 Creative Notes
Twisted, distorted and surreal. This cactus at the Seattle Volunteer Park Conservatory was really something to look at. I selected my fisheye lens to compress the background and highlight the oddity of this plant. I worked this image over and over again to compose it thus. After playing with some perspective correction, I decided to keep the fisheye effect (dramatically apparent in the window panes) because it seemed to heighten the experience. The effect is less pronounced in the vegitation below which makes the cactus seem to be somewhat grounded in "reality".
 Technical Notes
There was a great deal of post-processing involved in creating this image and it is a great example of why I call taking the photgraphs "information collection". I bracketed three images by two stops (f/22 at 1, 4 and 15 second). I combined all three images into and high-dynamic range (HDR) file and then used ToneMapping. This was necessary because the cactus was partly backlit. (Notice how the light from above highlights the ends). After converstion to grayscale, I adjusted the contrast and gamma point using the Levels tool. Finally I cropped the image to the dimensions shown.
Place: Seattle Conservatory, USA
Date: November 10th, 2006
Time: 2:31pm
Camera Settings
- Shutter Speed: 1, 4 and 15 sec
- Lens Aperature: f/22
- Focal Length: 15 mm
- ISO Speed: 100
- Flash: did not fire
- Exposure Comp: -2, 0 and +2
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