The Glowing Cactus

I go hiking at the Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge at least a couple of time per month. I always bring a camera, but sometimes I feel that I have taken every photo that there is to be taken out there. I know every trail, every overlook, every dry creek bed, and every hill. I know where the sunlight is going to be and when it is going to be there. I know when the grass will be green, golden yellow, or fading to gray. I know when and where the wildflowers will be, and so on. But still, the place is within easy reach of my house, it’s a peaceful place, and I enjoy being out there. So, my strategy for Sunday was to bring a long lens (100-400mm) and try to focus on small portions of the landscape and see what sort of vignettes I could make with that. I also brought a 35mm prime with me because I’m me.

Turns out I didn’t make much out of the landscape with the long focal length, but I did get distracted by prickly pear cactus in the late afternoon sunlight. I really love the way the needles catch the golden hour light and appear to glow around the cactus pads. To see this you have to be standing such that the cactus is between you and the low-hanging sun. This is fine to look at as you can hold your hand up and shade your eyes from the sun, but it is difficult to photograph well as the sunlight on the lens either flares or washes out the contrast of your image. But, I couldn’t resist the cactus and spent a lot of time shooting them backlit by the sun and my lenses are pretty good about maintaining contrast under these conditions.

The image below is shot with the long lens at 400mm as I knelt down in the rocks. I came across this scene and knew I had to do something with it. I loved the flare of grass that was behind this small cactus. I worked to capture that cactus backlit by the sun, with its needles glowing gold, while the out-of-focus grasses in the background shoot up like fireworks behind it. There is a tree to the left that I couldn’t shoot around so it sits there throwing the image out of balance, but it is the scene that I saw.

Below is a prickly heart-shaped cactus backlit by the sun. This image was shot at 360mm to get in tight and minimize the background. I cropped it square as the subject seemed to demand it. Perhaps I am a bit goofy, but I become entranced by these cactuses with their needles glowing in the sunlight. You can only see this just after sunrise or just before sunset.

Switching to the 35mm lens, I got low and close trying to get a fully backlit cactus. But then I experimented with stopping the aperture way down and trying to get the sun bursting over the edge of the cactus. I basically took about a dozen shots moving the camera around to get the right shot without too much lens flare. Stopping the aperture down to f/14 in this case, gives you the star-burst shape of point-light sources, so if you can get just the edge of the sun behind an object you will get the burst.

Below is another shot including the sun but with the aperture nearly wide open at f/2.5. The sun is blurred out golden light with no sharp points in the background while the backlit cactus shows its glowing needles in the foreground. As you can see, you get a lot more background with 35mm, but I wanted it in this case to get the bright sky showing you the light source for the glowing cactus.

Another camera hike on the same trails I have been to a hundred times before and still I found something to be delighted by. Now I can’t wait to get out there again.

27 thoughts on “The Glowing Cactus”

  1. I think the first photo is pretty good, in spite of the tree throwing it out of balance. In fact, in my view, a photo that’s a little out of balance can be more interesting than one that is perfectly balanced. But the second, well-balanced photo is my favorite. I like the way the sunlight glows around the heart-shaped cactus.

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  3. There’s something to be said for knowing a place well. I like the top photo, even if it is “out of balance”. The fact that you even noticed the texture of the light and the grass impresses me. You’re a meditative photographer. Conversely, I rarely see the details as I plow through the terrain… hence the big panos and usually carrying around a 13mm prime.

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  5. Yay, on finding something to make you smile. That’s always a good thing.
    The first two photos are my favorites, with the second one being my favorite. I think the sunlight’s glow is perfect, and I love how the one cactus is heart-shaped.

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  6. Anyone else see googly eyes on some cacti (image 1)? 🙂

    Great light. It adds to the contrast.

    Love the “heart” cactus — it’s very inspiring on the topic of love, and perhaps life. Keep following your inspiration, Jason.//mm

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  7. I wasn’t sure whether to trust my memory, but I was right. Seeing the glowing cactus reminded me of another similar photo of yours a couple of years ago. I found it. 🙂 That one was very good, too. In fact, it inspired a story, but the cactus wasn’t heart-shaped like this one.

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  9. I like the framing of the tree on the left side of the frame. In days past I used to carry a sheet of black construction paper to rubber band around the lens hood or lens to “extend” the lens hood and minimize flair for low sun setting photos. Plus I was wondering what it might have been like shooting from a lower angle up through the cactus onto the glowing grass stems. Inquiring minds.

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