Mushrooms and moss

Hi everyone

I can't decide if I like this or not - actually, I take that back - I like it, but I'm not sure if anyone else would

For once I went out with a deliberate aim in mind, which was to capture an impression of the shadows of the wood - dark mosses and dampness - contrasting with the delicate colours of the mushrooms. The main challenge was balancing the exposure of these elements without losing detail. I tried a range of apertures, mainly to work out where the balance was between distracting detail in the background, and acceptable sharpness in the mushroom group. I think that the moss provides an impression of scale.

Shot in RAW, tripod flat to ground, remote release, D80 w/Nikkor VR 105micro, flash with Stofen diffuser (set to -3) for a touch of fill-in light, silver reflector from beneath. ISO 100; 1/8 sec @ F8. PP in Lightroom and CS2. Almost full frame. The compression needed for posting has resulted in a very slight loss of sharpness.

Anyway, comments would be appreciated - does this work for anyone?



Mark

Hi Mark,


I Like the shot but its a field i have not had a go at yet.

Ian Hardy

Hi Mark,

I think you have gone out and executed your plan very well. The image is pleasing on the eye with detail in the light and dark area's. Not sure what the blue bits are in the BG but they don't look natural.

Regards

Rob

Likewise Mark, I think you've accomplished what you set out to acheive

Personally I'd play around with the Shadow/Highlight sliders a bit just to try and make the image a little less oppressively heavy and maybe the fungi look a bit too 'stark' - but that's just a matter of my personal taste.

I would clone out the blue bits though

Hi Rob & Andy

Thanks for comments. I'm not sure what the 'blue bits' are - maybe reflected highlights on the wet rotten wood of the branch these were on (definitely not man-made though). I've spent the morning looking at this shot and didn't even notice them - typical



Mark

Not too sure on this one Mark {although i'm clueless with this type of thing},

My general feeling is that the shadow rendering is a bit blocked {to my eye} for a woodland floor situation, unless the prime subject {mushrooms} were lit by full sun.

I would expect a fairly even lighting under a woodland canopy, and more detail present in any shaded areas, although if this is in an open-woodland situation, this shot may well be presented as accurately as it actually was.

I thing Andy's term 'heavy' sums up what i am trying say {speaking as a novice with this subject}.

Its a fine, unspoilt gathering of mushrooms though, and the composition works for me!!

Alan

Lot of thought, planning and work gone into this and it largely works for me although I do agree with others that the darker areas are a bit too dark. Also I wonder if you couldn't have shot at a tighter aperture to give a little more DOF for the right foreground. All minor point really and it is good as is