David Halgrimson, APSA
About the Image(s)
Had to lay flat on the ground on my belly to capture this beauty. I was after the gills and wanted to be sure they were well in focus. This mushroom was 5 - 6 inches 12 - 15 cm across the top. It took a lot of moving around and fiddling with the lens, manual aperture and focus, very difficult to see what the DOF and focus was while composing the shot. I think I would have liked a little more DOF for the mushroom but not the grass.
After some research, I think this is a Amanita Brunnescens mushroom, very poisonous and could kill anyone who eats it. It also throughs off spores, I was very close but fortunately it was not windy and I am still kicking. Won't be getting close anytime soon.
I used a Panasonic Lumix GX8 with a 35mm CCTV lens at f/1.7, ISO 200, handheld.
Processed in Lightroom, lowered the highlights and blacks, raised the shadows and whites and added texture and clarity. Converted to B&W in Silver Efex Pro 2 using preset #23 with some tweaking. Added the boarder in Silver Efex Pro 2.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
4 comments posted
For me the big reason this does not work is the harsh brightness of the stalk of the mushroom. Good test and good to see.   Posted: 10/15/2021 06:58:51
I have already experienced Macro without macro lens, not easy at all.
The gills are indeed sharped, in this very small DoF. The rest (top) of the mushroom is really out of DoF.   Posted: 10/24/2021 15:05:13