Posts in Category: mushroom
Maine! Fly Agaric
One of the Amentia Mascarias or Fly Agarics. They are popping up all over this time of year. This one was along the edge of the Bridle Path in Kennebunk, Maine. There were some full grown ones near by with their flat tops. This is an in-camera focus stack of 8 images. Program mode. OM Systems OMD EM5Mkiii with 12-45mm zoom at 26mm equivalent.
Maine! Focus stacked fungi
One of my excuses for buying the Olympus OMD EM5Miii and the 12-45mm zoom was so that I could do focus stacked macro without taking the 100-400mm zoom off my OM-1. I have a December trip to Costa Rica that features at least 2 macro photography outings. 🙂 And I have not done much real macro while using the Sony RX10iv as it did not lend itself to really close work (and did not have in-camera focus stacking anyway). For those who do not know, focus stacking takes 8-10 exposures, automatically moving focus by a set increment, and then combines those images in the camera to produce an image that has much greater depth of field than a normal exposure…so that macro subjects in particular where depth of field is a real issue, can appear sharp from the very front to the very back. These are a few mushrooms I found along the Bridle Path in Kennebunk last week. I have a little, light weight Sirui carbon fiber tripod that I bought for this purpose exactly, and it works really well. Olympus OMD EM5Miii with the 12-45mm zoom at various focal lengths. Program mode with focus stacking. The only issue is the mosquitoes working this close to the ground for any length of time 🙂
More fascinating fungi from the pond edge
I found all of these mushrooms growing within 20 feet of Day Brook Pond in the sands of the Kennebunk Plains. I continue to be amazed at the numbers and variety of fungi I am finding this season. Top left is probably Laccaria laccata, or the “scurfy deceiver”, then possibly an Amanita, then maybe a Coltricia, and neither I or my AI assistants can come up with a likely name for the last one, but it might be some kind of “fieldcap”. Sony Rx10iv at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Apple Photos and assembled in FrameMagic.
Amazing Mushrooms…
It continues to be an amazing year for mushrooms and fungi. These are from the past few days on the Kennebunk Plains and our front yard. Using Google Lens, the top left might be Tiger’s Eye, no idea on the top right, then next down might be Dyer’s Polypore, left bottom is probably a Russula, next to the right might be False Death Cap, and the last one is probably another Russula. But I would not trust any mushroom ID I made, even with the help of Google Lens 🙂 I just enjoy the forms and textures and colors. Sony Rx10iv, mostly at 600mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos. Assembled in FrameMagic.
One more mushroom
Mushrooms will happen! It is amazing (to me) how powerful they are…pushing up through a layer of matted leaves…and not just a little pointy thing like a plant shoot…no, a whole platter lifting a big chunk of the forest floor. 🙂 At Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge in Wells Maine. Sony Rx10iv at about 290mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
More mushrooms…
One of the things I like about mushrooms is the variety of shapes and colors and forms. This cluster of small mushrooms, probably in a symbiotic relationship with the tree, is a case in point. Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Headquarters trail, Wells, Maine. Sony Rx10iv at 211mm equivalent. Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
Mushroom time…
Of course there are mushrooms all summer, but September seems to be an abundant month for them in the woods of Southern Maine. These are bursting out along the trail at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge Headquarters in Wells, Maine. The biggest one is just smaller than a dinner plate, and as you can see from the second photo, they are massive mushrooms. There will be lots more as the leaves begin to turn in a few weeks. Sony Rx10iv at
135mm equivalent ISO 800 @ f4 @ 1/320th
47mm equivalent ISO 200 @ f3.2 @ 1/100th
Program mode with my custom birds and wildlife modifications. Processed in Polarr and Apple Photos.
November forest floor
Fungi, Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Wells, Maine
My wife and I took a walk around the loop trail at Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge near our home in Maine yesterday. The day was overcast, a real late November fall day…no snow yet here in Southern Maine (like most of the nation). The forest was largely bare. Even the oak leaves were all off. The fungi on fallen birches and maples showed easily with all the undergrowth died back. This found still-life was just off the trail. I like the mix of textures here, the way the wintergreen pokes out beneath the fungi, the way the small maple leaf rests, and the richness of the damp colors.
Sony RX10iii in-camera HDR. 200mm equivalent field of view. Nominal exposure: f4 @ 1/200th @ ISO 800. Processed in Snapseed on my Android tablet. Cropped for composition.
Mushroom’s Eye View.
One of the things I am coming to love about the ZEISS Touit 12mm f2.8 lens is its ability to shoot from inches away, to produce very natural looking close-ups. It would not work, I suspect, with people, as the distortions would be distracting, but for plants and mushrooms it can be very effective. I think, in fact, that the perspective and depth of field are both very close to a naked eye view. That means that in a shot like this one, of a mushroom growing along the trail at the Kennebunk Land Trust’s Secret Garden Preserve, the mushroom sits very naturally in its environment. When you add the absolute clarity of the lens, and some subtle processing, the result is, to my eye, very close indeed to bending down to look for yourself. 🙂
Sony Alpha NEX 5T. Lens as above. ISO 160 @ 1/60th @ f4. Processed in Snapseed for HDR effect on my tablet.
Little Fall Soldier on the Forest Floor
I am always fascinated by the mushrooms of late summer and fall in our New England forests. Actually I am fascinated by mushrooms any time of year. 🙂 I found this bright specimen, which looks to me like a little soldier, along the Learning Trail at Emmon’s Preserve in Kennebunkport ME.
Samsung Smart Camera WB800F. Macro mode (28mm). f2.9 @ 1/45th @ ISO 100. Processed in Snapseed on the Nexus 7.