White Mountain Bristlecone

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Image(s)

Harold's Tree_Crop Lighten.jpg
Harold's Tree_Crop Lighten.jpg955×1440 1.61 MB

Image Description

Being amongst 4000+ year-old trees is a magical experience, particularly the fact that they can stand for a thousand more even after they lose all leaf structure. They grow in highly alkaline soil with low annual precipitation above 10,000’ elevation, yet are one of the longest living organisms in the world. I have been blessed to visit this area a number of times, and they continue to be magical each time.

Feedback Requests

I know I should have lowered myself to the ground to separate the background younger Bristlecone from the branch of the old one. Shooting in full dark can be a challenge to identify the conditions within a composition. Any other comments are welcome.

Pertinent Technical Details

30s at f/2.8, ISO 3200 @ 18mm during the dark of the moon in mid-August. Light painting on the tree with one side a red light and other side with white to allow for creating the contrast in the rugged tree textures.

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I don’t see this one in Astro – maybe not possible to enter 2 categories at once? If you have a slightly different composition you could put it in Nightscape. I don’t mind the limb reaching into the tree on the left and I do like the rocky ground and the gradient toward the bottom edge. A month (or two?) earlier could have given a more angled MW and a chance to move it a little more to the left. It’s tricky to compose it with these dramatic trees, I love the bicolor light painting!! Maybe darken the sky and back off the blue in the stars a bit? Stars are a challenge with regular cameras.

This looks like the Patriarch Grove. That is a special place!