This row of saguaro cactus was taken near Phoenix, AZ in February of this year. I used my Nikon D70, ISO 800, aperture priority at f14, 1/100 sec with the lens at 52mm focal length. Very little has been done to the basic picture except cropping and lightening a bit. However, shooting in such low light did result in a slightly noisy image so I used the built in noise reduction algorithm in Paintshop Pro 9 and compared it with the noise reduction program 'Neat Image.' The difference in overall noise (filtered to unfiltered) was impressive but the difference between programs was underwhelming. Both programs did a fine job of eliminating the noise and an 8X10 print is smooth as a baby's cheeks.
Members Comments.
John Hackett A simple silhouette with a superb sky. Some of the cactii look like fingers pointing towards the sky. Marti Buckley Beautiful picture! The lighting is good and the silhouettes also. The choice of cropping is very good and makes the composition work well. The only negative comment I would have is about the clouds on the left. I either want to see less of them - or more of them. However, it's pretty perfect the way it is. Pat Gordy The color in Arizona sunsets is wonderful – no matter how much noise you have. However, if shot at a lower ISO (100 or so) with increased time, wouldn’t it have less noise and save you a lot of work? Still, the image is very nice. Larry Durbin Stan Bormann John Parker LOVE THE COLOURS! The silhouettes add mystery to the photo and really make me want to get back to the southwest. HOME
Biography of Bob Athanasiou
Bob is a semi-retired physician. He has been taking pictures for over 50 years but now, in addition to spending time working on his golf handicap, he's serious about improving his photography. He and his wife, Barbara, live in a huge retirement community called The Villages in central Florida. Barb is the webmistress for www.thevillagesphotoclub.org and you can see some of their pictures there.
Bob used to do analog but has sold all his film cameras and now concentrates on his Nikon D70, a Nikon 5700 and a Canon S45. He uses Thumbs Plus, Paintshop , and is trying to learn Photoshop Elements.
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