Ferocactus gracilis real color

[ihoptdk]

So, I've been looking at species of Ferocactus in the last few days, when I came across a picture of a Ferocactus gracilis v coloratus that is a vibrant blue, compared to all the other pictures I've seen. Is this just editing done to sells some seeds, or are there f. gracilis out there that are this blue? (Cause that'd be great, if it's real, I love the color)

[Steve Johnson]

So, I've been looking at species of Ferocactus in the last few days, when I came across a picture of a Ferocactus gracilis v coloratus that is a vibrant blue, compared to all the other pictures I've seen. Is this just editing done to sells some seeds, or are there f. gracilis out there that are this blue? (Cause that'd be great, if it's real, I love the color)

If those colors are real, that's one stunning selection!

[7george]

Colors are close to real ones for seedlings of similar size, maybe just increased contrast & saturation have been used above.

Ferocactus_gracilis_ssp._coloratus.JPG (141.3 KiB) Viewed 2169 times

[Aiko]

And I think I am sure they plant is wet when they took the picture, to increase the intensity of the colours of the spines.

[DaveW]

I would agree with George the colours are obviously over saturated. In these days of digital photography it is easy to "gild the lily" in post processing, or even in the camera by turning up colour saturation. Some people of course have a poor sense of colour fidelity, therefore any picture will do no matter how garish and the brighter colours the better. Usually women have a far better colour sense than we men do regarding faithfulness of colours. Over saturating colours is usually frowned on in Natural History Photography where the aim is to be a faithful representation of the subject's colours as possible, though it may win photo club competitions.

See the variation in saturation for pictures of that species on Google below. Also some of the broad spined ones may be a selected clone from a certain restricted habitat area? It is notable how much less intense the colours of the broad spined one are in habitat in this link than on Google in cultivation where as Aiko says they spines may have been wetted.

http://www.cactus-aventures.com/Kaktito ... f0642.html

See variation in supposedly the same species in this link:-

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=feroc ... 80&bih=721

Given of course plants are variable, even within the same population (or packet of seed), some will be more colourful than others. Often in cultivation the most spectacular looking clones will be used to breed from, which may not be typical of the species.

[greenknight]

Here's an earlier thread on this subject:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... ue#p340167

Wasn't sure I could find it again, but I searched my posts for the words "really blue" and it came right up. Most interesting thing in that thread is that DaveW managed to find what seems to be the original picture, before it was reprocessed to exaggerate the color - makes it a great demonstration of how that alters the look of a photo.

Whoever did the one that started this thread was a little cagier - they put the plant in front of a neutral-colored backdrop, so the background colors wouldn't expose the trickery.