Saguaro cactus close-up from South Mountain Park, Phoenix, AZ. Pentax Zx-5n, 28-70mm f4.0 FA, Fuji Sensia, tripod, early morning light, exposure unrecorded. Scanned with Minolta DImage Dual.

-- John Sullivan (sullivan@spies.com), April 19, 1999

Answers

The light is too harsh and flat to do much for me; with backlighting, you might be able to really bring out some of the spines around the edges. Also, there is no clearly defined subject, no path for the eye to travel through the image...it is just a jumble of spines. Maybe a closeup lens could help to simplify.

-- Jon McNeill (jon_mcneill@hp.com), April 19, 1999.

I have to agree with what John said. I think there are some good pictures in this subject, but the correct framing and light are needed. The light just doesn't do the cactus justice.

-- Kirk Nelson (nelsonkk@gte.net), April 23, 1999.

If that really is "early morning light", the image is over-exposed by at least a stop. Or something really awful happened when you scanned it. In any event, the technical flaws detract from the composition and for that reason the image gets an "F". Sorry.

Nevertheless, I like the geometry. An element to fracture the symmetry would have made a different image, though not necessarily a better one. (Comments about "lack of subject" and a lack of a "path for the eye to travel through the image" notwithstanding.)

-- Matthew Francey (mdf@my-dejanews.com), April 23, 1999.

Ouch, indeed!

Thanks to those who commented -- every comment is helpful and appreciated, even the most critical.

To clarify and/or defend it slightly, it was indeed early morning, no more than an hour from sunrise. I did have trouble with the color when scanning -- when I compare the original slide with the above picture, the scan has much deeper and richer greens. I futzed with Photoshop as best I could, but from the comments it seems I should have worked a little harder at that step, at least.

-- John Sullivan (sullivan@spies.com), April 26, 1999.