You should look at a tree as if it was a giant plumbing system. The trunk and branches are pipes that transport water, nutrients, and hormones between the roots and leaves. Also, this system will promote the branches with access to the sunlight, and the ones that lost it will eventually fall off. Keeping that in mind, let’s see how a tree grows when it has optimal access to light and water:
Obviously, conditions where trees live, aren't perfect, so they always need to adapt. Often, trees wait for decades until they get access to the desired sunlight. Also, they are surrounded by obstacles, so they need to adjust to their shapes as well. You can see how a tree sprouted next to a wall look like in the example below.
Eventually, due to lack of light or water, certain parts of a tree will fall off or be removed. That process is called “pruning,” and it happens naturally all the time. Now, guess who has a significant impact on this process as well? That’s right! It’s humans and animals. Let’s see how a tree grows uninterrupted apart from one pruning in its mid-life (on the left) compared to a tree that is pruned every five years (on the right):
Young and fresh shoots grow fast, so trees used to be pruned regularly to maximize their timber production. People have been treating trees in various ways for millennia. We can list 3 of the most popular types of pruning:
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01.
Coppicing
all branches are removed repeatedly close to the ground level.
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02.
Pollarding
upper branches are removed at the height of a few meters. -
03.
Shredding
side branches are removed repeatedly, leaving the main trunk and top growth.
Thinking about all of that knowledge we just gained, let's see how the act of pruning affects a tree. The one on the left grew naturally, and the tree in the middle was pollarded once after five years. The last one was regularly pollarded every five years. Now, just take some time and focus on the differences in their shape.
We can see that the very act of regular pruning introduces a lot of intricateness (one might say: character) into how the crown is being shaped. Certainly, it is only a CG simulation, but it is not so far from reality. The more complex a tree appears to be, the more possible it is that some past human actions shaped it. Natural occurrences like lightning, strong winds, or heavy snowfall can also have a tremendous impact.
Anyway, next time you see a tree in real life, try to read the history that is imprinted in its shape. And later on, try to use that knowledge to tell a story in your images.