Christmas Cactus

[Richard Narf]

The house Christmas cactus (Zygocactus X "White Christmas") started blooming this week. I thought the soft pinks and the whites would be a good challenge. Shot under two florescent fixtures with a white reflector beneath.

Nikon D80; Sigma 105mm f/2.8 macro, tripod, manual settings.
ISO 640; SS 1/10s; f/38; +1.0 EV; sRGB

PP: CS5; levels to set B&W points; shifted central slider for a slight increase in contrast.
Topaz denoise and Unsharp mask.

All comments welcome

PS - The posted image seems to have lost sharpness in the anthers and pistols!

[Julie Kenward]

Richard, it's good to see a flower for a change!

This is what we refer to on the Macro/Flora forum as a "floating flower" because, without the stem to anchor the blossom, it looks like it is floating in outer space somewhere. Is there a reason you didn't include the stem? If you have it in the image, I'd go back and see if you can find a way to include it...it makes a huge difference to the person viewing the image.

I also think compositionally you could make some changes to strengthen what you have here. I'd take some off the right side, bottom and left and add a bit more up top (or else clone the leaf that leaves the frame so it stays inside).

I'd also take another look at the whites of the flower - you did a nice job of keeping them from being overexposed but they are showing a lot of black/dark gray to them and I think that's either your choice of BG showing through or you overdid the dark tones in PP. Remember that if you want to darken the BG for effect to always select the flower first, inverse the selection, and then pull the dark slider down. This way it only hits the BG and not the other tones within the image.

[Richard Narf]

Hi Julie. Thanks for your comments.
The question of a stem - this flower (and I think most cacti) do not have a typical stem, they are sessile to the fleshy leaf or the body of say a barrel cactus. I've posted an informational side view of this flower below.
The crop you suggested was the same as I had in mind - guess I should have just gone for it instead of waiting to see what the reviews would be. Next time I will!
I worked the raw image again applying your suggestion of selecting out and processing the background first to avoid the "bleed-through" of the background. That produced no appreciable difference in the results; which prompted a good look at the flower. The pedals change from white to gray depending on the light angle. It would be possible for the black to come through; but I don't think it's the case here.
Thanks for your comments
Best - Rich

[Richard Narf]

Here's the new cropped image.