Olympic National Park Tree Burls
Landscapes,  National Parks,  Travel

Tree Burls at Olympic National Park – A Unique Photography Opportunity

Tree burls are fascinating, often gnarled growths that form on trees, resulting from a tree’s response to stress or injury. These unique formations not only contribute to the tree’s resilience but also offer striking and prized material for woodworkers and artisans.

Tree burls are relatively uncommon, but not rare, occurring on a small percentage of trees in a given forest.  However, the woods surrounding the Spruce Burl Trail in Olympic National Park are loaded with Spruce trees with large burls.  This high concentration of spruce trees with large burls makes the Spruce Burl Trail a unique and interesting photography opportunity.

Tree burls are caused by a variety of stress factors that disrupt the normal growth patterns of a tree. These stressors can include physical injury, such as damage from animals, insects, or human activity, as well as environmental stress like harsh weather conditions. Infections from bacteria, fungi, or viruses can also trigger the formation of burls.

Since the Spruce Burl Trail is located along the Olympic coast, it is assumed that the burls are caused by environmental stress from the constant misting of salt air they get off of the Pacific Ocean.

Tree Burl at Olympic National Park
Tree Burl at Olympic National Park

Location of the Spruce Burl Trail in Olympic National Park

Trailhead GPS: 47.578690, -124.363212

The Spruce Burl Trailhead is located directly off Highway 101, in the Olympic National Park at Beach 1, just south of Kalaloch. There are several parking spots along the side of Highway 101.  It is a short trail with minimal elevation.

Olympic National Park Tree Burls - Glow Filter
Olympic National Park Tree Burls – Glow Filter

Photographing the Spruce Tree Burls

Photographing rainforests or forests of any kind can be tricky due to the amount of clutter you can find in the frame.  Your job as a photographer is to bring organization to the chaos.  Here are a few tips to help with your composition.

  • Make the tree burls Your Subject.  Use leading lines, Rule of Thirds, etc. to bring attention to the burls
  • Arrange your composition with multiple tree burls to showcase the quantity of the tree burls in this area
  • Have some burls closer to the camera and some farther away to show depth and emphasize the amount of burls
  • Use 2 trees with burls on the left and right edge of your photograph as a frame leading to more burl trees in the distance in the center of the photograph
Tree Burls at Olympic National Park - Black and White
Tree Burls at Olympic National Park – Black and White

Post-processing Tips for Tree Burl Photographs

  • Use a vignette to reduce the clutter on the edges of the frame and to draw attention to the trees with burls in the center of the composition
  • Try using a glow filter like Glamour Glow in Nik Color Efex to give an ethereal mood to the photograph
  • Try converting your photograph to Black and White to give a dramatic or gloomy look to the tree burl forest.  Nik Silver Efex has a lot of presets that can help to jumpstart the direction of your black and white tree burl photograph

Olympic National Park is known for its amazing coastlines, mountains, and rainforest landscapes.  This forest grove with a high density of tree burls provides a unique photography opportunity in one of America’s most beautiful national parks.

Written by Martin Belan

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