Critique Fly Agaric Mushrooms, at last!

[Carl Hall]

I have been looking for some of these mushrooms for several weeks, but wasn't able to find any until yesterday afternoon. I visited Wareham Forest looking for them, and came across these on the way back to the van after giving up. Taken with the Sigma 105 macro on a 5D2.

Critiques are appreciated as I'd like to improve my woodland macro photography. The lighting is a little flat because it was overcast, but unfortunately I can't get back to try with better light until the weekend, and I expect they'll be long gone (trampled) by then!


Fly Agaric - Wareham Forest by Carl Hall, on Flickr

 

[69Bonni]

Hi Carl
I'm not a Macro guy myself mate but did you see the Autumn Country file special program yesterday i think it was.
There was a guy on there doing time lapse on one of these, really interesting, guess you might get it on catch up .... Always found fungi fascinating, i was taught what was edible and what was poisonous a long time ago but cant remember it all now! i'll just steer well clear of the death cap!
Nice shot i like that...

 

[Carl Hall]

Hi Carl
I'm not a Macro guy myself mate but did you see the Autumn Country file special program yesterday i think it was.
There was a guy on there doing time lapse on one of these, really interesting, guess you might get it on catch up .... Always found fungi fascinating, i was taught what was edible and what was poisonous a long time ago but cant remember it all now! i'll just steer well clear of the death cap!
Nice shot i like that...

Thanks Steve! No I didn't see it, but I've been told they're on it. I might have to watch it on iPlayer I think!

I have no idea what ones are edible, and having just Googled the death cap it looks like every other mushroom, so I'm just going to not touch any of them

 

[GardenersHelper]

It looks good to me Carl, and you may have already taken account of all that follows, so this is more of a thought than a suggestion.

I see you used f/2.8, and of course this rendered the background very nicely. I do notice quite a disparity though between what is in very sharp focus on the front of the mushroom caps and what is further around to the edge and the top. I wondered how it it look with all of the cap in (or more in) focus?

Perhaps a slightly larger aperture. Presumably f/2.8 isn't the sweet spot for that lens anyway, so f/4 for example might give you an even sharper rendition of the in focus areas, as well as more in focus on the cap, possibly still leaving the background pleasantly blurred. One stop gives about 40% greater depth of field.

How, or rather, where are you focusing? For shapes like that I tend to put the centre of focus at a position about half way between the front and the rear visible edge of the subject. Putting it on the front edge (I have no idea where you place it of course) wastes around half of the DOF in relation to the subject. (FWIW I use a similar technique with insects.)

Do you ever take a series of photos with different apertures? I do this with flowers sometimes and choose the look I like best later. In fact, sometimes I like a couple of them which have different enough apertures to give the images a rather different "feel".

 

[Carl Hall]

It looks good to me Carl, and you may have already taken account of all that follows, so this is more of a thought than a suggestion.

I see you used f/2.8, and of course this rendered the background very nicely. I do notice quite a disparity though between what is in very sharp focus on the front of the mushroom caps and what is further around to the edge and the top. I wondered how it it look with all of the cap in (or more in) focus?

Perhaps a slightly larger aperture. Presumably f/2.8 isn't the sweet spot for that lens anyway, so f/4 for example might give you an even sharper rendition of the in focus areas, as well as more in focus on the cap, possibly still leaving the background pleasantly blurred. One stop gives about 40% greater depth of field.

How, or rather, where are you focusing? For shapes like that I tend to put the centre of focus at a position about half way between the front and the rear visible edge of the subject. Putting it on the front edge (I have no idea where you place it of course) wastes around half of the DOF in relation to the subject. (FWIW I use a similar technique with insects.)

Do you ever take a series of photos with different apertures? I do this with flowers sometimes and choose the look I like best later. In fact, sometimes I like a couple of them which have different enough apertures to give the images a rather different "feel".

