Anyone else photographing fungi?

[marlunn]

nice set, some interesting fungi there, especially good on #5 Candlesnuff - Xylaria hypoxylon not easy to get detail in the contrasting black and white

[Geoff F]

Deep in my garden, under a bush, after the rain finally stopped but still overcast..

A Stinkhorn (Phallus impudicus)



They exude a dark mucus from the top which really does stink. Smelling of rotting meat to attract pollinating blowflies. This one is past its best and rain has washed off the slime; but that does enable the structure to be more clearly seen.

[Texas Dave]

Here's a bumble bee working a White Indian Pipe Mushroom. I really wish I had a macro lens.

[Geoff F]

A bee in flight is always a welcomed sight; and particularly so with such an interesting background.

[marlunn]

one from the Eden Project in Cornwall growing in a wood edging to a border

[Cantab]

Mark, that's a very attractive photo. Thanks for posting it.

[FlyingSquirrel]

But for a lot of fungi, flash just creates too much 'hotspot' issues, and because they aren't going to run away, I can cope with long exposures. Avoiding strong sunlight often works best for the same reasons.

Two highly under-utilized tools in macro photography are diffusers and reflectors. I often like to shoot macro in sunny situations; I just pop up my collapsible diffuser, put it next to the subject, then put a reflector on the other side to fill in some of the shadows if desired. Either tool can be used independently as well, and in a variety of conditions...including using them in combination with flash (though I'd agree that even with a diffuser, flash can result in undesirable reflections on wetter subjects). One advantage of using diffusers and reflectors in sunny conditions (or with flash) is that you have plenty of bright light to work with, and it can be beautifully soft, and you're in control of reflector so you can bounce light in for detail at various angles.

Taking a Custom White balance is useful as it gives a fairly accurate starting point for editing. Otherwise, selecting one of the pre set WB options is better than relying totally on auto in these difficult lighting conditions. Another reason for shooting Raw.

Good tips here. IMO the best way to do Custom WB is with a gray card or white card in the picture...take a shot of the subject with the cards in the image (close to the subject in the same light), then a shot without them. In PP, you just click the card in the image to set the neutral, grab that WB / color temp setting, apply to your image w/o the cards, and you're done.

[marlunn]

Mark, that's a very attractive photo. Thanks for posting it.

Thanks Bruce, appreciated

[Aeros]

I can see how it got its name, I'll give the Latin a try at translation..."Impudent penis" Am I correct? Interesting and well shot. I especially like #45.

[marlunn]

Thanks Richard, appreciated

[JohnRostron]

Here's a bumble bee working a White Indian Pipe Mushroom. I really wish I had a macro lens.

This is a very nice picture. However, the Indian Pipe plant Monotropa uniflora, is not a fungus, but a flowering plant, albeit one that feeds off decaying vegetation, just like a fungus.

[JohnRostron]

Having read through this thread, I thought I would get out and photograph some more fungi. It was throwing it down all yesterday, but fine and dry today.

#1 I think that this one is a False Deathcap Amantia citrina. It is very hard to tell though, because it has been bashed about somewhat, and the rain has washed the cap clean.

I took this using my newly devised technique for photographing fungi. The camera is placed on a sheet of bubblewrap placed on the ground. The bubblewrap is packed under the lens to aim it at the subject. The LCD on my Sony A55 folds down so that I can see the image. I either use ambient light, or in this case, I use one to three small LED lights, either on the ground, on a small tripod, or hand-held. I typically take two to four images with the lights in different positions, and then use exposure merge in Photoshop. Usually I set the Exposure Value to -1 for pale fungi like this. However I forgot this time, so I modified it in Camera Raw.

#2 This is a group of Inkcaps, Coprinus artamentosus, by the side of the road as I returned from the wood.

These were taken with my Canon Powershot SX260 HS, using another technique. I stand facing away from the fungi, then bend over and take the photo from between my legs!

I do have another of my fungus pictures in another post, here: What tabletop tripod (or technique) for outdoor, ground-level photography?, post #20.

[JohnRostron]

one from the Eden Project in Cornwall growing in a wood edging to a border

This looks like Sulpur Tuft, Hypholoma fasiculare.

[marlunn]

interesting techniques I use a home made bean bag its a 19p tesco wash bag half filled with polystyrene beads and sewn up makes a good camera rest that you can shape to the ground / camera to suit your need or use as a cushion against a wall etc and its waterproof

very nice photos, like the inkcaps a lot.

edit - 'Sulpur Tuft, Hypholoma fasiculare' - would agree Hypholoma, definitely, fasiculare, as most common = most likely

[JohnRostron]

No idea what it's called.


115.jpg Sigma by killwilly, on Flickr

This looks like the Hoof fungus Fomes fomentarius. Pretty obvious name really.

[JohnRostron]

Thought I'd add a few to this thread, I've not had much chance to get out this last month... season seemed to start late and the weather has been atrocious! But a few hours searching over the last couple of days yielded these....

#2


#4


#5


#6


Captured using Canon EOS 7D mk1, Canon 100 mm Macro, with multiple images focus stacked using CS6 and Combine ZP. (Focus stepping using Android app on Nexus 7, connected to camera)

A nice set of pictures.

#2 is the Jelly-ear fungus, Auricularia aurticula-judae.

#4 is probably a Wrinkled Club, Clavulina rugosa.

#5 is probably the Candle-snuff fungus Xylaria hypoxylon. This grows on dead wood. I would guess that there is dead wood below the moss in your pic.

#6 is the well-known Fly Agaric, Amantia muscari.

[ajohnw]

Here's a bumble bee working a White Indian Pipe Mushroom. I really wish I had a macro lens.

I've been rather surprised on how well achromatic close up lenses work out and do have a macro lens. i use them on a 75-300mm F4.8/6.7 zoom on Oly m 4/3. An older Sigma 58mm one works well and much to my surprise the lower powered Raynox one which clips into the filter thread also works well even though the glass diameter in it is only 35mm. I bought it to play with as Amazon have them on offer at the moment. The set up suffers a bit at the very long end of the zoom range due to the fact that nearly all zooms do. As I have an interest in photomicrography I have also ordered the more powerful one. I have also bought their best offering. 72mm fitting, two one 2 dioptre and the other 3. A step up ring should arrive tomorrow. The reason for trying this approach is down to the working distance of a 60mm macro lens. I often find it awkward and in the case of insects likely to frighten them away. The downside is that sometimes pure telephoto is a better option and screw in types have to be unscrewed and that is a problem with my current flash set up. - looks like the clip on one will always be with me but can't offer any guarantees that it will work well on other set ups.but at £39 currently it might be worth some people trying the 150. The 72mm ones cost a lot more. The 250 may be too powerful for this sort of set up. I suspect they are being discontinued due to the lack of filter threads on some types of camera these days.

Going on another purchase I would give the Canon ones a miss.

John
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[James G]

John (R),
thanks, I was probably being a bit bad mannered not naming them. Although with the Wrinkled Club I had only got as far as the generic Clavulina.

As regards the Xylaria, as you suggested, it was growing on the top of a rotting tree stump.

cheers,

James

[Geoff F]

Had a walk around a wood today, with somewhat improved weather, but not a lot of interest there.

After a double check on a fungi forum, I suspect this is a variation of Honey Fungus (Armillaria mella).



And a form of Inkcap possibly Coprinus micaceus since it was growing on a tree.

[vaez]

very nice series my lovely 3