I don’t suppose wood could be more weathered than when it is petrified. >=))>
I don’t recall if I had a cloud pass by and soften the light or if I used my diffuser but I wanted to get all the colors to come out without direct sunlight hitting the subject. There was little contrast/saturation added to the original file. Still too bold?
Sony A77
Sony 70-400 G @330mm, CPL
ISO 200, 1/20 @ f22
Bill, you’re point it is well taken on the weathering as well as the overall geological process too. The detail here is excellent. … 
Contrast & Sat look fine to me… 
Bill;
I keep wanting to rotate the image 90 degrees CCW… [Maybe it’s because all the petrified trees I’ve ever seen were oriented horizontal instead of vertical.]
Cheers,
Franz
P.S. Regarding the color/contrast, IMHO its spot on. Two thumbs up.
Hi Bill,
I am loving the warm tones and textures of this petrified wood. When I opened the large version I found the details to be amazing. This is beautifully done; absolutely no suggestions from me. BTW, the saturation/contrast is perfect for my tastes.
Fantastic find and presentation! Gorgeous and perfect colors and shapes. I can see this as a huge print on the wall of a spectacular modern house, passing for modern art!
Not too bold at all. I think the balance of saturation and tone works well as-is. The detail and textures come across very well. No nits here, Bill.
-P
Bill, looking at the smaller version, I waffled between it being petrified or being a close up of Ponderosa Pine Bark… That in itself says a lot about how well the petrification retained the details. The colors look like Petrified Forest, AZ to me.
