I see an attentive audience watching those people in the background.
Interesting, I had not looked at it like that but I see what you mean. Thanks for commenting.
Asher, Thanks for your thoughts. It was between 3 and 4pm last weekend and the sun was angled high and about 45 degrees to the right if I remember correctly. As for the colour, it is a green bodied cactus but the spines are red. With the lighting as it was in combination with the exposure and a curve in pp it really accentuates the red. Another thing I found interesting is the colour of the foreground cacti, they are much more saturated green than the middle set, the only difference is that they are out of focus. Focus, or lack there of having an effect on saturation is something I had not payed attention to before.
As for exploiting this theme, I am mildly obsessed with the Joshua Tree area and I will go back many times for sure. As for this particular patch of cacti I will probably be moving on from but rim light on cacti is something that has always attracted me since the first time I went out there. I have many more pictures that explore this technique both at sunrise and sunset but not as many have pleased me as much as the above picture. Recreating this lighting with strobes is also on my list of pictures to take.
This is at the cholla garden in the park at sunrise