Mammillaria lenta

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 9:58 am

One of my favorites, this was the first year that the smaller offset heads were big enough to bloom. In many respects, I was lucky to retain this image. Before I could compile it, my hard drive crashed (earlier this summer. I sent my disc out twice for recovery. In the initial stage, I got the jpeg images (all untitled and in several large file. After I found the jpegs i ran it through Helicon and saved it as a psd file. But my white balance was wrong.

The images sat fallow during the continuing computer problems I had (The computer store had installed the wrong RAM which would corrupt the operating system.) Earlier today I converted one of the images to tiff, and one to jpeg (for some reason PS would not allow me to convert it into tiff.) I color corrected in raw, gave it a little highlight recovery, opened it into PS, made a few minor adjustments, and downsized the images. PS would not for some reason allow me to save it as a jpeg.

At first I stated to pull my remaining hair out (Not smart--I should be in preservation mode) and then I realized that the underlying images had been stripped of the exif data during the crash. I will try to show the exif data on my next go around.

Hope you enjoy.

Irwin

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 10:13 am

Nice spines and flowers, very well photographs.

You should backup your images on CD / DVD.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:42 am

Excellent pictures as always, Irwin.

"PS would not for some reason allow me to save it as a jpeg."

When this happens to me, it's because my picture is still in 16-bit mode -- great for editing but not for posting.

In Photoshop, do Image | Mode | 8 Bits/Channel, then you'll be able to save it as JPEG.

Note that conversion to 8 bits throws away information that you may want later, for example to do more level adjustment.

If space permits, it is good to save the 16-bit version, to keep your options open.

--Rik

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 11:44 am

Nice plant Irwin. Not many that get large as they get a bit tricky as they get larger. Mine is as yet nowhere as floriferous as yours and I am sure my flowers are not that long. I will put mine on as "Mammillaria lenta 2" so you can compare, as we are not allowed to post on other peoples threads. Hope mine gets that large someday!

DaveW

Ken Ramos · Post by **Ken Ramos** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 2:31 pm

Quite beautiful flowers here Irwin. I am always surprised as to the beauty of cacti when they bloom.

Dave commented:

...as we are not allowed to post on other peoples threads.

I believe that you can with the original "thread owners permission" there Dave.

Rik

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 3:16 pm

Ken Ramos wrote:I believe that you can with the original "thread owners permission" there Dave. Rik

Sure, with thread owner's permission, no problem.

--Rik

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:46 pm

Thank you Nikola. You are so right. I had a backup system, but I misprogrammed the back up when I added a new directory. Now I have a raid drive system that automatically backs up all my images on my main hard drive. I will be buying another hard drive because my mac has a different backup system. A little repetitious redundency can't hurt.

Irwin

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:50 pm

Rik thank you for viewing and commenting. You have so much knowledge that you impart so willingly. Every day I pick up a golden tidbit. It's one of the best parts of this forum.

Irwin

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 4:53 pm

Thanks Dave. I have not posted a ny cactus images in a while and thought of you. One grower to another, make it a great New Year for you and your plants.

Irwin

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Sun Dec 30, 2007 5:00 pm

Ken,

Thanks for you kind comments. Like you, the beauty of their flowers is a constant source of surprise for me...even after all these years. Their beauty seems incongruous with the tenacity of some of the spines.

Irwin