One of Minnesota's Largest Cottonwood Tree

[Paul]

Took some pictures of the monster cottenwood tree that has a circumfrance of close to 20 feet. It is hard to get a great shot of tree only unless the guy had a 10mm fish eye I guess. any here are some photos. Notice my Tamarac Bag sitting in the tree for size comparison.

Canon Xti, 17-85 IS USM

Now the Last one is not a cotten wood I just thought it looked like a dragon. Not the best picture however due to bad light in the forest.

[Steve Foss]

Paul, I think the wide-angle view of the cottonwood is good because it gives, well, wide-angle view.

But the last two of the cottonwood offer value because of the size they imply, and the final one, with your bag in it, delivers scale, which is important here.

Your last image isn't ineffective because of bad lighting, but would be better if your focus point was actually the foreground subject instead of the trees in the background. The subject in the foreground is blurry and the background is sharp, and that doesn't work for me in this case.

[Paul]

Ya I was a little upset with that shot myself, wish I had taken a 3rd shot. THe second was so under exposed I couldn't see it. It was really dark and I did not have a flash with me and my tripod was 1/2 mile away up the hill. ( ) . It was just and intersting picture though.

[MN Shutterbug]

That is an amazing tree. Next spring, you're going to have to meet up with me and show me these treasures over there. Hopefully we can do it on a less drab day than what you had for these shots.