Small shelf fungi

[DanK]

I've started playing with shelf fungi on downed trees. Some of them are truly beautiful close up, but they are a real challenge to photograph because they can't be moved, and they aren't necessarily arranged as one might want. This image is one of the first I've been willing to post for criticism. It's a composite of 16 images, stacked in Zerene. (For those interested: I stacked with both DMax for better colors and PMax for fewer halos and touched up from the latter to the former.) The individual fungi flowering bodies vary in size, but most of these were perhaps 2 cm across.

C&C welcome.

[escape]

Interesting and beautiful. I like it a lot.

[selig1656]

Nicely done.

[Rufus]

Very nicely done, Dan. This is an image that provides interest on multiple levels: the "arrangement" of the fungi on the wood, the various patterns and colours in each individual fungus, the texture, and the contrast between the greener and bluer ones. It certainly retained my interest.

I wonder if it might be worth experimenting with a little darkening in the top left corner (the brightness and colour contrast draw
the eye) and some lightening of the centre (excluding the tree trunk closer the to the bottom of the frame). I am not suggesting a vignette as I think that might spoil the colours and textures in the corners.

[DanK]

Hi David,

Thanks. These are good ideas. I'll play with them.

This is one reason I like to post a first edit here. Sometimes I receive suggestions that help me revise and finalize the image.

BTW, lighting was haphazard. I did bring a small LED with me, but when I got there, the sunlight was bright enough that it wouldn't have much mattered, and I hadn't thought to bring a diffuser. Because of passing clouds, the lighting was actually quite different at different parts of the stack.

Dan

[Geoff F]

Not sure what species you get over there but in the UK those would be Trametes versicolor. Sometimes known as Turkey Tails.

They can be extremely variable in colouring although most of those which I see are shades of buff or brown.