This huge Baobab tree in Zambia’s Lower Zambezi National Park was revered by generations of local people and was the focus of ceremonial dances. Ii found it awe-inspiring.
I took this with my Sony a7 converted to Infrared. I shot it with a normal carmera too, but I found the IR image much more powerful. Sony a7, Sony 24-70 lens at 50mm. Manual exposure f/ll, 1/640th, ISO 1000.
Charles,
I can only imagine the stories this old tree could tell and the history it holds. Of course it’s hard to know that without your back story, but even still without that knowledge, this beauty has been around to observe and be part of a lot of history!
Composition is pretty straight forward - classic. I might even crop from the left and just go ahead and center the tree. It has such character and the way the limbs radiate out, I think a centered comp would work well.
This almost look like IR, or some sort of sepia toning. I’m sure due to the overcast conditions you didn’t have a whole lot of contrast going on. So I don’t really have any processing suggestions other than the crop.
Thanks for sharing the image and story. What a grand tree!
Lon
As Lon suggested, I would consider cropping from the left to center the tree. To me this image is all about the tree and I would process it to put the emphasis on the tree. I would consider darkening the vegetation close to the ground and brightening the tree to really make the tree stand out.
Thanks Lon, I agree that it would be better centered. And as I indicated above, I did shoot it in IR.
What an amazing old tree!! I love what IR has done with the other trees and the subtle detail in the sky. I can go with either composition but like the FG cleanup. The soft sepia toning is a very nice touch for an unusual image.
This looks much better to me. Nice work!
Dang, I should have re-read your intro before making that call - good news is, I wasn’t wrong! 
The rework looks great. Thanks for taking the time to consider the suggestions!
Lon
