The day started out the same as it has been for most of the week, an overcast, gray sky with little opportunity for exploring outside.  My office is in the basement without a window or view so I venture up to ground level to recharge with some natural light every few hours.  I was encouraged by the conditions thinking by the time work is over I would be able to get some pictures I could process as B&W and they might turn out halfway usable.  That all changed around 3pm.

The weather turned to rain/freezing rain and my chances for any sort of picture outside vanished.  My usual lookout location is in our HR office since we share an interest in Disney.  As we were discussing a particular requirement from NY State for wage information I noticed her Christmas Cacti were starting to bloom.  We always joke that the darn plants never understand the time of year but it did give me chance to get a non-winter picture on a washout day.

Fluorescent lighting is never fun but I think I managed to catch the blossom’s good side.  Just some simple processing in Lightroom was all that was required for this picture.  I cropped in close on the bloom due to its small size and the ugly walls in the office.  A little increase in contrast and vibrance produced the picture I wanted to create.  I thought about masking out the plant and replacing the background with a solid black color but I’m thinking that might be too much contrast.

I’ll have to keep an eye on its progress and get an updated picture once the plants are in full bloom…