2. Pacific Rim National Park

Pacific Rim 2

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'Cedar,-Tree-of-Life',-Big-tree-trail,-Meares,-Island,-Tofino,-British-Columbia
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'Cedar,-Tree-of-Life',-Big-tree-trail,-Meares,-Island,-Tofino,-British-Columbia

  • View along the Big Trees trail, Meares Island, Tofino, British Columbia (best larger).<br /> <br /> The huge tree to the right is growing on the stump of an even larger tree, long, dead.
  • Hanging Garden tree with lens flare (best larger)<br /> <br /> This ancient giant is festooned with ferns and other growth giving it the nickname Hanging Garden tree. It is a Western Red Cedar, estimated to be 1000-1500 years old, with a circumference of 20 ft. It is one of the famous old trees on Meares Island, off the west coast of Vancouver Island, now a protected site.<br /> <br /> Photographing the huge trees and the lush environment of the north temperate rainforest is an interesting challenge. The trees are up to several hundred feet high and the only sight lines to the top are when you are standing ony a few feet from the base of the tree; this means using a very wide angle lens. There is very little light penetrating to the forest floor, requiring a long exposure, and to get good depth of field and good resolution I used a high aperture (f20), and a low ISO. I was shooting with a tripod, but long exposures in the woods required almost no breeze otherwise the smaller branches, leaves, ferns, etc. become blurred. This makes shooting HDR difficult, and although I was bracketing, often the HDR merge shots showed the blur. Since I was shooting RAW files, I often just choose the best average exposure and took care of the highlights and shadows in Adobe Camera Raw. Because the trees are so tall, I was shooting almost straight up and often into the sun, which gave very contrasty light. Hence the lens flare in this image, which I rather like for the enchanted feeling it gives to this ancient scene. I'm still not completely happy that I am capturing the full impact of these big trees with a still photo...maybe it requires video.<br /> <br /> These shots are especially apt right now since we are in a record drought here on the West Coast, and the trees start to suffer from lack of rain. It's hard to maintain a rain forest without rain, and the forests are tinder dry. We now have many forest fires, some out of control and threatening towns. The air is full of smoke from the fires everywhere in the province and, unusual for us, we have air quality advisories.<br /> <br /> Other photos from Meares Island, showing the lush growth and the big trees can be seen here: <a href="http://goo.gl/FSUlNr">http://goo.gl/FSUlNr</a><br /> <br /> 10/07/15 <a href="http://www.allenfotowild.com">http://www.allenfotowild.com</a>
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