RC doesn’t understand targets like some of the competitor software does.
If the bark has enough detail you should not need colored tape. Take a few test shots and do a quick reconstruction and then decide if you will add tape.
What you probably want to do is take a few shots from further away / zoomed out (gradually zoom out) until you have most of the branch in a few photos. That will help with alignment. With this it is important to have a transition from close up to further away so RC can establish the links between the pictures.
as for reconstruction:
There is a setting that tells RC to NOT use the sparse point cloud from alignment for the preview quality reconstruction.
It will then take a few minutes to complete but the result will be much improved and better for a first assessment of the reconstruction quality and a glimpse at the level of detail to expect from a proper reconstruction.