Posts in Category: fungi

4/2/2012: False Turkey Tail and Turkey Tail Mushrooms

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that my Saturday morning photo-prowl, despite the unpromising weather and season, turned up a few good shots. For one thing I came across a pile of rotting logs beside the Kennebunk Bridle Path that were covered in interesting fungi. I have been experimenting with using the digital tel-extender function with macro at the wide end of the zoom, which gives me considerably larger than life size views. The light was actually pretty ideal for this kind of macro work…even and diffused, with very little shadow to deal with.

The first image is, after some research this morning, False Turkey Tail Mushroom. You can tell by the smooth, creamy, undersurface.

Growing right next to it…actually over one log…was a nice patch of real Turkey Tail Mushroom.

Though I did not know it until my research this morning (aimed mostly at putting a name to the mushrooms) Turkey Tail Mushroom is the center of a lot of medical research today. You can even buy Turkey Tail Mushroom extract on-line. Apparently there is evidence that compounds in the Turkey Tail kill cancer cells, or at least support the immune system in doing so, and it has been used for cancers from breast to prostrate. Interesting.

Canon SX40HS. Program with iContrast and –1/3EV exposure compensation. 24mm equivalent field of view and macro…plus 2x digital tel-extender function. Both shots were from less than a centimeter away from the closest fungi. 1) f4 @ 1/80th @ ISO 200. 2) f4 @ 1/160th @ ISO 160.

And just for fun, two more shots without the dte function kicked in, which perhaps show the growth habit a bit more clearly.

10/3/2011: Still life with fungi

image

Another shot from Saco Heath, along the boardwalk on the way out through the forest. There was a great variety of fungi along the path. This little grouping in the moss caught my eye both going in and coming out. Coming out it was in a little patch of sun. Bonus!

Nikon Coolpix P500 in close up mode. 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

6/19/2011: Lichen Flowers: Happy Sunday!

Happy Sunday.

As I mentioned in my extended essay on shooting in the rain (Acadia from under an umbrella…), one of the advantages of prevailing mist and falling water is that you tend (or at least I tend) to look at what is close to hand more carefully…and, of course, the water on everything adds a glisten that catches the eye. I have always been fascinated by moss and lichen, though I know next to nothing about it. I like the forms it takes, the colors (or lack thereof) and the textures. The northern coast of Maine has both moss and lichen in abundance.

This whitish, antlered lichen forms large dense beads from the seaside path to the tops of the mountains of Acadia. It generally hosts a variety of other plants, but only a few hardy individuals, well spaced, as below.

 

I had, however, never seen the flowers, if that is the proper word for these reproductive parts of this particular lichen, until my day of photographing in the rain.

Nikon Coolpix P500 in 1) Close Up Scene mode, 32mm equivalent field of view, f3.7 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160. 2) 100mm equivalent, f4.6 @ 1/60th @ ISO 160 Program.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness.

And, of the Sunday thought, that matter of looking close come to mind. Though we Christians don’t give “paying attention” as much attention as some other religions, I certainly find that a sense of reverence has to be grounded in attention…in looking closely at life…in seeing and celebrating all the works of creation, from the most grand landscape to the smallest lichen on the forest floor. And when you do pay attention, you see the most amazing things. I mean, how unlikely are those flowers, or whatever lichen have, and how unlikely is the lichen itself…a fungus and an alga living entwined, supporting and feeding each other? The infinite forms of creation is enough to keep me reverent…and entertained…even on a rainy day. Even on a Sunday. Especially on a Sunday! 

5/26/2011: Stranger than Fiction

While out looking for Lady Slippers in one of the two places where I know they grow last Saturday, I came across these…growing on a dead birch sapling in the deep forest. Never seen the like, but some research on Google, and a not so inspired guess considering how they look, identified them as Jelly Fungus.

Honestly…you just could not make these things up! It is called Witches’ Butter in eastern Europe, and compounds extracted from it have proven effective in stopping the growth of certain cancers in white mice. Stranger and stranger.

Nikon Coolpix P500 in Close Up mode (macro) at 32mm equivalent field of view. 1) f3.7 @ 1/100th @ ISO 160. 2) 1/80th.

Processed in Lightroom for Clarity and Sharpness. #2 was cropped from the left for composition.

Oh…and the Lady Slippers were just poking through the ground.

4/19/2011: Lichen and ???

The flaky growth on a fallen branch at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge is lichen, and I think the little miniature pine-tree-thingy is too. I think, from a bit of googling, it may be a fruticose lichen related to Spanish Moss. I was struck by the contrast in form and color, and framed this with the long end of the zoom and macro on the Canon SX20IS, which provided the attractive bokeh. The early morning light of early spring picked out the detail and gave the image some warmth it would not otherwise have had.

Canon SX20IS at 356mm equivalent field of view, f5 @ 1/80th @ ISO 80. Program Mode.

Processed for intensity and clarity in Lightroom.

1/5/2011: Snow Hat for a shroom

Emmon’s Preserve is a little slice of riverside (brookside in most seasons) preserved by the Kennebunkport Land Trust. I have posted pics from there in the past, as it is one of the rare little parcels of forest and stream in Southern Maine with public access. And a nice little parcel it is too. This is on the trail in from the road to the stream a week after our December blizzard. Others had been before me with snowshoes and skis, so, despite standing snow on all sides and drifts that had certainly closed the trail, it was a pleasant hike, even in boots.

