Beautiful, George! What is that first one? It whispered Discocactus to me, but I don't know. My experience in night backgrounds is that I have to reallt contort to get a blank sky. Maybe just too much urban sprawl by me... The Gymno is a great photo. The light and shadow bring out great texture and ...

George,
The cropping idea is a good point. I usually keep my camera at maximum megapixels so I can crop and get a decent quality out of what is left. Your first shot of the Mammillaria is in full sun? It looks great!!! The Gymno also looks great - even with the high contrast.

Shmuel

Awesome! Thanks. I knew there was more to it than trying to angle at the night sky. I have had the problem of sheen on black cloth, or just that the black wasn't really black. (there are zillions of blacks in the fabric industry). I also do not like the heavy comntrast of sunlight or flash - you gav...

This may be a dumb question, but so many cactus photos look great with a black background. How does one do that?
Do people move their plants into a "studio"? Or just put a card or something in back of the plant?

Shmuel

Very nice! Thanks for sharing. I really like your Haworthia koelmaniorum. I find most Haworthia prefer part sun to full sun. I have something like your NOID and I think it is a Gasteraloe but not sure. Nice to see you have reference numbers on your plants. Is there any particular system you use? I w...

Thanks Spence. I always get excited when I can put in a useful comment. As for spellin - :oops: Like I said elsewhere, Daiv has enough to do till he comes up with a latin name spellchecker... :D A great "miniature" of vilmoriniana I recommend Agave bracteosa. Great in pots, especially if y...

Also, M. marksiana has latex. Mine has hardly any wool, but it is present. Gotta get a pic up.

Shmuel

It is very nice.

Shmuel

I also use makeshift plastic rain protecti0on. 2 things to watch out for - the rain water can get very heavy in a low area of the plastic and cave in. Also the plastic can get cloudy from the UV in sunlight and not let enough light in. You do get sunlight in the bay area winter?
Shmuel

Looks like Agave vilmoreana - the octopus agave!
A very nice plant. Smooth leaf edges so it is much friendlier than many agaves.

Shmuel

I have to catch my breath after the photos in that link, Dave. There is totally amazing stuff hidden in the forum - great to see a revival of that one. Thanks for sharing it.

Shmuel

Yeah, mine in the ground is also 7 years and no flowetrs...
With cactus the operative term is definitely "wait and see". Good thing they are so good looking even without flowers.

Shmuel

Snowfella,
Did it ever give you fruit? Myrtillocereus are said to be one of the most delicious of all cactus fruit,.

Shmuel

Ran into this post looking to ID my Haageocereus. I guess it is pseudomelanostele. Mine are outdoors in pots and also bloom late fall-early winter and sometimes don't open. The fuzz on the buds and flowers on mine are white. I gotta dig out a photo to post. Did you ever put any in the ground? I call...

Yes, exactly what I was thinking of, thank you. And none of the algorithms fixed my spelling. I think we can wait a while for Daiv to come up with a Latin name spell checker...

Shmuel