Blooming Cactus

I went out to Inks Lake hoping to see maybe some wildlife and a sunset Saturday afternoon. But, I ended up mainly focusing on the blooming cactuses. I ran across an area rich in pink-purple cactus blooms and had to get low and shoot some photos. It was a cloudy day and I didn’t always get much sunlight on the subject, but I tried to edit them to look warm and happy. In the photo below, four of the five blooms are out on display. I got down low and tried to find a good background.

I did get some sunlight on this new prickly pear pad. The new growth was so green and pretty and against the gray and weathered older growth that I had to shoot a few close-ups against the granite in the background. I’ve been trying to work on taking more detail shots and this seemed like a great opportunity. I like the contrast of colors.

With the photo below, I tried to shoot the blooming prickly pear agains the granite in the background and provide enough separation to blur out the granite to isolate the cactus. I’m not sure I completely accomplished this in camera but it got me to experiment with a Lightroom feature that I have played with before but didn’t really like the results. I’m talking about the Lightroom Lens Blur feature in which it tries to identify what’s in focus and add blur or bokeh to the background.

In the past I have seen that it is good at adding blur but not so great at isolating subjects and this time was no different. It selected most of the cactus but it couldn’t distinguish the needles and blurred those parts out. I experimented with using the brush tool to carefully go around the cactus parts and select the needles and even some spider webs to keep in sharp focus. And with a good amount of effort, this worked well. Below is my final image.

How well does the blur work? Below I have included the image with no background blur applied (left) and the final image with background blur applied (right). You can swipe back and forth to see the difference. I applied about 55% background blur, if that means anything, and it does soften up the background and further isolate the main subject.

What do you think?

I had an idea for sunset using a patch of cactus as foreground on the side of the spring creek valley. When I was scoping it out, the sun rays were bursting through the clouds so I shot that and it actually didn’t turn out half bad. I had to shoot exposing for the bright sky and then bring up the dark landscape later in editing. I like the way it turned out.

After this it started raining heavily. I waited in my truck for a while but I could see that sunset was a lost cause. So, I went back home. I did get a lot of unexpected shots though, which is usually the case. It often pays to just get out with your camera and see what you see. Thanks for reading.

22 thoughts on “Blooming Cactus”

  2. I tried Lightroom’s Lens Blur on several shots, but sadly couldn’t find one where it truly shone for landscapes. It might just struggle with complex natural scenes. That said, I’ve had great results using Photoshop’s Select and Mask for finer control – it feels more precise for layered terrain and skies.

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      1. I only recently switched from doing everything in Lightroom to using it just for prep and moving the rest to Photoshop. Honestly, once you get comfortable with layers/masks, you’ll wonder how you lived without it. Zero regrets! 😄

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  4. I can see how adding background helps isolate the image. But what a pain in the butt, just to accomplish this. There has to be a better way.

    My favorite image is the very first one. Nice capture of those pink cactus blooms.

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  5. So are the points on the blooms in the first image as prickly as the cactus spines, or soft and supple? I have been doing a bit of burning on images like your last one of the “sunset” through the clouds. I will generally pick the shadow burn because it would naturally darken the already dark clouds. But sparingly, kind of painting it in as it were, Jason. Also, I would use the dodge tool with a very low, minimal setting and slightly dodge areas on the rocks in the foreground as though they were “kissed” by sprites of light. Maybe on one of two of the plants with flowers. Enough to highlight and bring attention but not too strongly. I do this with a lot of fall shots, highlighting leaves or backlit trees, again, just enough to hint and add interest without going overboard. Guess just to add some depth.

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  6. Interesting about the subtle difference in background blur. The cactus certainly pops out more with the higher blur. But there’s enough texture in the background that I think I prefer the lower amount for the context it gives.

    I’m going with the pink flowers as my favorite cactus… Yes, just the color. Makes me wonder if it’s edible. 😉
    However, that last sun’s rays over the terrain is pretty spectacular. With the clouds, I’m sort of expecting to see the hand-of-God or something come down out of the sky.

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  8. I’ve yet to see prickly pears budding, but I haven’t been out for a while. Methinks I should get with it this weekend, even if the predicted rain shows up. Pink isn’t my favorite color, but I’m quite fond of the pink cacti we have. One advantage of a cactus is its willingness to thrive and bloom even without the rain many other plants require. Lovely photos!

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  9. The pink flowering cactus steals the show! Love it.

    Sorry about the rain messing up the sunset, but I do like the picture of the clouds and the sun’s rays. You can get the sunset next time. Keep an eye out for Betsy standing in the sunset. 🙂

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