The photographer is looking for thoughtful feedback on the image as a whole, especially around the areas noted below.
Feedback Focus: Artistic / Expressive
About This Image
Focus stack out in the wood
Practising my stacking and composition
Feedback Requested
any pointers welcome
I suspect the OOF foreground and particularly the OOF bark in foreground on the right will not be liked.
Still learning how much gardening to do before pressing the shutter button
In camera focus stacking working well - then merging them in Zerene
Stack of 50 odd images, filling flash with good 860iii
What a lovely bit of fungus! They’re so bright and cheerful and somehow look like they are reaching for something. The stack looks good in the fungus itself.
In terms of composition it is a confusing image. Obviously the subject is the mushroom, but I am baffled about why you put it there and left so many competing elements in the frame. I’m looking for the story with those, but not getting it. Maybe it’s me.
Whenever I do this kind of thing, I think about why I’m bothering to get down on the ground and do the bracketing which is time consuming. Then I approach the scene and evaluate how best to get my story told. For this one probably would have left our star off center, but I would have given it a more simplified stage.- a place where it would have presence. Surrounding green and brown would have to balance - that leaf could work, but not where it is and not with the sticks in back of it. The moss works, too, but not with the old leaf in the middle. At least that’s how I see the layout.
Gardening is subjective and I do a lot of it even though I could do some in post. If something is annoying or detracting from my intention - out it goes. If something could be useful to include to obscure a busy background, give scale or personality, it stays in.
Phew. I hope that makes sense. Keep 'em coming! Mushroom season is over here, and I kind of miss it already.
It’s difficult to add much to what @Kris_Smith has said, Huw. I tend to approach shooting subjects like this in a similar fashion, though I don’t find shooting the stacks too onerous. I don’t hesitate to do gardening as long as what I’m removing isn’t a living native plant-those I will sometimes move gently to one side and sometimes put something on them to hold them there. If I’m going out to our prairie to do flower photography, the kit includes some string and a few spikes to tie stuff back.
Kris - I’m finding my own way compositionally - I definitely want some contextual clues but obviously not yet reaching a point which is understood - both to an audience and to myself.
the idea was the eye to be led from the bottom right into the yellow and then absorb the context of Autumn with leaf in the background. Highlighting that this patch of yellow was all on its own on the dark brown pine forrest floor.
Plenty more practice needed - but definitely dont want a “specimen” shot
Huw-I like your latest revision as the three separate fungi works better than the original one. Interesting as they do resemble coral. A little bit of gardening would have been helpful to de-clutter the image. I feel that some blur in a foreground is actually helpful in many close up images, as was your concern in the original version. Many photographers are obsessed with focus stacking so that everything in the image from front to back is sharp, but I don’t agree that it is always necessary. As long as your main subject is in focus you are good.
I personally prefer your new composition, Huw. I think it tells much the same story and the arrangement of the three clumps of staghorns is quite pleasing.
