Thanks, Jim, Alan, Doug, Tim, Amy, you guys comments are well received. I should give a bit more background information.
The photo was taken on one of the trails in the Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest. I took about 70 photos with a 10mm lens, on this location there are two Bristle Cone Pine trees almost side by side, any further or closer, the other pine tree would get into too much space of the frame.
The camera was placed on a groundpod because it's the only angle to get the Polaris aligned with the branches, I will post another photo to show the Milkyway composition.
The final images were composed with 50 layers stacked, with 2 min long exposure each; I wouldn't risk doing a one-hour long exposure, even at such a remote location there were unexpected visitors with blinding torch.
As for the starbursts, I am trying to reconstruct the way I saw the night sky: blinking, colorful stars.
There is a filter in Photoshop when you can add the effect, it's a bit tedious though.
That's an interesting effect with the star trails if a little overwhelming at first glance, and the Celestial Pole is very well placed. It's certainly fun to pick out the constellations.
A couple things that stand out to me:
1. The top of the snag is barely cut off, so it seems like a mistake and not a compositional choice.
2. The dark companion trees at the edges seem like they are included not because they add to the image, but because of the desire to include more stars. I think excluding them makes for a much more focused image.
Tim. thanks so much for the comment; I am always open to trying different compositions, if the weather holds up, no wildfires (crazy number of wildfires in California this year), I will go back to try some different trees; that Bristle Cone Pine tree forest is an incredible site, I am worried that one day, maybe an earth quake or freak lighting would destroy the place.
BristleconePineStarTrailsFrameFB by Black Rock Art
