Saguaro Sunset

[David Eckels]

Out in the desert boondocks. I love these cactus personalities.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

That's a beauty.

Most daytime saguaro images get pretty boring after you've seen a few, but the lighting in this one really makes it special.

[MattBurt]

I like them too. The highlights against the shade is especially nice as well.

[David Eckels]

Thanks for the comments, guys, it IS all about the light, isn't it.

[Paulo Bizarro]

Well seen.

[David Eckels]

Thanks, Paulo. I just started Zen Camera by David Ulrich and he recommends an exercise of making photographs just to make them, without thinking or evaluating, and to see what draws the eye. I figured I have more than 50K in my LR catalog and that I'd go back through them to see what draws my eye. This one goes back to 2014 and I had skipped over it back then, so it was untouched in post. I'd shot a bracketed series, just for grins or I was thinking about HDR, so I took the brightest exposure (ETTR) into LR to have a look and see where my PP wandering would take me. Maybe a pattern will resolve. I hope.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Many of my best photos are ones that I completely ignored when I first shot them.
I go back years later and say, "Gosh! How did I miss that one?"

[francois]

Many of my best photos are ones that I completely ignored when I first shot them.
I go back years later and say, "Gosh! How did I miss that one?"

Ditto and it's always a pleasant surprise to discover the forgotten ones!

By the way: Superb saguaro shot under the best possible light. It reveals the spiky nature of the "beasts".

[David Eckels]

Eric, Francois, it's an interesting experience to go back like this and find "the best possible light" and realize you saw it then, but didn't "see" it until now!
Thanks again, Francois.

[Rajan Parrikar]

This is a lovely image. (I like it even better with a horizontal flip but that's just a personal preference.)

[David Eckels]

Thanks, Rajan. I actually thought about that but didn't try it until just now and I agree.