Puff ball

Gallery: FloraPosted June 17, 2011112 views7 comments

Not strictly flora I suppose.
Puff ball giving off spores. Obviously done in controlled conditions.
One from the archives done on Ecktachrome in about 1974, on a Mamiya
645. Tranparency photographed (not scanned ) on a d200.
Two small flashes rear and one in front. Spores release triggered by drops of water from a syringe above. Shutter firing by guesswork !
You don'get many chances. You can see the droplet on the side of the puffball and the dent where it landed on top.
All good fun !
Cheers
JohnR

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on June 17, 2011 at 2:32 PM

Great achievement in my opinion. I'd wager you needed more than one try to get this success. Do you think some of the larger spots of material that can be seen in the "puff ball" would be there in a natural expulsion by the fungus?

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by John Robinson on June 17, 2011 at 3:20 PM

Hi Charlie
Thats a good question ! I suppose rain water - which is the natural method - would be a lot gentler that a drip from a syringe, and it may have co agulated some of the spores. It might even be tiny pieces of debris off the skin. I couldn't think of any other way of doing it !!!
Cheers
JohnR

Registered on March 2, 2008, 535 Posts, 2453 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on June 17, 2011 at 4:47 PM

Great moment captured, John. You have some fine and interesting photos in your collection much different from what we usually see

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Nancy Lea Sandy on June 17, 2011 at 4:51 PM

Pretty interesting. In my area, I'm pretty sure rain would be much more forceful than a drop from a syringe. I'm guessing you've got a pretty good approximation of the actual event here. I like your lighting on the spore cloud. Cool image

Registered on January 24, 2011, 576 Posts, 6942 Comments

Comment posted by Charlie Baugh on June 17, 2011 at 7:49 PM

Well your way of doing it worked out just fine. It is a fascinating thing to concieve doing, John. Hats off to ya.

Registered on April 18, 2011, 329 Posts, 1985 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on June 17, 2011 at 10:17 PM

John: Fungi belong here for sure - If it grows, it goes! - and what a great capture of the moment. Brilliantly done.>=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Pat Sampson on June 17, 2011 at 11:16 PM

Fascinating image in all respects John. You've really created the sense and mood of a landscape with this. Very impressive work.

pat

Registered on May 19, 2007, 953 Posts, 15989 Comments