Glottiphylum oligocarpum

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:12 am

Glottiphylum oligocarpum grow in the Little Karoo area in South Africa. The succulent leave were a bit shriveled and dessicated because I tend to keep this plant a little underwatered to avoid rot. When they get too shriveled, I put the plant in a saucer of water for a short period and let them tank up. They take a fair amount of abuse but will not stand for too much kindness.

Hope you enjoy.

Irwin

This is a composite of 43 images stacked in Helicon and hand layered.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 10:58 am

This is great! A beautiful flower, well composed and lit, sharp as a tack, and I don't notice a single stacking artifact.

You say "stacked in Helicon and hand layered". Does that mean manual touchup of a single Helicon run, or did you run Helicon on multiple slabs and then put the partial results together by hand?

--Rik

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 11:24 am

rjlittlefield wrote:This is great! A beautiful flower, well composed and lit, sharp as a tack, and I don't notice a single stacking artifact.

You say "stacked in Helicon and hand layered". Does that mean manual touchup of a single Helicon run, or did you run Helicon on multiple slabs and then put the partial results together by hand?

--Rik

Thanks Rik. I have been working hard on my stacking technique. After I compile my image in Helicon, I typically go into the retouching function where I go to each individual slice and paint in the areas that are in better focus on the slice than they are on the composite. It's tedious and time consuming but it eliminates mush out and problems where the program mixes up foreground and background. If your lighting is consistent, it works well. Otherwise, I adjust my images in raw to make them more consistent. While the program can account for some lighting divergence, hand layering cannot.

Irwin

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 1:25 pm

A beautiful shot Irwin. I have seen these before during my ramblings around SA. I hope you enjoyed your visit here.

cactuspic · Post by **cactuspic** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:30 pm

Joan, I only got to SA in my dreams. These little darlin's are my plants. But one day I hope to visit. I will post a few more recent pics from SA plants that I grow in my greenhouse.

Thank you for your kind comments.

Irwin

JoanYoung · Post by **JoanYoung** » Thu Dec 20, 2007 2:40 pm

I only got to SA in my dreams

Oh no, this is not the way it is done!!

You have to visit here and take pics locally in order for you to post them.

Please post some more if you have them or as they bloom Irwin. Succulents as well as cacti are really beautiful when flowering.