Cactuses and sky in Batopillas valley Photo

Photographer’s Note

México is the place to go for giant cactus. The giganticness of these never ceased to amaze me, no matter how many I’d seen. The desert vegetation in Mexico is one of the things I love best in the country’s scenery.

The ones in the photo, were taken in Batopillas valley, in Sierra Madre, also known as Sierra Tarahumara. The Sierra is a fascinating place with very deep canyons. Actually, bigger than Grand Canyon in the U.S.
The plateaus on the top of the canyons have alpine climate and vegetation, but as you start going down to the bottom, the weather gets warmer and the scenery slowly changes into subtropical climate and vegetation.
That’s how deep these canyons are!

The valley of Batopillas is something of a lost paradise and one incredibly hard to reach. The buses run only every other day and the dirt road going there is the scariest I’ve ever seen: very, very narrow with very, very deep precipices on the side. No room for errors! You can hardly believe a bus can go through it.
For those of you that are thinking of travelling to Mexico, I highly recommend not only going to Sierra Madre, but also taking all the trouble of going to Batopillas.

ChrisJ, berek, efigesta, coco, fabio_ts, sleon, timleahy, fayeulle, Paolo, anavazao, Tue, aznegrao, manatee, pablominto, paura, Amaz has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

bantonbuju (48796) 2005-11-20 4:33

hola ricardo - you managed to present the immense sizes of those plants in a master way; with this pov it is really impressive;
best wishes, jerzy

snuggleaphagus (4140) 2005-11-20 4:38

the point of view is great and the sheer size is well shown, these cactus look huge. The sky is wonderful the cactus all seem to want to touch the clouds.

berek (29029) 2005-11-20 6:58

Hi Ricardo.
Very interesting giant cactus picture.Great POV. good colors and sharpnes. i like colors of the sky.TFS. Have a nice sunday.
Regards
B.Erek

jbweasle (9294) 2005-11-20 7:36

Ricardo, this is a very striking image. The contrast is good and the upward perspective demands attention. I love the way this cactus rises from the ground and then spreads to fill the blue sky above. It's well framed by the other cacti too.

efigesta (12181) 2005-11-20 8:31

Great perspective! great setting, rich colors, excellent saturation and great composition. I would only increase the definition a little bit. regards, manuel.

rosaline (0) 2005-11-20 10:09

Ricardo
As a visitor to Sierra Madre I can testify to the lage Cactus plants there. This one has come out very dramatically against the blue sky. The colours are strong giving impact to the composition.
Well done.
Aubrey

Graal (58732) 2005-11-20 13:47

Hi Ricardo,
big cactus, interesting place and good POV. I like the colours also. In sky is a bit noise. Good note.
Rgs, Aleksander

coco (28130) 2005-11-20 13:52

Hi Ricardo.
Let me make this time one workshop about this one.
But before, let me say: very nice the strong colours and the POV and composition.

Now, the WS.

[workshop] [compare] +

fverde (1699) 2005-11-20 14:06

Olá Ricardo!
Esta é uma composição forte. A perspectiva em que a foto foi tirada faz sobressair a imponência do cacto em primeiro plano e o enquadramento com os segmentos de outros cactos emoldurando a imagem é muito bem conseguido. As cores fortes do céu provocam o contraste perfeito. Um belo trabalho, parabéns!
Fernando

Fis2 (46429) 2005-11-20 15:16

Hi Ricardo!
Super cactus! Beautiful place. I like the colours and frame. Very impressive sky!
Good job.
Regards
Krzysztof

mayabee (374) 2005-11-20 15:51

Hi Ricardo,
When I picture Mexico I always have this image in my mind, but when I visited Mexico I didn't see even one cactus, and I was sure they were just a legend... Your photo proves me wrong (I haven't been to the north). beautiful composition and POV.
Cheers,
Maya

fabio_ts (13674) 2005-11-21 2:53

Beautiful LOW POV and amazing sky, and great "Pancho Villa appeal" .. :o))
lovely composition Ricardo, compliments!!
have a nice week,
Fabio.

ChrisJ (70443) 2005-11-21 3:39

Hi Ricardo

I like the superb pov looking up at the cacti. Excellent graphism. Perhaps Id despeckle the sky or add some gaussian blur to mask the noise. Good work overall.

