A Most Interesting Plant

[Norm Dulak]

Canon PowerShot S90
ISO 320, f/7.1, 1/60 sec, hand held
Aperture priority, Evaluative metering -0.67
PP: PS CS5 levels, curves, crop, smart sharpen

This image, captured recently in the Longwood Gardens conservatory, depicts a compact rosette of Parry's Agave. The gray-green leaves of this plant are surrounded by marginal “teeth,” and a yellow glow enhances the central region. And what an interesting family this plant represents!

When an agave's central bud is removed, the resulting cavity fills with a fluid called aguamiel. If aguameil is allowed to ferment, it produces an alcoholic beverage called pulque. Distilled pulque in turn becomes mescal.
And mescal produced from the blue agave plant of Mexico is Tequila!

But getting back to my image, what do you think about it?

Norm

[Jay Sheinfield]

I like the strong pattern here...............sharp as a tac. Yellow accents on grey make for an interesting color combo. I might lighten the center leaves a bit to balance with the outer leaves. nice find.

[christopher galeski]

nice image,nice color conbination,sharp.well done.

[bhavya joshi]

Yeah..Nice pattern here.. Look interesting, but well compose and sharp.

[Jason Stander]

A type of Aloe (succulent) species... we have alot in SA... like the pressed patterns in the succulent leaves... TFS!

[Brendan Dozier]

Nice POV on this Norm, interesting pattern and plant, and the yellow glow really adds to a pleasing compostion. A bit surprised that f7 got all the edges in sharp focus. Nicely done!

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Norm,
I think the ineer glow adds a ton to the overall image! Surprisingly sharp at f7.1 with slight but very acceptable falloff. This works for me as presented!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Norm. A very cool looking plant with lots of interesting patterns - and an interesting background story too. Good sharpness overall and plenty of DOF. My eye is drawn to the the lighter area at the very center of the plant which doesn't seem quite as sharp as the rest - this may be just an optical illusion because the white "teeth" don't contrast much with the light background. You might try some additional selective sharpening in that area to see if it makes a difference. I might also suggest cropping a little off the bottom so the one leaf looks cut rather than clipped, but these are just small tweaks to a strong image. Very well done.

[John Storjohann]

Hi Norm;

I really like this image...great patterns, wonderful color, and a nice little story about mescal to boot!

[Norm Dulak]

Thanks everyone. I really appreciate your comments!

[Don Lacy]

Love the image Norm

[Adrian David]

Nice find! I like the paterrns an the combination of colors, and I would also brighten a bit the center of the image at "4 o'clock"...This would look great as a big print!