Sagauro Cacti in B&W - Part 1

[Mike Buckley]

I relish that my wife now releases the shutter as often as I do when we go on vacation because she captures images that I would never think of. These photos, which I post-processed, were captured by her. I look forward to digitally eliminating the distant Saguaro in the third photo.

[HAZZA]

Great work by both of you Mike - I really like number 2, great shot, so sharp, well done

[Mike Buckley]

Glad to know that you prefer the second one, Harry. It's my favorite one so much that I love returning to my wife's photo time after time.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Mike,

Good series; my observation is that I don't think these would work in monochrome without the clouds.

While 2 and 3 display the classic formations (well, in my limited experience), do you know what happened to #1, it seems 'a little confused'

Cheers,

[Mike Buckley]

It's not that the first Saguaro is confused. This particular subspecies is a mix between a cactus, an octopus and a traffic cop.

Seriously, I have no idea why four of the arms are shaped as they are. Similarly, I saw one Saguaro -- and only one -- with two arms pointing straight toward the ground.

I think you're right about the clouds being important in these particular photos. However, we've got some photos with no clouds that are impressive exactly for that reason. The desert climate often displays vast expanses of the sky with no clouds, so being able to capture that emptiness can sometimes be very compelling, though perhaps only if you have seen such desert skies.

[Harpo]

I have not seen too many B&W images of cactus like this. These are good. One question, is that noise in the clouds- more prevalent in image #2? Just wondering if it was part of the image, post processing or the camera your wife used? Or my glasses need to be cleaned.

[Mike Buckley]

Thanks, Mike.

No need to use lens cleaner on your glasses, but there is also no noise in the image. The ISO is only 800, which is low for the sensor on my wife's D5100 (same sensor as on my D7000). The light was so bright that the ISO would have been about ISO 200 if she hadn't used a polarizer.

My guess is that perhaps you're objecting to the sharpening and local contrast enhancement that I applied to the clouds in the second photo (not the others). I don't usually do that. I did it in this case because I like the clarity that, for me, adds to the drama of that photo.