Last Mushroom of the Year?

[JohnRostron]

I have not been out and about much over the Christmas period, but I did get into the woods on December 29th. This autumn and early winter has been remarkably mild and damp. Ideal conditions, one would think, for fungi. Despite this there have been very few of the typical mushrooms and toadstool, those with caps and stems. Last Tuesday, I did find this mushroom. I do not have a precise identification, I would have needed to pick it to do that, but it is one of the true mushrooms: Agaricus.



I did a bit of gardening, removing the leaf litter in front of the stipe and from the cap, but I did not remove other debris attached to the cap. Unfortunately it was growing in a very inconvenient position, at the side of a ride, but close to the entrance to the wood. Thus it was strongly lit from that side. The only position from which I could photograph it was from the ride, on the part-shaded side, so that the cap was well-lit, from behind, and the stipe poorly lit. Just the circumstanced for some exposure bracketing! Unfortunately I did not have my tripod (large or small) nor the bean-bag that my daughter had given me for Christmas so, I had to resort to hand-held. But in order to get down to near-ground level (just where the bean-bag would have been useful) I resorted to my trick of standing with my back to the mushroom and bending over to take the photos between my legs, which is not so easy when you are 73. I took several shots at various exposures and merged them in Photoshop.

Taken with my Canon PowerShot SX260HS at 1/100, f/4 and 800.

Given the circumstances, comment and criticism would be welcome.

John

[Sam W]

I think you did a great job given the circumstances. Seems it would have been difficult not to overexpose the whites but you managed very well.

[Geoff F]

Yes this has come out well. There are a couple of small bright spots near the top edge which could be cloned or cropped out, but the main subject is fine.

The trouble with identification of that sort of fungus is that you would probably have to do a spore print from it to even get started with any identification keys. So 'Unidentified' is certainly the simplest option.

ps. Sometimes I find an angle where I can position my body to create a bit of light shadow; but I'm 5 years younger!

[jcuknz]

When I was fungi hunting I equiped myself with some small reflectors which slid in my pocket ... silver paper glued to white card so one has the option of hard or soft fill. I also think you should look to your editor with regard to 'not bracketing because no tripod' ... if one has layers and the ability to reduce the density of the top layer to see through it to aid registration ... or in my case a mini-tripod was very useful, though in film days I made myself a short monopod to support the camera for near earth level views on one assignment. Both reflectors and pod fitted in my pocket.



Just a snap when I saw it while photographing graves for record purposes. Fungi are objects to be photographed rather than ID in my book

[IzzieK]

Great shot, John...You had exposed the main subject very well indeed...

Someone sometime ago mentioned not bean bag for ground level but those packaging material to take with your camera bag just in case of such low shooting situations. It is clean and can protect your gear from dirt and wet. I always carry a tarp too at times because it is adjustable to the height that you need...