A group of Entoloma abortivum fruited on a tree that came down in a thunderstorm a couple of years ago. It’s starting to be a mushroom paradise and luckily it’s in the yard! I love this shot for the textures and the fallen leaf and the mystery below. It’s an 8-image stack and the largest is probably 4-5 inches across.
Specific Feedback Requested
First impressions - how does this image strike you? If you sit with it, does that change?
Technical Details
Tripod, natural light
Focus bracketing using the 0/-/+ method - used 8 out of about 20 images taken
Lr for wb adjustment & a bit of an exposure boost since I deliberately underexposed it so as to keep things looking more like deep shade. Lowered shadows on the edges more. The usual S-curve for most everything else. Some texture, clarity, sharpening & nr. A lot of masking to manage the contour and texture in the mushrooms.
Zerene for stack. DMap with PMax detail in the mushroom. This left the deep shadows relatively noise free.
Photoshop for some distraction removal and some work with the TK8 panel - color, luminosity and zone masks as stencils for some dodging and burning to bring up contour. Clarity action with a black mask so I could paint it in where needed. Changed the leaf color to a more orange since it was a greenish yellow and that didn’t work. More dodging and burning, especially around the edges to reduce the presence of the mushrooms lower down.
Nice 'shrooms image Kris! My first impression was, these are some large mushrooms! I really like the lighting and your comp. Nice detail too. But mostly, I like the mood, or atmosphere - not sure of the right word. The longer I look at this the more I like it. To me it has a nice artistic presentation. Well done!
Love the lighting, detail and the lines, Kris! Just stunning. It has a very pensive mood, at least for me. At first the leaf bother me, but as you say “sit with it,” it has grown on me. Great capture.
Thanks @Steve_Kennedy & @linda_mellor - I appreciate your insight. Even though I just took this the other day, it’s special and I didn’t want my emotional connection to the photo to override its technical or artistic detriments. Plus I’m trying to vary my mushroom photography at least a little.
Ho. Lee. COW! This is VERY special!! The gills in the corner are wonderful as their soft shadow, the detail is delightful, the lighting perfect and the leaf is a beautiful grace note. My only thought is to wonder about a gradient darkening of the piece in the UR but that’s a very small issue.
Thanks @Diane_Miller - I hoped it wouldn’t be too off the charts weird. I dithered about that leaf which landed slightly differently than pictured here, but the texture and cheeky curl attracted me so I left it in the field and in post. I did use a radial gradient to darken the URC mushroom since it was noticeably lighter than the rest. Maybe it should be dimmer still. Hm.
Wow!! Like everyone else, I think this is spectacular. Yes, the longer I looked at this photo the more I saw. I think the composition, the different shades of brown, the shadows, texture and depth make this image superb. Great job. Thanks for sharing this beauty.
This immediately caught my eye, scrolling through the community page. I love the amount of detail you managed to capture here, making it appear as though I could just reach in through the screen and pluck the leaf. Beautifully done, Kristen.
I love the ULC because of the veining going on underneath the petal that you don’t see in the other portions of the image. I also like the collection plate in the bottom portion of the image and how clean the other petals are from debris. I don’t think the image would be the same without the leaf. I’m imagining it without that striking color contrast and it’s not as inviting. I might warm the URC corner a little bit as it has a greenish tint to it that none of the other petals have and also try and reduce the highlights just a bit in that same area. Wonderfully shot, Kris.
Thanks @David_Haynes - collection plate about describes it! I think there is a good deal of color variation in the shrooms, but you could be right about the URC. I’ll take a look.
