Tylopilus fellus - often mistaken for the highly sought after porcini mushroom (Boletus edulis) and a severe disappointment to those who mix them up. This one was all by its onesies on a log that is probably hemlock. They don’t often fruit on logs so it was a treat to see this one up there, seeming to strike a pose. IRL it’s about 1 1/2 inches across and high.
Specific Feedback Requested
Anything in terms of processing or field work is good. I shoot a ton of these so new ideas are good.
Technical Details
Tripod
Used the LED panel to light up that stipe and give it some dimension.
Focus bracketing in two sessions of 11 with a change in the starting focus point to make sure I got the whole cap from front to back.
Lr for some wb correction and some work with masking to emphasize the foreground light and deepen the far understory which was pretty dim since it was cloudy and nearly all hemlocks and birch. Texture, clarity and some sharpening. Had to manage the greens pretty carefully in terms of hue, luminosity and saturation. It had rained the night before so the ground was wet. You know what that does to colors.
Zerene for the stack. It’s a 22-image stack, DMap with retouching to include PMax detail.
Lr for a bit of a crop and to add back some of the contrast and color that the resulting TIF needs.
Wonderful color and detail! I love the nibbled cap, and the needles matching the mushroom color is a wonderful touch. Is that some Oxalis in the BG?
I don’t do this sort of shot often but I usually try to clean up things like the more OOF needles. I can tell which ones they are by looking at the last frame in the stack. But I don’t mind the ones here – your lens has very good bokeh.
Thanks wimmins! You cannot hike with me at all in late summer because I must photograph every mushroom I see.
Every. One.
Well maybe not, but close. The day I went out I stayed in a couple of areas and only moved a few dozen feet the whole time. Lots of gorgeous fungi. That is wood sorrel back there, @Diane_Miller - good eye. The forest in this area is carpeted with it, but I always forget to go back and photograph it flowering.
In terms of clean up - I did some, but it’s a never-ending chore with these shots and I decided I could live with what was left. Mostly it’s white pine needles, but some hemlock, too. They just expand right through it. Do you know mushrooms don’t add cells to their structures when they fruit? The cell count remains the same, but they inflate with water and that’s how mushrooms grow.
I love my little Leica macro. It’s not as popular as the Olympus 60mm, but it’s really sharp and even though it’s finnicky with auto focus sometimes, I can manual focus to get what I need. It’s never disappointed me.
