Parodia (Notocactus) mammulosus

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:33 am

Parodia (Notocactus) mammulosus

DaveW

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:12 am

WOW! WOW Dave!

This is simply BEAUTIFUL!

Spectacular!
Logging in I even started my username with WOW!

I like those compact bunch of flowers! ... and DOF just on right place...
I would be in temptation to apply a little bit of noise reduction, but overall it is GREAT!

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue May 22, 2007 11:29 am

As it's 100 ISO the noise should not have been too bad?

Here's one you either like or you hate as it's far more abstract.

Parodia (Notocactus) rutilans

DaveW

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue May 22, 2007 12:36 pm

I like this one also!

ISO 100? Really? So it must be actually "bokeh" effect. I think Nikon makes lenses with a Defocus Control function.(?)

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue May 22, 2007 12:58 pm

They were both shot with a 70mm-180mm Micro Nikkor on a Nikon D200. Nikon did do a defocus control lens in the past but I think it is now withdrawn.

Exif Data:-

N. mammulosus focal length 70mm, 1/160th second @ f8

N. rutilans focal length 180mm, 1/160th second @ f6.3

All the best,

DaveW

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:15 pm

Beautiful! I like both very much!

Nikola, you mention "noise" and "bokeh" regarding image 1. It looks very quiet & smooth to me. (This is confirmed by aggressive sharpening in Photoshop, e.g. USM 500% at 1 pixel). In a few places, most obviously at upper right and in the lower corners, there is some mottling that I believe is in-focus portions of petals. Are you maybe looking at those? If not, then what?

Dave, do you have more where these came from?

--Rik

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:48 pm

Yes Rik, you are right about corners (upper right especially). Some kind of granulation is visible. Could it be from pollen particles?
But in shadow parts of yellow color looks like possesing a little amount of noise. I think noise is always more noticeable at in shadow parts regardless of ISO.
I found some of my photographs benefit from noise reduction even at ISO 100.
... or maybe it is only my eyes specific..

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:49 pm

Not yet. I was trying an "Irwin Cactuspic"

I suppose I can have a try with some more. Will try and get them a bit more parallel to the camera too as I note all the stigmas and anthers are not equally sharp in the out of focus petaled one.

I was not sure how such pictures would go down in a super sharp macro forum!

Here is one of the plants used, Notocactus rutilans

DaveW

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue May 22, 2007 2:17 pm

Dave, may I try to pull through the noise reduction "engine" your pic #1 and post it here just to see the difference if any?

Wow Dave, I just saw your last photograph. You will kill us with beauty.

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Tue May 22, 2007 2:28 pm

Yes anybody can do what they like with my pictures with my blessing, I am not precious about my snaps!

Here is the other plant, Notocactus mammulosus

DaveW

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:00 pm

Thanks Dave. Here it is ... in Community Members and Friends section.

Bruce Williams · Post by **Bruce Williams** » Tue May 22, 2007 3:14 pm

Nice to put a face to a name Dave

Beautiful colours and form. You're doing a great job with these pics - promoting two interests - cacti collecting and close-up photography.

Bruce

karl-m · Post by **karl-m** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:05 am

Much prefer the 1st one Dave. It must've been hard to get them all in focus, (are these stacked.....???)......

DaveW · Post by **DaveW** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:22 am

No Karl, I am not clever like you all. I can't even stack plates! Someday I may give it a try but I am still trying to get things in focus close-up first using DOF!

DaveW

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Wed May 23, 2007 8:47 am

Excellent pictures Dave. You are doing a hell of a job on capturing the beauty of these wonderful plants (putting eyeballs back into head

)