What?  You’ve never heard of a “Thanksgiving Cactus”?  I hadn’t either, until we got this plant a few years ago.  We thought we had a “Christmas Cactus”, but it bloomed about a month early the first year we got it, and it has done so every year since.  I have made a few attempts before to photograph the beautiful flowers, but have always fallen short of success ... until today.

 

Although this plant is unique, all Christmas Cacti that I’ve seen are a bit shy about their blossoms, providing the most beautiful view to those creatures at ground level.  To get this shot, I had to become one of those ground-level creatures.  I got underneath the plant and, with the help of an articulating tripod and a ball (tripod) head, was able to achieve an extremely low-angle shot, aiming the camera almost directly upward.  The room had sunlight streaming in through south-facing windows; the white ceiling provided an excellent large and diffuse light source, providing a wonderful rear-lighting for these flowers.  My manually focused exposure was f/22 for 2s.  To handle the long exposure without blur, I covered the nearby heater vent, and used a remote control cable to isolate me from the camera and give me 3s of delay for any vibrations to settle down.  I also held my breath (literally and figuratively).  My composition intentionally includes just a hint of the color- and shape-contrasting foliage.