[workshop] [compare] +

gaby (19793) 2005-11-21 3:45

Ricardo bonjour -these giant cactus are very impressive - splendid shot and POV - great sky -
Have a nice week
Thanks
Gaby

sleon (9352) 2005-11-21 9:49

Hi Ricardo
I love the perspective in this shot, which emphasises the height of the cactus reaching up into that blue sky. Very effective.
Susanna

timleahy (2189) 2005-11-21 20:25

Interesting shot Ricardo, very good POV, looking up to emphasise the size of the cactus. Sky is a bit noisy. Very good note also - thanks for taking the time!

...tim

ballyna (1689) 2005-11-25 5:50

ricardo,
u have a great POV here,well defining cactusses from there.the color levels are very pleasing ,and the lens is very effective .the cloudy sky is surely adding your compo,
regards

fayeulle (26547) 2005-11-25 10:58

Hi Ricardo
Very good note. Very good shot with tall cactuses. I like this kind of countries. Fantastic wild area.
Thanks
JP

Paolo (40755) 2005-12-01 4:17

Hi Ricardo, good shot, with some light and focus problems, but with a perfect POV and a fantastic contrast with the deep blue sky. excellent composition and note.
thanks, ciao

Galmeida (12559) 2006-01-09 13:39

Olá Ricardo,
Aproveitando um ligeiro atrazo nas minhas criticas e como era para breve a minha resposta aproveito também para criticar por hoje esta foto que gosto muito no seu Portfolio, mas tenho mais para si e a sua obra :-)))

Excelente perpectiva e enquadramento vertical. Possivelmente o Scanner criou algum ruido que nalguns casos e neste em especial poderão ser praticamente reduzidos a zero. O ceu está magnifico e o seu "Eye Catch" também. Vou tentar um WS sobre esta grande foto e depois diga-me a sua opinião. Não sou um perito nestas matérias mas é simplesmente e unicamente um pequeno ajustamento.

Para breve também o meu "Smiling WS" for a real critique.
O melhor para si e obrigado.
Fernando

[workshop] [compare] +

anavazao (5592) 2006-03-08 12:57

Olá,
o céu ficou um efeito muito bonito! Gostei da nota, perspectiva, detalhes, cores e composição!
Ana:)

Tue (25608) 2006-03-28 8:47

Hej Ricardo,
Excellent choice for this angle to show how tall those cactuses are. They look very nicely here against the blue sky. Good work and thanks for sharing!
Hilsner,
Lars

aznegrao (10246) 2006-04-22 10:52

Interessante enquadramento Ricardo, gosto muito da luz, das cores e do fundo que dá uma atmosfera especial a esta imagem.
Abraços.
aznegrao.

nika (0) 2006-04-30 17:45

Hi Ricardo!
It's a very interseting point of view you used by capturing these cactus. The blue sky is incredible nice! I like your photo very much.
Thanks,
Anette

manatee (4297) 2006-11-22 15:33

Ola Mr. Lopes:

I pick this pciture because this belong to Mexico and I like the way you choose to took this angle, your picture looks so magestic here and I like the sky too, looks veru brigth in the fron t of the cactuse maybe because the sun was to brigth, but I like this way and I like this is mixting witht the sky.

Well done my friend I was planning to visit this place this december for holydays but maybe I will visit my sisiter in Las vegas Nevada or I will stay here still I dont know, but the next year I planning to visit Creel and the Cooper Canyon, so see you and have a nice day.

Elias

pablominto (41372) 2007-08-23 1:00

Hello Ricardo,
They are impressive plants, really!
Interesting lines in the composition, and the hostile atmosphere in the desert is well conveyed...
Strong blue in the sky, but a bit of scan noise is visible!
Greetings,
Pablo -

paura (39306) 2009-02-19 5:41

Ricardo,
As cores estão lindas aqui, amigo, mostrando a interessante paisagem. Cactus com tamanhos e formas muito distintas.

Abraço

Paulo

Amaz (7512) 2009-09-04 17:59

Excelentes cores e linda composição, amigo Ricardo!!!
Interessante a nota sua, também!!!

Belo registro!!!

Meus parabéns,