I originally spotted this tree in Great Falls back in November of last year. At that time I had my D50. Since then I got my D300 and wanted to revisit the tree.

For this shot, I shot 7 images but left out the last shot. I started at f16 @ 1/5s, ISO 100 and bracketed 3 stops over and under. Combined them in Photomatix Pro then touched it up in Photoshop elements 6. (no CS at home and class just ended)

D300 w 17-35 2.8
f16
ISO100

D50 version can be seen here
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2322/2063500141_f68fbef8c1_b.jpg

D300 here
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3109/3087323847_3135702656_o.jpg

Nikonian in Washington, D.C.

HI DAD!!

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

I like it, except for the sky. Have you tried adjusting the "micro smoothing" slider to try to remove the noise in the sky? The uneven sky tones are the only thing that bothers me about the image. In a lot of my images "micro smoothing" cleans up the sky.

Tom
From Beautiful Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia

i might not have adjusted it past 5-8? i cant remember exact setting. there is a bit more noise in the one saved for web vs. the original image.

Nikonian in Washington, D.C.

HI DAD!!

went back and redid it with smoothing at 20...does it work better?

thanks for the input!

Nikonian in Washington, D.C.

HI DAD!!

Attachment #1, (jpg file)

Brent,

First, dood to hear from you! Hope all is going well for you and your family.

BTW, you may have been posting and I just haven't caught it. Still good to see you here.

I think this is better, the smoothing and the black and white of the shot make the glow acceptable. And you have some great geometry and tonality going on here.

Well done!

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