Hy @gamer00 .... Its nice reading this and also i appreciate you for posting this likewise
I got lost in this post when you said;
"I shot the cactus because it was reasonably small. I'm still wondering how to photo the big plants. Well maybe it'll come to me tomorrow..."

Smiles...That triggers my wanting to go all through the whole post because i actually know less about Leo's Echinocactus grusonii..

Lastly, you arent a lazy bastard because even with the dust, the candle shoot got prettier. As most photographers will say "i like to turn things upside down, to watch pictures and situations from another perspective." Which i believed it was what happened in the picture