The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
This is more of a documentary image because it’s certainly not artful in my view.
This 2.5" wide mushroom was growing out of an ugly rotten log at the top of a large drop off, the BG is about 10 feet below the log and the green foliage is mostly ivy.
I tried to make the log a look a little better by rounding up a few pine needles to lay around the base of the mushroom.
I “Think” this is in the Chanterelle family of mushrooms but I’m not sure, so, any help with a proper ID would be much appreciated.
Specific Feedback
Anything that comes to mind is appreciated!
Technical Details
A7RIV, 90mm Macro Lens, f22, ISO 100, 1/4s, Off camera flash @ 50% power with 6x9 soft box diffuser, Ps for all tweaks and frame. Minor cloning, D&B and dirt speck removal. This was cropped to almost square but it’s mostly still full frame in the vertical direction before resizing for web sharing.
Edit: I forgot to mention that this is a 3 image focus stack done in Ps.
What a cool find. Glad you decided to pull out all the stops to get a good photo. I like the toned-down colors very much; they are so indicative of the forest floor. Good texture throughout although I wonder if more modeling in the cap could be done with some dodging & burning. If you decide against, it still works.
In terms of ID, it’s tough to do without seeing the gills. Most chaterelles are not decomposers and don’t grow on logs except those that are basically decomposed by other fungi and only a couple typically do that. But with fungi you never know.
Merv, a very fine image here. As you’ve classified it as a documentary scene I can see your point there. Regardless, it’s an interesting look at a mushroom type I’ve never seen before. Your processing work is adding to the appeal overall too…
Merv, it may be a documentary type of image to you, but I have never heard of or seen an Orange Sherbet Mushroom before, so this is a real treat. You did an excellent job capturing it and editing as well. Great presentation.
Good idea Kris, it occurred to me after you mentioned doing some modeling that I should try doing some dodging and burning with Solid Color Layer Masks to maintain the color as opposed to using an exposure adjustment layer which usually adds a little gray when burning or white when dodging, I think I like using solid color layer masks for D&B.
I’m probably the only one who hasn’t been using solid color layer masks
I think I like the subtle D&B I just did in the rework, it seemed to help with adding a little definition to certain areas.
I could have created a couple of luminosity masks for that but no more than this was, I just used a manual brush, then added some feathering to smooth things out a bit.
I should have took a picture of the underside but I didn’t, I did however have a close look at it. There really weren’t any gills there to speak of, at least not in the normal sense but there were a few depressions that makes me think that this is closer to a “Smooth Chanterelle”?
Here’s a link to an image on iNaturalist that looks very much like what I saw on the underside of this one >>>Smooth Chanterelle
You can see a little bit of that same texture in the stem but it’s pretty minor there compared to the underside of the cap.
The rotten log was very nearly gone, almost down to ground level in this one spot, so I suspect there was a lot of other fungi activity there before this mushroom popped up.
I will add the reworked version to the OP shortly.
Thanks for the response, the help with the ID and the suggestion, Kris!
Anyway, I thought this mushroom was unique in ways and maybe interesting enough to share.
Even though this is more of a documentary image or, at least one that shows something unique and interesting, I did try to make it as good as I could under the circumstances.
I think my definition of a documentary image is one that I wouldn’t actually consider printing and hanging on the wall. Lol
It might be OK in a nature photo album though.
Don’t be so hard on this photo, Merv. As a largely documentarian photographer myself, I see no need to denigrate an image of nature that is well seen, composed, processed and presented. Nature comes up with some fantastic designs that need no embellishment or enhancement and this mushroom falls into that category for me. Sometimes trying to be artsy and interpretive can just fall flat and leave the subject obscured or overwhelmed by technique, something you haven’t done here at all. Instead we have a near-perfect specimen in its natural environment depicted well and accurately. That, to me, is the heart of nature photography - letting it speak for itself.
Kris, your comment is so very well outlined and is spot on in providing credence to nature photography in general. Basically stated, your post is a strong reinforcement for the art of nature photography…
Thanks @Paul_Breitkreuz - I’m glad for different perspectives, but I wonder at the glorification of some kind of artistic vision or aesthetic over the discovery and wonder at nature for itself. Often those aesthetics are trendy and overly represented in the form which leaves little room for anything else.
My wife and I went back to that spot yesterday to see if I could get a few shots of the underside of the mushroom but the one shown here was nearly gone, it had shriveled up, however, there was a patch of smaller Smooth Chanterelles’ nearby. The scene was really messy and chaotic so no images of them.
The best part is that these mushrooms are edible so we picked a few to bring home and sauté, they have a really good flavor
