Mushrooms & other Fungi

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

It’s just so wet here Harvey, in the winters. Whereas your pics look like the climate is drier. When I took that green gummy mushroom pic, this morning, the remote release wouldn’t work properly because rainwater had got into it previous day... seem to get at the very least, one heavy shower of rain every day, usually more.

I do live in a high mountain desert. Most of my latest mushrooms have been in my backyard. It's nice for me because I can play around with different settings and even go look at the image on the computer before continuing. At least I could, rarely do though.

 

[billca]

Harvey and Bushboy, are these stacked shots hand held or tripod.

 

[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Harvey and Bushboy, are these stacked shots hand held or tripod.

My shot (#622) is 15 images stacked in camera and on a tripod. On the previous page post #615 was also 15 images stacked in camera, but no tripod, it was mostly resting on the ground.

 

[Bushboy]

Harvey lives in a high altitude desert, I live in a coastal sub tropical jungle.
In a jungle like where I’m at, light is often almost nonexistent. Shutter speeds get long, quickly. That green gummy mushroom, each exposure was about 10 seconds. Over a minute to do the stack. Exposure is the part I struggle with, because of the wetness, I have to deal with bright shiny highlights that blow out, and I don’t like them, so I underexpose. One day, I’ll get on the computer and fix them up a bit with selection tools and levels/Gaussian blur and that, but not today...

 

[archaeopteryx]

Exposure is the part I struggle with, because of the wetness, I have to deal with bright shiny highlights that blow out, and I don’t like them, so I underexpose.

Diffusion might be something to try. The rainforest I'm sometimes around probably offers more light than the one you're in but I've found holding even a smallish (100-150mm) piece of P95 acrylic sheet over the subject effective in knocking down highlights and avoiding stacking artifacts whilst absorbing little light.

 

[Bushboy]

Thank you, exactly what I need!

 

[archaeopteryx]

My bit of P95 cost about NZD 7 shipped and blocks less than a third of a stop of light when well positioned. It scrapes and scuffs easily but that's OK since it's a diffuser. There are much fancier diffusion panels and sheets made for LED lighting, a few of which are more efficient and could potentially concentrate light on the subject, but they're more expensive and many of the sheets are (like diffusing gels) thin enough to require a support. In addition to being cheap and fairly high transmission, P95 acrylic doesn't really care if it gets wet, is easy to clean, and is close to colour neutral. (It's also easy to refinish or adjust with fine grit sandpaper.)

I've considered some of the small, battery powered LED arrays as a continuous lighting solution but haven't purchased one. A white background on a phone screen seems like it would work about as well and I already own and carry a phone. Full brightness of my phone's screen moves a 10 second ISO 200 exposure in a 1:1 magnification setup (effective aperture of f/5.6) to 1/4 to 1/10 depending how close I hold the phone. My phone's flashlight LED is a bit warm but produces shutter speeds of 1/40 to 1/100 when shining on a P95 diffuser in the same arrangement. I've also two small white LED torches with which to illuminate the diffuser or directly light the subject. It's currently the dry season here so the bit I'm missing is a little tiny shiny mushroom to see how the lighting works with a real subject.

Another option is to use mirrored acrylic sheets or similar to reflect light onto the subject. However, one would have to carry and set up a substantial surface area to move an exposure several EV. For my purposes it doesn't seem worth it.

 

[Bushboy]

Excellent info!
Info like this is pure gold to me. Thanks very much.
I shall endeavour to run a test, and report back.

 

[Bushboy]

Since checking out that link, I realise that my diffuser is really just a sun shade... I haven’t had a chance to run a decent test yet, but I will.
I think I’m going to try a polarised filter too.
Here’s a couple from today.

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[Harvey Melvin Richards]

Since checking out that link, I realise that my diffuser is really just a sun shade... I haven’t had a chance to run a decent test yet, but I will.
I think I’m going to try a polarised filter too.
Here’s a couple from today.
View attachment 765107


View attachment 765108

The 2nd photo has some crazy looking shrooms.

 

[archaeopteryx]

The 2nd photo has some crazy looking shrooms.

Crucibulum laeve, I suspect. (Splash based dispersal also occurs in the plant kingdom via liverwort or moss gemmae and similar structures in other taxa.)

 

[Ken C]

Backyard

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[Bushboy]

I noticed these grow quite quickly, so I set up a camera time lapse under an umbrella. The resulting video was quite surprising...
I tried to post it in the vid section, but couldn’t do it. I’m not tech savvy enough.

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[barry]

I tried to post it in the vid section, but couldn’t do it. I’m not tech savvy enough.

Hi, you'll need to post it on YouTube or Vimeo or similar, and then post a link here.

 

[Bushboy]

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[Bushboy]

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[gnarlydog australia]

Tiny little thing among the moss
Kodak Cine 63mm f2.7

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hallucinating by gnarlydog, on Flickr

 

[retiredfromlife]

My bit of P95 cost about NZD 7 shipped and blocks less than a third of a stop of light when well positioned. It scrapes and scuffs easily but that's OK since it's a diffuser. There are much fancier diffusion panels and sheets made for LED lighting, a few of which are more efficient and could potentially concentrate light on the subject, but they're more expensive and many of the sheets are (like diffusing gels) thin enough to require a support. In addition to being cheap and fairly high transmission, P95 acrylic doesn't really care if it gets wet, is easy to clean, and is close to colour neutral. (It's also easy to refinish or adjust with fine grit sandpaper.)

I've considered some of the small, battery powered LED arrays as a continuous lighting solution but haven't purchased one. A white background on a phone screen seems like it would work about as well and I already own and carry a phone. Full brightness of my phone's screen moves a 10 second ISO 200 exposure in a 1:1 magnification setup (effective aperture of f/5.6) to 1/4 to 1/10 depending how close I hold the phone. My phone's flashlight LED is a bit warm but produces shutter speeds of 1/40 to 1/100 when shining on a P95 diffuser in the same arrangement. I've also two small white LED torches with which to illuminate the diffuser or directly light the subject. It's currently the dry season here so the bit I'm missing is a little tiny shiny mushroom to see how the lighting works with a real subject.

Another option is to use mirrored acrylic sheets or similar to reflect light onto the subject. However, one would have to carry and set up a substantial surface area to move an exposure several EV. For my purposes it doesn't seem worth it.

Do you remember where you purchased the P95 from. I have been looking but cant find any for a good price like yours, unless I an looking for the wrong thing

 

[archaeopteryx]

Look for a plastics shop which sells hobbyist quantities on any sales channel you like (I used eBay). For example, the first hit I got for an Australian search was https://www.acrylicsonline.com.au/products/frosted-ice-acrylic-sheet. They want AUD 6 for an A4 sheet.

 

[Bushboy]

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