So I've finally arrived and found this tree. It looks awesome. I did manage to take some long exposure shots but without our Milky Way galaxy (something I wanted to do originally). For that I went to the Patriarch Grove, which is a place located 12 miles away from the visitor's center (dirt road and at least an hour drive). And, it's located at 11K feet. I really had hard time breathing up there and after taking a few steps up the hill I was tired, very tired in fact lacking air/oxygen. This is a horrible and dangerous place so if you decide to go (and I think you should if you get a chance) be aware.
But, I managed to capture a few of these trees with Milky Way up there. I'll post a couple of shots in a next thread.
Here are two shots of the tree next to the Visitor's center off the Discovery Trail.
That older guy really does stand out from the others along that trail, doesn't it? I have a documentary shot of this snag, in hopes of getting something like your two fabulous shots next time I'm there.
Well, about all I can say is you nailed it! You did a great job with this one, you have me wanting to jump into my Jeep with my brand new D810 and go shoot it now too!
Thank YOU all. I'll sure will go back to this place more and more often. I did process one of my Milky Way shots so I'll start a new thread.... I also managed to take some Tufas with Milky Way shots from the amazing Mono Lake (Navy Beach) so stayed tuned...
Jim, by all means jump into your Jeep and just go. We should communicate more frequently too. We could go there together and save some money. Is there a trip announcement forum here?
Gregg B. wrote:
Thank YOU all. I'll sure will go back to this place more and more often. I did process one of my Milky Way shots so I'll start a new thread.... I also managed to take some Tufas with Milky Way shots from the amazing Mono Lake (Navy Beach) so stayed tuned...
Jim, by all means jump into your Jeep and just go. We should communicate more frequently too. We could go there together and save some money. Is there a trip announcement forum here?
I decided to post one of my Milky Way shots here on this thread instead. There's too much repetition otherwise.....
Fantastic set man. I never tire of looking at these old trees. Did you have to do any light painting at all? These look great. I like #2 of the set.
Your MW shot is an interesting. Most of the MW shots at the groves I've seen are all light painted. An interesting choice to keep it a silhouette. Almost looks like the tree is on fire with the MW.
Good stuff man! I can't wait to make it out there again.
Fantastic set man. I never tire of looking at these old trees. Did you have to do any light painting at all? These look great. I like #2 of the set.
Your MW shot is an interesting. Most of the MW shots at the groves I've seen are all light painted. An interesting choice to keep it a silhouette. Almost looks like the tree is on fire with the MW.
Good stuff man! I can't wait to make it out there again.
Jason
Hey Jason,
I'm glad you like them, and I'm happy you like #2. I love that shot too. It was way after the sunset so no colors in the sky anymore (no red colors that is). In any case, I did illuminate #1 and #2 but just a little bit. The Moon was up and did a great job helping me with that. The rest is just normal post processing stuff, like pulling the shadows from the tree only. To select it to this accuracy I used luminosity masking technique and applied it only to the tree, which was standing out already. So again, I didn't do much of a special processing either because I still had some light out. It wasn't a pitch black dark night just yet, and ~25 seconds exposures collected enough light to get theses shots the way they are.
