Chicken of the Woods

Image Critiques Weekly Challenge
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Image(s)

Chicken of the Woods.jpg
Chicken of the Woods.jpg1368×1710 1.44 MB

Image Description

Hiking the Tahoe Rim Trail in the Barker Pass Area, I noticed a big blaze of yellow and orange about 50 feet off the trail, down a slope covered with mature conifers. I walked down to find an enormous fungus covering the side of a dead tree. I would estimate it was 4 feet by 3 feet, with tendrils wrapping around the back of the stump. Have never seen one this big since.

Feedback Requests

I confess I think I did everything right here, which wasn’t hard, as the natural bright shade was excellent and the subject right in front of me. I do have some versions shot wider, to better show size/context and place – they tell the story better, but this treatment takes you right into the psychedelic folds of an other-worldly organism.

Pertinent Technical Details

The year was 2011 and I was using a 10MP Olympus E-510 micro 4/3 camera. ISO 250. Available today on KEH for $97. One might say this is a testament to the quality of that camera and the Olympus lens, even considering today’s megapixel-mad camera scene.

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Some of these old images can still stand up in today’s brave new world, and this one does! It sounds like an amazing specimen. You have a very nice capture here and there is probably no composition that would do justice to the size. My only nit is to wonder about darkening the bottom third.

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Thanks Diane. Over the years I’ve tried to share my ultimate fungus photo with others, but for some reason, they don’t appreciate it like I do! A fungus that size, after all, can be downright unsettling. I think if I found it again I’d shoot it wider to show some context while still burying the viewer’s nose in those orange and yellow fins.