Open for one night only

[Stagecoach]

Spotted that one of my cactus flowers was opening last night so took the opportunity to take some shots as they only open for one night and are closed and dying by the morning. This one failed to open fully and I gave up at midnight but had concentrated on the internals although the breeze was not in my favour.

No 1. 1/60s, f32, ISO200


No 2. 1/60s, f20, ISO200


I had taken 5 shots of No 2 with the intention of stacking but results so far have left too many artefacts to clean up and wonder if it's worth the time.

Comments and suggestions welcome as always.

Grahame

[IzzieK]

So far...nice. If you ever have a chance again, if your camera has a built-in intervalometer, program it to take a shot every 4 secs or so then you have a time lapse sequence/s to work with. Just a suggestion....

[Bobobird]

Excellent pastel like shots.

Thanks Isabel for that suggestion. Never thought of it.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice shots..

[FrankMi]

Great shots Grahame, and this can be a lot harder than it looks.

My wife had a Night Blooming Cyrus for almost 25 years and it bloomed only once and that, of course, was in the middle of the night! We were able to see the blossom that night but weren't able to get a good film picture at the time.

Perhaps this cactus will bloom more frequently and you'll be ready for it next go around.

[Brownbear]

Very nice. I especially like the 2nd image and can see it hanging on my wall.

[Stagecoach]

So far...nice. If you ever have a chance again, if your camera has a built-in intervalometer, program it to take a shot every 4 secs or so then you have a time lapse sequence/s to work with. Just a suggestion....

Thanks Isabel,

They would certainly be good candidates for time lapse and the ones I have watched before go from closed to open in around three hours.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Excellent pastel like shots.

Thanks Isabel for that suggestion. Never thought of it.

Thanks Bobo,

I quite like the colour or lack of it with these along with the limited focus in No 2.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Very nice shots..

Thanks for commenting Binnur.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Great shots Grahame, and this can be a lot harder than it looks.

My wife had a Night Blooming Cyrus for almost 25 years and it bloomed only once and that, of course, was in the middle of the night! We were able to see the blossom that night but weren't able to get a good film picture at the time.

Perhaps this cactus will bloom more frequently and you'll be ready for it next go around.

Hi Frank,

These ones flower every few months so I have regular opportunity for shooting if the weathers willing. Previously I have concentrated on full shots with the black background and this time aimed for something a bit different.

Lighting was with the SB-600 on camera fitted with diffuser and I'm wondering if next time I should put this off camera to the side although then again this may increase shadow such as in the lower left of No 1 on the outer surface of the petals.

Grahame

[Stagecoach]

Very nice. I especially like the 2nd image and can see it hanging on my wall.

Hi Christina,

I'm pleased that you like No 2 as my intention was to see if I could capture it in a way that it could be used for wall art. I had a few more attempts at stacking the 5 shots I took but no acceptable results but just considered that I could attempt it using less of the images?

There's a couple more that I intend to work on that I will post her later.

After taking these shots I had an attempt at the toads that had been sitting watching me but they just would not co-operate each time I got low and close

Grahame

[Brownbear]

My pleasure. It works beautifully as art. Looking forward to seeing the others.

And some toads (uncooperative as they are), or perhaps a white flower and a toad... Beauty and the beast.

Hi Christina,

I'm pleased that you like No 2 as my intention was to see if I could capture it in a way that it could be used for wall art. I had a few more attempts at stacking the 5 shots I took but no acceptable results but just considered that I could attempt it using less of the images?

There's a couple more that I intend to work on that I will post her later.

After taking these shots I had an attempt at the toads that had been sitting watching me but they just would not co-operate each time I got low and close

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Bobo...I once planted some sprouts in my kitchen window and set my camera's intervalometer to 5 secs/shot. I had it on for only two hours way past my bedtime...It came out good. Two Christmasses ago, I had my camera set up in front of the Christmas tree so I can have a time lapse of the kids opening up their Christsmas presents and in between my husband took photos of me preparing our Christmas meals...there are a lot of possibilities for time lapse.

Excellent pastel like shots.

Thanks Isabel for that suggestion. Never thought of it.

[deetheturk]

Hi Grahame,I like both,well done!

[Stagecoach]

Hi Grahame,I like both,well done!

Thanks David,

A pity there were no critters on it

Grahame