Banyon Tree Oh! Banyon Tree, how do I capture thee? Feedback requested

[ggt]

While in Hawaii this Spring, I saw my first and then several Banyon Trees. Drove my poor kid crazy taking pictures of it. The one on Maui was over 100 years old and just took my breathe away. One in front of the Honolulu Zoo was smaller and had more roots. I was taking picture "inside" the tree and thought, "Wow, someone could actually live here" and almost tripped over someone sleeping. Here is one picture I took I thought was interesting and kinda, maybe showed how very, very kewl these trees are:



Anyone with Banyon Tree stories to tell? Thanks.

[dje]

Gretchen I tried to photograph a couple when we were in Hawaii recently but was dis-appointed with the results. I found it difiicult to capture the scale of the trunk/root system. They are amazing trees.

I think you've done quite well here by concentrating on the roots themselves. Could I suggest that you use the Shadows/Highlights adjustment to reduce the brightness of the sunny areas.

Dave

[ggt]

Gretchen I tried to photograph a couple when we were in Hawaii recently but was dis-appointed with the results. I found it difiicult to capture the scale of the trunk/root system. They are amazing trees.

I think you've done quite well here by concentrating on the roots themselves. Could I suggest that you use the Shadows/Highlights adjustment to reduce the brightness of the sunny areas.

Dave

Thanks Dave, I did adjust the shadows a bit to try to show the depth of the inside of the tree, but the brightness wasn't affected enough. I'll try some more. It seems to not only be the size of the tree, but the intense network of shadows created that are the problem in photographing them. I wanted so much to take home memories of these trees in pics, but it's just beyond me at this point. Here is another example of what I mean about the shadows: