Beautiful...love the dark composition and paint-by-light feel.

Lovely light here Jill and a great title.

Thanks so much CJ & Brent, what a pity you do not have your collection still. But it sounds by the amount of rain you are having these will rot.

I love the light on those spines Jill. I had a wonderful collection of cacti when I lived in California. I gave them all away before I moved north to Washington- only to find lots of people were growing them successfully there! :-(

This is gorgeous Jill! The light is absolutely perfect for the topic and really enhances the image. Beautiful, and with wonderful detail in the pot, rocks and cactus! :-)

Deadly...LOL , not really Steve, unless you sat on it.

The way the light hits all the spines really makes the shot, great title as well, that thing could be deadly.

Doug, you are too kind, thanks.

I must agree with Rod. There couldn't be more proof than this that the first ingredient to any great photo is the light. Job well done Jill. -Doug

Thanks so much ,John.

Rod you are too kind, so glad you liked it. Now the border...come on Rod, it just frames and holds together the whole pic, without it would just be that boring cactus :-)

Thanks, JP...it is not mine, we went to breakfast after our very early rising yesterday. The restaurant has an African flavour, so they have some indigenous plants around. It does, however have an exquisite flower.

This is an excellent exposure & it just proves the value of the light in making a great picy. What could be more boring than a cactus in a terracotta pot but Jill has given us a picy that is full of interest & even a touch of magic by just seeing & controlling the light. If it wasn't for the girly border I would have sworn this was a blokes picy:-) Wonderful work Jill.

I like that you were able to capture the red in the spine tips. I also like that you let us see the shaded side but not by a lot.

Thanks so much Marti, Penny & Helen.

I like your composition, and that light is outstanding. (Great title, too!)

Wowowowow. The wonders of light. I like this one.

simple and effective ....i love it.