For this shot I used the flip out lcd on the Canon SX20IS to get low and shoot up under the fungus on side of the birch, since it was the contrast between the texture of the growth and the snow-cap that interested me, both set against the textures and colors of the trunk with its patches of lichen, and then the shapes of all three.

Canon SX20IS at 280mm equivalent, f5 @ 1/200th @ ISO 200. Snow Mode.

Processed in Lightroom for intensity and clarity.

11/7/2010: in the frame now, happy Sunday!

I woke this Sunday morning from a dream of worship…that in itself is odd…though I do have a few of those dreams each year, and I suppose Sunday morning is appropriate for one…but before I was fully awake this post formed, and now, up and at the computer, all I have to do is build what I saw.

At my best as a photographer I am only a frame and an instant.

I am a frame. All I do is point the frame of the camera’s rectangular view at the world. Today I use the zoom on the camera to  change the size of the frame…make it bigger and more inclusive, more grand…or smaller and more particular, more intimate. I can move in close for a true macro of lichen, or add magnification by shooting through a spotting scope for portraits of sparrows. I can zoom out to wide-angle for the sunrise. I can even stitch frames together into the larger frame of a panorama. But whatever I do, it is still a frame…a little rectangle imposed on reality. The frame says “This is what I see. Look!” I am a frame.

I am an instant. I control when I push the shutter button. I choose the instant, and it is only an instant…a fraction of a second, when the camera records, for better or worse, whatever is in the frame. Even if I shoot a burst of images, as I often do when digiscoping birds, I still have to pick the one instant out of all those instants that I want to show the world. The instant says “This is what I see now. Look” I am an instant.

I do not fill the frame, I can only point it. I do not create the instant. I can only choose it. But in those two choices is all the power of photography.

The rest is just technique.

This is what I see now. Look!

I don’t of course, know what you see when you look at one of my photographs. I can hope that if I have done my job, you will see something that captures your attention…maybe even something that stirs your soul, that moves within you and touches places that need touching. At best, looking at what I see might open your eyes to something you would not otherwise have seen. It might change the way you see the world. That is the power of photography at its best.

I took pictures for a long time before I knew what I was looking for…what fills my frames and draws me to the instants I choose. Interestingly enough, the actual photographs did not change much, if at all. One day I knew why as well as what and when.

And that brings us full circle. As I have said, I am sure, on more than one Sunday in the past, my why is worship. What fills my frame in the ever-changing now is always some aspect of the beauty…the awe-full beauty, the intimate splendor, the wonderful power, the amazing compassion…of the Creator God displayed in the creation. Every picture is a celebration of that in God and that in me that brings the world to being through love. I frame those instants, from macro to panorama, when I am most aware of God. That is worship. That is my why.

So, this is what I see, now. Look.

10/1/2010: mushrooms of Quoddy head

I have always been fascinated by mushrooms and fungi (even more so than birch bark). On this foggy morning in the forest of Quoddy Head, with everything dripping with moisture, the colors of the mushrooms and their surroundings, whether moss or litter, were particularly rich, and the light so soft and molding that it brought out the strange shapes to good effect. Each one of these deserves a view at full size (click the image). I always try for more than a record shot…I am not illustrating a field guide. The mushrooms are an element of composition and the image as a whole must be of interest.

We have a variety of framings here: from the full tel-macro (560mm equivalent)  of 1) to the super-macro at full wide (28mm equivalent) for 2), 3), and 5). All were shot on Programmed Auto and the ISO varies from 80 to 400. I used –2/3EV exposure compensation on all of them to preserve highlights in the dim light and dark surroundings.

Processed in Lighroom with a combination of Fill Light to open shadows, Blackpoint to increase color depth, Clarity and Vibrance and Sharpen.

8/6/2010

Mushrooms

I have not been able to identify these mushrooms, found growing along side the Kennebunk Bridle Path in Southern Maine. The mushrooms they most closely resemble are supposed to grow on wood and have little to no stem??? But then I am far from a mushroom expert. I liked the cracked leathery look of the caps and could not resist a ground level shot. They were deep in a clump of tall grass, of course. Here is the shot from above, which has its own charm…especially the shadows of the grass stems across the left cap.

Canon SX20IS. 1) 28mm equivalent and Super-macro. f4 @1/250th @ ISO 125. 2) 450mm equivalent and macro @ f5 @ 1/250th @ ISO 80. Programmed Auto

In Lightroom, some Recovery for highlights. Fill Light and Blackpoint right. Added Clarity and a bit of Vibrance. Sharpen narrow edges preset.

From Around Home 2010

6/30/2010

Shroom!

I found this growing on a stump on the University of Maine at Machias campus and I must admit I have never seen anything remotely like it. Well, maybe remotely. And I certainly don’t know enough about fungus to even begin to identify it precisely. The shot below gives you some scale if you note the pine needles.

Clearly the low angle shot is for effect and I forgive you if your response is “what IS that?” It does kind of defy the eye and mind to make sense out of it. Thing is, even when from above, in more normal presentation it is still pretty fantastical. I suspect the smaller fungi on the right is the way it is supposed to look. But who knows…it is a fungus.

Canon SX20IS at various focal lengths for framing. First shot at Super-macro. All on Programmed auto, –1/3EV exposure compensation.

While it looks like I pumped up the Vibrance or Saturation in Lightroom, honest, I did not not. That orange is real. Smile  I did move the Blackpoint right slightly and add Clarity. Sharpen narrow edges preset.

From Machias 2010.