Sunset saguaro

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Sunset at Saguaro National Park West. Minolta X-570 with 35mm f/2.8 Shift CA @ f/8, 2 sec. Comments appreciated.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), June 10, 2001

Answers

Very dramatic! Great wall hanger or magazine cover.

-- M. Huber (rurpho@tele-net.net), June 10, 2001.

Very clean and simple shot. The colors/mood are great and the silhouetted cacti add depth and a sense of place. What part of the park (trail/road) and when did you take this shot (time of day/month)?

-- Mark Freyman (m_freyman@yahoo.com), June 11, 2001.

Great photo. I'd like to bag one of these some day. I might be tempted to crop the last Saguaro on the right because the right corners of the picture fade so close to black. That's assuming the scanner didn't make it darker. Might also be possible to lighten the corner in photo shop to make the tone even across the photo.

-- Bill Kaiser (hit_escape@hotmail.com), June 12, 2001.

Thanks for the comments so far. Not sure if I want to crop the right corners or not; think they're darker because the sun set off to the left. Photo was taken on a hilltop not far from the entrance on the "Scenic Bajada Loop Drive;" trail starts at a picnic area. I have some other shots from the area I'll be posting soon, including some nice ones shot by moonlight.

-- Christian Deichert (torgophile@aol.com), June 13, 2001.

A great picture, but you might want to consider adding features to the sky- (the same picture can be taken any evening using a purple and gradual blue filter)- taken with some stars streaking across the sky (hour or two long exposure) would add a lot of feature. A lot of photographers would have double-exposed the moon into the picture (which is a copout, I think). Try siluetting the sun behind one of the cacti, and using a star filter let the edge of the sun just peek a little from the side. (An orange "hot day" siluette would go well with your "cool night" one.) Also, I think that a picture of only one cactus offset to a side would simplify the composition, and allow you to capture greater texture and detail of the one. (A truly great picture, but maybe a few ideas of schtuff to try, since you asked)

-- David LaHeist (nikonos@bellsouth.net), June 15, 2001.


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