Thanks for the detailed feedback Nick, it's much appreciated

I think for this photo I just focussed on the white spots of the front face of the mushroom. Lately I've been trying to use the DoF preview button whilst in live view, and then focussing further back slightly until the front edge is just about still in focus. (I figured that this meant my DoF was from the very front edge backwards, but I'm not sure if this is a good technique!), but for whatever reason I didn't do it this time

The reason I went for f/2.8 was for the look of the image I was trying to get, more of a dreamy fairytale look that might suit the type of mushroom, although I realise this isn't going to get much of the subject in focus and isn't the sharpest aperture to use. I guess it's a balance between trying to achieve a specific look, and getting everything technically right!

I did take a few at different apertures, in full stops from f/2.8 up to f/16, but strangely I don't have one for f/4! I've attached the comparison below, although it's quite small compared to the original. If you'd like to see bigger versions I can post them individually

Thanks again for the help! I think next time I need to focus more (pun intended) on my depth of field and make sure that I'm not wasting half of it on the grass in front

 

[GardenersHelper]

Thanks for the detailed feedback Nick, it's much appreciated

It's my pleasure Carl. I love looking at and thinking about other people's photos because they are always different from mine and all the more interesting because of that.

I think for this photo I just focussed on the white spots of the front face of the mushroom. Lately I've been trying to use the DoF preview button whilst in live view,

I've never had much success with DoF preview on a dSLR . I don't know what it is like on your camera, but on my 70D I find the DoF preview button really awkward to get at.

and then focussing further back slightly until the front edge is just about still in focus. (I figured that this meant my DoF was from the very front edge backwards, but I'm not sure if this is a good technique!),

If you can see clearly enough what is going on at the front it should be fine I would have thought.

but for whatever reason I didn't do it this time

The reason I went for f/2.8 was for the look of the image I was trying to get, more of a dreamy fairytale look that might suit the type of mushroom, although I realise this isn't going to get much of the subject in focus and isn't the sharpest aperture to use. I guess it's a balance between trying to achieve a specific look, and getting everything technically right!

I see it differently! I think its a matter of handling the technicals so as to get the specific look you are aiming at. So if you've got the look you are aiming for you have everything technically right. IMO.

I did take a few at different apertures, in full stops from f/2.8 up to f/16, but strangely I don't have one for f/4! I've attached the comparison below, although it's quite small compared to the original. If you'd like to see bigger versions I can post them individually

Nice layout. Thanks for taking the time to organise that. Did you choose the f/2.8 to use and then post process just that one? (Entirely sensible of course.) I'm looking at the very different look of the background brightness in the others. Was there some post processing involved in making the f/2.8 background look so different?

Thanks again for the help! I think next time I need to focus more (pun intended) on my depth of field and make sure that I'm not wasting half of it on the grass in front

As long as it doesn't crush the artistry.

 

[Carl Hall]

I see it differently! I think its a matter of handling the technicals so as to get the specific look you are aiming at. So if you've got the look you are aiming for you have everything technically right. IMO.

Ahh yes, that's a better way of looking at it. I guess it is "right" if it's what you were after!

Nice layout. Thanks for taking the time to organise that. Did you choose the f/2.8 to use and then post process just that one? (Entirely sensible of course.) I'm looking at the very different look of the background brightness in the others. Was there some post processing involved in making the f/2.8 background look so different?

Originally yes, I only processed the f/2.8 version as it was the only one I wanted to post. When I then went to do the comparison image, I just synchronized the processing across all of them (because I'm lazy ). Not sure why they look different though!

 

[69Bonni]

Thanks Steve! No I didn't see it, but I've been told they're on it. I might have to watch it on iPlayer I think!

I have no idea what ones are edible, and having just Googled the death cap it looks like every other mushroom, so I'm just going to not touch any of them

I think there one of the few that have enough punch to kill you and they can also cause some serious problems touching and absorption through the skin
Cheers