Succulent forrest: Working too much lately not enough time for fun. So lets have some fun. My girlfriend created a succulent garden in our yard. I thought it would be fun to get right...

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Working too much lately not enough time for fun. So lets have some fun.

My girlfriend created a succulent garden in our yard. I thought it would be fun to get right down in them, the ant's eye view and shoot some blue hour pics of "giant succulents". So a couple pics from that endeavor, are attached below.

Comments critiques are appreciated and as always feel free to retouch and post your version if you like.

Succulent Garden in Sun and Shadow

(Download)

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

JD750 wrote:

Working too much lately not enough time for fun. So lets have some fun.

My girlfriend created a succulent garden in our yard. I thought it would be fun to get right down in them, the ant's eye view and shoot some blue hour pics of "giant succulents". So a couple pics from that endeavor, are attached below.

Comments critiques are appreciated and as always feel free to retouch and post your version if you like.

Very nice set
Images 1 & 2 are a bit bright ( on my monitor) the rest look great!!!!

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Manglesphoto wrote:

Very nice set
Images 1 & 2 are a bit bright ( on my monitor) the rest look great!!!!

Ya but! 3 & 4 could be tweaked a bit brighter.
Regardless of pixel picking, very interesting shots of neglected plants.

Succulents are a forgotten category, a world between Cactus and the rest of the plant world.
If you did a survey on the street and ask what a succulent was, would it be common knowledge?

IreneAC Loc: San Diego

dpullum wrote:

Ya but! 3 & 4 could be tweaked a bit brighter.
Regardless of pixel picking, very interesting shots of neglected plants.

Succulents are a forgotten category, a world between Cactus and the rest of the plant world.
If you did a survey on the street and ask what a succulent was, would it be common knowledge?

I assume you are including the cactus 🌵 as a succulent?
In San Diego, succulents are a very common addition to landscaping these days. They are not forgotten here…

IreneAC Loc: San Diego

Forgot to add that I like your garden and the photos.

Are they set up on drip?

Jim-Pops Loc: Granbury, Texas

The last one holds my interest. Plant and rocks have opposing textures making an interesting composition. I might work on highlights and shadow a bit before printing.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

dpullum wrote:

Ya but! 3 & 4 could be tweaked a bit brighter.
Regardless of pixel picking, very interesting shots of neglected plants.

Succulents are a forgotten category, a world between Cactus and the rest of the plant world.
If you did a survey on the street and ask what a succulent was, would it be common knowledge?

Hi Dp. Succulents are not forgotten in SoCal. They are popular because they don't use much water. In fact, thieves have even been know to steal bigger ones from lawns and schools.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

IreneAC wrote:

Forgot to add that I like your garden and the photos.

Are they set up on drip?

Thank you Irene! My girlfriend is the creative director. I dig holes and move rocks and dirt where told. ;)_

I have drip on the planters around the edge of the yard in back, but in front I haven't hooked that up yet. I plan to do that but valves and separate lines are needed because the timing is different for drip than the regular sprinklers. Valves and lines requires digging. It's on my list.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Jim-Pops wrote:

The last one holds my interest. Plant and rocks have opposing textures making an interesting composition. I might work on highlights and shadow a bit before printing.

Thank you Jim!

I think the last one is my favorite too! Solidly into blue hour light..

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Manglesphoto wrote:

Very nice set
Images 1 & 2 are a bit bright ( on my monitor) the rest look great!!!!

Thank you. :)

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

JD750 wrote:

Hi Dp. Succulents are not forgotten in SoCal. They are popular because they don't use much water. In fact, thieves have even been known to steal bigger ones from lawns and schools.

SoCal is a different world and your comment made me ask myself do I really correctly consider them separate?
"While there's a difference between cacti and succulents, they're also closely related. "Cactus" denotes a botanical family. Succulents are a broader group referring to a type of plant included in several botanical families. While all cacti are considered to be succulents, there are succulents that are not cacti. " Having lived in Phonix Arizona, I found that lawns were gravel!
https://www.thespruce.com/difference-between-cacti-and-succulents-3976741

In Florida I was able to grow Cacti for a few dry years, bedded in a mound of sand on Picciola Island, a sand island near the edge of a large lake. Of course, in Michigan growing up with western movies where were the succulents? They were nowhere to be seen only big Cacti with needles. If the word Succulent was used in school it might mean trouble... it just sounds like a word from "Playboy" magazine, nothing to do with plant biology.

My mother had those ugly dust collecting Christmas cacti which I considered a gift like a 11 year old Christmas cake that no one eats. Christmas Cactus have no stickers and to me all cacti have stickers. "Christmas cactus are actually succulents. "traced back to the 1840s. The plant is a hybrid between the Schlumbergera truncata and Schlumbergera russelliana called the Schlumbergera x buckleyi. ... only in 1964 did they find the true origins of this succulent." Perversion in bottany, a curse!!!
https://www.sublimesucculents.com/is-christmas-cactus-a-succulent/

NJFrank Loc: New Jersey

I generally like the first one. The light shining at just the right places. But it is not an ants view. Three and four are more like it. You’re down and dirty with both shots. There is no question on what is the subject.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

dpullum wrote:

SoCal is a different world and your comment made m... (show quote)

Fascinating about the Christmas cactus. Definitely perversion! LOL Yes cactus in the old westerns, mostly saguaro. ;). FYI I grew up in Illinois near Kankakee. I more or less “discovered” succulents after moving here and my girlfriend really loves them. We must have a hundred of them. LOL.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

NJFrank wrote:

I generally like the first one. The light shining at just the right places. But it is not an ants view. Three and four are more like it. You’re down and dirty with both shots. There is no question on what is the subject.

Thank’s Frank. The light and shadow was good on the first one, the birds eye view. That’s right I was able to squeeze my eye onto the viewfinder right on the ground. LOL. Got pretty dusty.

ebrunner Loc: New Jersey Shore

JD750 wrote:

Working too much lately not enough time for fun. So lets have some fun.

My girlfriend created a succulent garden in our yard. I thought it would be fun to get right down in them, the ant's eye view and shoot some blue hour pics of "giant succulents". So a couple pics from that endeavor, are attached below.

Comments critiques are appreciated and as always feel free to retouch and post your version if you like.

I'd have the say that the third image is my favorite because of the color. I really like the idea of getting down to the ground level and changing the perspective on these small plants. Great idea and well executed.
Erich