Living on the wet side of the mountains in the Pacific Northwest we’re blessed with plenty of beautiful moss. A few days ago, my wife noticed these two tiny mushrooms (the caps were less than 1/4 inch across) growing in a patch of moss in the back yard and called me to take a look. The sun was fairly high so I took out a reflector to help reduce shadows. This might have worked better as a stack, but I couldn’t get the tripod as low as I wanted, so this was hand held lying on the ground.
Using f/22, the background moss was somewhat obnoxious. I used some extra blur and also painted over it with a translucent layer to help dull it. Did that work?
What artistic feedback would you like if any?
Is the angle sufficiently low? Anything else?
Any pertinent technical details:
5DIII, Canon 180mm f/3.5 macro, hand held, f/22, 1/400, iso 2500, aperture priority, -1/3 EV exposure compensation, manual focus. Processed in LR & PS CC. Cropped to a 13.5 MP 4x5. Taken at 10:51 am on November 18th under sunny skies.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
Cool Dennis, this worked out well, the BG looks naturally blurred and the mushrooms are sharp enough.
My only nit is the highlights on the grass line, Easy fix is so inclined.
I ould also remove the one grass blade on the mushroom trunk.
Nice macro, Dennis, and a great eye your wife had to notice it, knowing that you like to take photos. Love the colors, and you managed the lighting and the the BG well.
The twins. The background is sufficiently subdued for me and there is enough dof for the mushrooms. Great colours, especially given the circumstances. I am not very fond of frontal oof objects, so you may consider a slight crop from below. Just minor. Apart from that I like it very much, simple and elegant.
Dennis, this is a fine, fun look at these two little 'shrooms. Their color stands out well against the lovely green carpet. The tilted caps and slightly bent stems has me thinking of dancers, which is where the fun part comes in.
