Bonsai Demonstration

[mknittle]

These were taken in an auditorium at a Buddhist church At the 70th anniversary of the Sacramento Bonsai club.
The lighting wasn't too good and I didn't use a flash (I didn't want to distract the guy doing the demo)
The tree is a 160 year old collected California Juniper. This is the first stage of its development into Bonsai




Sam started by working on the trunk. Exposing the lifeline.(the live vein that runs up the dead wood.)


Some scraping to define the live wood from the dead.

Wiring and adjusting the shape of branches. Sam is very good at this part of the development of the tree. He will save trees most people would give up on.



finished for now.

[Shadowman]

Nice shots.

[mknittle]

Thanks John. It was kind of a tough place to make work. It was dark and Sam moves fast and suddenly.

[mknittle]

One more the show was dedicated to This couple they live sleep and breathe bonsai. They are also on the board of directors of the club that I am president of.

I am working on people shots. Something I am new at.

[rpcrowe]

i suggest that you shoot in RAW (if you are not already doing so) and include a white balance target in every series of shots. Often exact white balance doesn't matter in shots but, with skin tones, it is quite important. Without a target, there is no way that I can tell what Sam's skin tones should be but, I would guess that this might come closer to the correct colors...

[mknittle]

i suggest that you shoot in RAW (if you are not already doing so) and include a white balance target in every series of shots. Often exact white balance doesn't matter in shots but, with skin tones, it is quite important. Without a target, there is no way that I can tell what Sam's skin tones should be but, I would guess that this might come closer to the correct colors...

That is a pretty good guess Richard. thanks.

[flashback]

I think you done pretty good considering the conditions under which you had to work. I'm not sure about Richards edit, only because the needles appear to be too pale a green but, I'm often wrong about a good many things so you should probably find a few grains of salt. Over all I thinks the shots are good for exactly what they, a documentation of an artist performing on stage.

Now, you say this particular tree is 160 years old? This was a 160 year old, free-range tree, collected and now being...bonsai-ed? So...how does one go about determining the age of this particular tree, increment borer? SSN? And I thought I knew tree anatomy but I have never heard of a tree life line, is this a real thing or more of a metaphysical thing?

Anyway always been fascinated with the art of Bonsai, the patience and 'zen' required to make and maintain these trees. I fully understand the attraction to this art, but I'm more of a cut-a-tree-down-and-make-furniture-from-it kinda guy. Great shots about a fascinating art.

[mknittle]

I think you done pretty good considering the conditions under which you had to work. I'm not sure about Richards edit, only because the needles appear to be too pale a green but, I'm often wrong about a good many things so you should probably find a few grains of salt. Over all I thinks the shots are good for exactly what they, a documentation of an artist performing on stage..

Thanks Jack. The skin tone is better but the tree is lighter in Richards edit. Richard was going by the skin tone and I was going by the tree.

[mknittle]

Now, you say this particular tree is 160 years old? This was a 160 year old, free-range tree, collected and now being...bonsai-ed? So...how does one go about determining the age of this particular tree, increment borer? SSN? And I thought I knew tree anatomy but I have never heard of a tree life line, is this a real thing or more of a metaphysical thing?

Anyway always been fascinated with the art of Bonsai, the patience and 'zen' required to make and maintain these trees. I fully understand the attraction to this art, but I'm more of a cut-a-tree-down-and-make-furniture-from-it kinda guy. Great shots about a fascinating art.

Yes that is exactly what it is. growing wild in the southern California desert. It was collected and let grow for a year or so in a large pot to get it healthy. After it is healthy the roots are pruned and it goes into a smaller pot. this goes on until the tree is ready for a real Bonsai pot. The foliage is treated in a similar manner.

The age is an educated guess and knowing Sam it is likely a conservative one. I think it is quite a bit older than that.
The lady in the last picture has a son that had access to a electron microscope. She had a similar tree die After slicing it they found they couldn't count the growth rings The trunk was one inch in diameter . inter the microscope. long story short the tree had 700 growth rings.

