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.   I did move the Blackpoint right slightly and add Clarity. Sharpen narrow edges preset.

From Machias 2010.