I found this to be quite intriguing, but then again, I usually do.
Now and again I find semi-abstracts in nature. I think of this in the other sense of abstract; a small piece of a larger whole.
Tripod & natural light
3-image stack
Lr for a bit of wb adjustment, a nice S-curve and some texture and sharpening. Zerene for a quick stack and no retouching. Topaz Sharpen to bring up details and knock the noise the PMax image kicks up.
Very cool, Kris. This feels totally alien. I like it! And it’s not an ICM. Really nicely seen, captured, and processed. So…what is it? 
Gorgeous detail, Kris. Perfect processing on the whites too. Looks like the underside of a mushroom? Great abstract. Nicely seen and captured.
Wonderful gills, with the two interesting areas – the stem and a healed wound??
Thanks @linda_mellor, @David_Bostock & @Diane_Miller - the ladies got it! It is the underside of a Chestnut bolete that I found growing in the yard. Too bad there wasn’t more than just the one, they are a pretty choice edible (not quite as revered as the King Bolete aka porcini, but a nice one). It doesn’t have gills exactly, it has pores that hold and then release the spores. Here it is with a 22 image stack -
It’s about 1 1/4 inch wide and about that tall, too. I picked it to photograph the pores. And yeah, I think something had a nibble on it. I really liked the hint of a partial veil by the stipe as well.
Great shot, Kris. Looks like you caught a mosquito nibbling on it also.
I thought it could be a Bolete but don’t know if other kinds have the same gill structure. Didn’t know they came so small. The edulis out here can be medium to huge – maybe a foot across – and seem to have a tighter gill structure.
Thanks again ladies. Yes, Boletes are the big bucket that includes all mushrooms with pores and a stipe/stem. Some polypores have more of a pore structure underneath as well, but no stipe most of the time; they grow more like shelves or leaves. And they almost always fruit on dead wood. The pores on the chestnut up there are very small indeed, just a millimeter or so wide.
Really cool patterns and close-up image Kristen. I would not have guessed it was a mushroom. By the way, I saw a recent video of some mushrooms releasing their spores. It was amazing to see. Great work on this detailed image.
Thanks @Alfredo_Mora - I wasn’t sure this would qualify for this section, I could have put it in macro, too.
I think I’ve seen some of those videos and it is amazing how it gets done sometimes.
This is pretty sweet! My only feedback is that the left half feels a touch too bright for my eyes.
Thanks @Matt_Payne - I thought about evening out the light, but then decided against it since I thought it might add a bit of dimension.
Fascinating find Kris! Never would have guessed - but then again I’m not a great student of the small world… 
Terrific natural abstract. I can’t think of much to improve. I do see the extra brightness, but it’s not a deal breaker. only consideration might be cropping from the left to a point where the brown center at top is centered in the frame - but I’m not sure that would be an improvement.
Lon
Thanks Lon…I don’t think I cropped this at all, but shifting things around might be good.
I live in the tiny spaces a lot of the time. Macro fascinates me and so that’s what I post here most often. Either in straight up macro category or sometimes flora.
