Small voices

Image Critiques Macro/Close-up Critiques
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Small voices
Small voices1800×1800 2.27 MB

Dacrymyces chrysospermus fungi seems to erupt from a crack in the bark of a tree. Normally a golden yellow, this and a few others nearby were a deep orange. Maybe because I shot this in January and it was pretty cold and it could have been drying out. This is an 11-image stack. The cluster is about 2 cm long, maybe slightly less.

Specific Feedback Requested

Overall color balance look ok? It was an overcast winter day, bright, but without direct sun.

Technical Details

Is this a composite: No
Tripod off trail in deep snow, part of the fun!

image

Lr for initial adjustments to wb. After setting the right white & black points I added texture & clarity, brought down the red channel just a bit and increased yellow luminosity. Zerene for the stack which needed no retouching. This is the DMap image. Back to Lr for some brush work to emphasize shadows and the 1:1 crop. Photoshop for a little clone job on the edge and a saturation mask using the TK8 panel to bring down the orange and reds just a little.

@the.wire.smith
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You really find a lot of fungi, Kris. When I first looked at the thumbnail, I thought that the fungi were growing from a rock, but upon opening it up to large view, and reading your comment, I was surprised that it was tree bark. Nice composition and great details. Love the color contrast too. I can’t think of anything that would improve the shot.

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Thanks @Shirley_Freeman - I’ve hardly ever been able to pass by a mushroom. It’s a disease and hiking with me takes patience, lol.

1 Like
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Kris: A great find and a fine capture. My conventional mind likes this better flipped horizontally with the subject on the left side of the frame but no other nits. Well done. >=))>

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Thanks @Bill_Fach & for the EP, although I fear the field was small.