Very interesting. It almost looks like it's a painting. For me, I find it a little hard to focus on the mushrooms. My eye goes all over the image from their being an even number rather than an odd number - to the upper portion of the image. I would like to see the top toned down so it doesn't stand out so much.   Posted: 12/04/2025 20:44:12

A great find Rich. I find you getting lower to the ground and finding some great specimens. I do find your auto stacking doing a great job. I would have put a brush to darken the bright spots in the sky especially the blown out white spot on the right. I also think that the mushroom with the extra white stem on the left could be toned down.   Posted: 12/07/2025 16:56:27

The three mushrooms make a interesting composition. I would have liked to see them isolated (in post), and the leaves blocking the stems removed before shooting.   Posted: 12/10/2025 03:15:54

Just as an aside, turns out these are death cap mushrooms, some of the most dangerous in the world. Because we've been experiencing lots of fog in Northern California these are popping up everywhere under oak trees. 21 people have already died this year for ingesting these.   Posted: 12/11/2025 17:56:20

Hi Rich. You've captured these mushrooms at a very unique angle and the viewpoint really captures their environment and textures well. I'm always impressed by your focus stacking and this definitely worked well for these guys. I agree that the sky and bright spot at the top should be toned down so as not to take attention away from the mushrooms, but this image really captures their character and environs well. Perhaps you should create a blog to educate the populous what to avoid when picking mushrooms! As an alternative, it might be interesting to convert this to black/white creating an atmosphere consistent with their DEATH CAP nature!   Posted: 12/15/2025 00:34:54

Hi Rich,
Greetings my friend.
I wish you have a great holidays season ahead.

The Meadow Mushrooms, that you have captured has an unique angle as Ingrid and others have already mentioned. Only the top right hand corner, there is a bright light area, which take the view away from the subject. If we could clone out that light, it would be much more eye soothing. I made some edit. Take a look please. Thank you for sharing.

Cheers.
Kamal.   Posted: 12/17/2025 12:01:51

Hi Rich, how ironic that you would put up an image of "death cap" mushrooms. In July of this year, a woman in Victoria, Australia was imprisoned for poisoned four people, two who were her in-laws by mixing death cap with button mushrooms in a beef wellington dish. Three died and one survived. I was absolutely fascinated and followed the story from the start.

Anyway, you've done a great job in capturing the image as it must have been dark in the forest and focus stacking would have been the best option. I like the angle and the realistic approach.   Posted: 12/18/2025 10:41:26