I have been doing bonsai for around 25 years

[flashback]

Awesome. I appreciate the information and am duly impressed. So then...what we should be seeing arre photos of YOUR bonsai!

[Ziggy]

Bonsai is something that has always interested me. Maybe when I retire I will look into getting involved.

[mknittle]

Awesome. I appreciate the information and am duly impressed. So then...what we should be seeing arre photos of YOUR bonsai!

No, this one was donated by Sam to raffle for club donations. Sam does come up to our club to help out from time to time.

[flashback]

Yup, got that. I suggested that you post some photos of bonsai that you've done.

[mknittle]

Bonsai is something that has always interested me. Maybe when I retire I will look into getting involved.

Yeah, Most of our (Sierra Bonsai) club members are retired. It isn't as much work as most people think depending on the amount of plants you have. Watering is the most important thing. And don't buy one from Home depot as it is likely dead already.( the ready made ones that is) I added that because I am going to contradict myself on that later

[Manfred M]

Mark - another general photography "rule" is that you should balance to get the skin looking right. Most of the other issues tend to be overlooked, but get the skin colour off and people are going to think there is something wrong with the image.

That being said, I suspect that there are different colour temperature light sources at play. The camera right side of Sam seems to be more orange than the camera left side. Another trick you can try to get the skin tones looking better is to slightly desaturate the image and that will often be good enough.

Another issue that we sometimes get in images (and this often shows up in clothing) is something called "metamerism", which is where materials exhibit different colours under different types of lighting. I'm fairly sure I've noticed this in leaves as well and wonder if this is why the leaves look a bit off in Richards edit where the skin tones look better.

While I do use the neutral gray target in my studio work, it does fail in mixed lighting situations.

[mknittle]

I think you done pretty good considering the conditions under which you had to work. I'm not sure about Richards edit, only because the needles appear to be too pale a green but, I'm often wrong about a good many things so you should probably find a few grains of salt. Over all I thinks the shots are good for exactly what they, a documentation of an artist performing on stage.

Now, you say this particular tree is 160 years old? This was a 160 year old, free-range tree, collected and now being...bonsai-ed? So...how does one go about determining the age of this particular tree, increment borer? SSN? And I thought I knew tree anatomy but I have never heard of a tree life line, is this a real thing or more of a metaphysical thing?

Anyway always been fascinated with the art of Bonsai, the patience and 'zen' required to make and maintain these trees. I fully understand the attraction to this art, but I'm more of a cut-a-tree-down-and-make-furniture-from-it kinda guy. Great shots about a fascinating art.

Oops, I forgot to address the tree life line. On most trees the cambium and xylem surround the inactive(dead wood)in layers under the bark. In Junipers they run in veins up the dead wood. When a tree is very healthy the veins run up the trunk tightly pressed together side by side(mostly) if the roots /foliage that feed each other that vein dies. In bonsai it is desirable to have a bleached trunk with a defined red vein feeding the foliage. Think high in the mountains weathered and beaten but part is surviving.

The lifeline on this tree is clearly visible.
http://ibonsaiclub.forumotion.com/t5...niper-repotted

[rpcrowe]

Mark - another general photography "rule" is that you should balance to get the skin looking right. Most of the other issues tend to be overlooked, but get the skin colour off and people are going to think there is something wrong with the image.

That being said, I suspect that there are different colour temperature light sources at play. The camera right side of Sam seems to be more orange than the camera left side. Another trick you can try to get the skin tones looking better is to slightly desaturate the image and that will often be good enough.

Another issue that we sometimes get in images (and this often shows up in clothing) is something called "metamerism", which is where materials exhibit different colours under different types of lighting. I'm fairly sure I've noticed this in leaves as well and wonder if this is why the leaves look a bit off in Richards edit where the skin tones look better.

While I do use the neutral gray target in my studio work, it does fail in mixed lighting situations.

I desaturated the image because I had no baseline to get what I consider a more correct skin tone...

[IzzieK]

Mark, this is a most informative post. I like the Bonzai process for a long time and admire those that have the time to do them. Concentrating on the gardening process is very fulfilling.