Comments on: How to Photograph Mushrooms, Toadstools and Fungi

By: griz2468

griz2468 — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:18:20 +0000

Also, it is a commonly held belief that the best place to find mushrooms is in swampy areas. In my experience, you will do much better in and around mature forests than in marshes.

By: griz2468

griz2468 — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:08:07 +0000

Well Sandra, with an articulated viewfinder (i.e. one that flips out and rotates) you don’t have to get down and dirty. The Canon A620/A640 series has an excellent one. Get youself one of these, a mini tripod and set the camera for a 2 second delay and your pics will be rock steady every time. Then you can concentrate on lighting and composition, you know, the fun stuff!

By: Sandra Hindmarch

Sandra Hindmarch — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:12:00 +0000

Very interesting article on photographing mushrooms etc. Going to look for mushrooms, even if it means getting down and dirty.

By: Griz2468

Griz2468 — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 01:52:57 +0000

Thank you Ponnuswami. There certainly is a teeming world of tiny organisms that most of us are unaware of. George Barron is a professor at the University of Guelph with a wonderfully rich website covering both macro-fungi and the world of microscopic organisms, uncluding many remarkable photos taken with both traditional cameras and a scanning electron microscope. Check out:
http://www.uoguelph.ca/~gbarron/
to enjoy his photos and jocular personality.

By: ponnuswami selvaraj

ponnuswami selvaraj — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 17:15:28 +0000

excellent pics;try smaller organisms,if you will;smaller the species greater the surprises!kudos!!

By: Griz2468

Griz2468 — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 14:50:19 +0000

Not to get too carried away by all of this, but if anyone is interested in seeing the results of these techniques, you can check out my Flickt site at http://www.flickr.com/photos/griz2468/
I have grouped my mushroom pics into a “Set” called, wait for it, Mushrooms.

By: Sony Alphah

Sony Alphah — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 04:52:42 +0000

Labour has become plain With these wonderful tips.
Thanks

By: Griz2468

Griz2468 — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:08:04 +0000

Thanks, John. I had not heard of “CombineZM” and now can’t wait to try it.
As for lighting, mirrors are great for getting a bit of sunlight up under the gills, a place where the flash often cannot reach (unless you photograph with you camera upside-down).
And from a mushroom identification standpoint, it’s nice if you can get the tops of some mushrooms and the undersides of others in the same shot.

By: John Redeker

John Redeker — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:22:17 +0000

Interesting comments, and a topic that has fascinated me for a couple of years now.
Re ‘articulated’ viewfinders (the type that swing out from the camera) – I find my Panasonic FZ-50 to be SO useful from that aspect. It means the viewfinder’s is ‘electronic’ rather than genuinely ‘through the lens’ as with a true SLR, but it’s the only way I’m going to be able to get down to the fungi the way I do! And – there’s a tripod called the ‘gorillapod’ sold by JOBY in the US – they’ll send anywhere worldwide. I bought one of those, and it’s totally flexible, twistable and flattenable. To take it one step further, I made some ‘pins’ to insert into holes I drilled in the bottom of the gorillapod’s feet, and I can push them into the soft ground where the fungi grow for complete stability.
If you then want total depth of field control so that every bit of your fungi is in focus, there’s a free programme on the Web called ‘CombineZM’. All the explanations are there, but basically, you focus progressively from front to back of what you want to capture, taking photos without disturbing the camera’s position. That’s where the total stability is important. The programme then COMBINES your various pics into ONE, using the best focus from each to make a brilliant composite.
Believe me – worth a try!

By: Griz2468

Griz2468 — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:48:20 +0000

I have been photographing mushrooms for a while with slowly improving results. May I suggest that the two best things are a mini tripod (Sony makes a beautiful 6″er) and a camera with an articulated view finder. This allows you to stage your shot while looking down at the camera, rather than lying in the muck.
As for finding mushrooms, if you are not a shroom hobbyist like me, talk to your friends and you may be surprised by how many are closet mushroomers and will be only too glad to take you to your quarry.
In my part of the world – Ontario – you can find various mushrooms from Spring till Fall, though October is usually the most bountiful month.