Taking pictures of trees - especially redwoods (one seems to be always looking UP) - is tricky since the range of brightness between sunlight and shadows is too large for either film or digital sensors to capture (here the human eye still wins). To deal with this, I have been experimenting with "high dynamic range" (HDR) conversion software. Most of the images shown below are actually based on 3 different photos taken over a 5-stop exposure range, and later digitally combined to give acceptable exposure throughout the image. Compare the first and second images below to see the difference (w/ and w/out HDR conversion, respectively). Note, the multiple exposures are handheld, and some "overlay" artifacts remain - still working out the kinks...