Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Landscape & Nature Photography => Topic started by: philipkenney on August 22, 2011, 05:03:52 pm
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Caught this the other day. I was just amazed to find a red tree in the middle of summer in Tennessee that is not a Japanese Maple.
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Nicely done! Trees' leaves don't actually 'change' colour... what we see as colour changes are actually the result of shutting down chlorophyll production (what makes leaves green). There are carotenoids and other isomeric hydrocarbons in the leaves that account for the yellow, orange and red pigments. Now trees and other green plants use chlorophyll and carbon dioxide to make food (sugar), and since they give off oxygen in the process it's very good for us that they do! However, in most temperate climates the winters are too cold for the leaves to survive so the trees create a 'bud' to protect the new growth over the winter and use a chemical process to sever the leaves from the branches. Of course those leaves fall on the ground, decompose and provide nutrients back to the tree.
Now there's a balance between shutting down chlorophyll production too soon (not making enough food) and waiting too long (leaves literally die on the tree), and there's a lot of variance between species and things, but essentially they rely on temperature changes and photoperiod (the amound of daylight vs. night). However, if a tree is stressed from lack of light or lack of water, disease, or other factors, they can shut down early, putting themselves essentially into a hibernative state.
More or less.
Enough dendrology lessons for one day!
Mike.
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Beautiful image. I like the light, the colors and the cloudy sky very much. The centered composition is perfect for this scene and the vignette adds a more intimate or focused look at the red tree.
Good job!
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Mike, I'm the kind of guy who likes learning those things so thanks for sharing!
Francois, thanks for the input. It'll be another piece in my Midsouth series so I'm glad someone else likes it :-)
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The colors and textures are great and I like the square composition. Nicely done!
Thanks Mike for the lesson!
In the mountains around here the trees are already starting to shut down for the season. The Maples are showing the first blush of fall colors and the Alders are starting to drop their leaves. I think the return of sub-freezing temperatures at night have something to do with that.
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The way you've processed your image (at least as it appears on my monitor) gives it a very painterly aspect, which I like. There is a nice tension between the sky and the rest of the picture.
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Reminds me of the Hudson School of painting style.
Great shot!!!
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Thank you for the painting comments. Framah, I appreciate the Hudson River compliment, although I haven't studied it much, I do enjoy that school a lot.