The OP is very artistic with the border. I can imagine a Christmas card looking like that!

The light in the second image is a little softer and you can see how the yellows are holding more detail. The petals look like velvet. Very nice indeed.