Filmwasters
Which Board? => Main Forum => : LT October 26, 2010, 09:13:19 PM
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I've started a project on portraits of wild mushrooms and toadstools. THe idea is to go for a pictorial style with much blur and minimal DOF - but fiddling with the close-up filters has proved to be more tricky than I thought ... here are my first few efforts for your perusal:
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Three more:
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final three (for now):
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Fungi are so photogenic, I really like the last one of the first set, very unusual. I also have quite a few pictures of fungi I love the little rings of them you find in fields sometimes they come up overnight-when we were kids we called them fairy rings :-[
Mark
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Pretty nice for someone who wasn't too sure about the close-up lenses!
Now, I wonder which ones should go in the pizza :P
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These are magic for sure leon ! ::)
My favourite is hte "kingswoodshroom6" , looks like a tale of a whale...
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Leon, a wonderful set. I'm especially drawn to the second one--the extremely shallow DoF works well there.
It seems to emphasize the frailty.
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Oh my gosh, so many beauties! Closeup lenses are tricky and you pull it off flawlessly Leon! Great tones and detail too!
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They're all fabulous Leon, kingswood 8 has to be my favourite though
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I really love all these images. Brilliant!
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wow~ I think certain shapes here go very well over. the ones I like the most are those where only part of the mushroom is in focus. like 6 & 1.. almost dreamy surrealistic feel going on~
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Bravo Leon. These are spectacular. I envy you in being able to enjoy the large prints of these.
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Dear Mister Druid, these are very nice indeed and well outside of mother-in-law territory (in a good way). Bravo!!
;D ;D
I'm super impressed with all of them, but Kingswood 8 is my favourite because it's different different as opposed to just being very good indeed. The thing is that you do 'very good indeed' so darn well, it's hard for someone as ballpark as myself to suggest that you try and throw a curve into your technique, but I think this series is worth pursuing and if you can work some Rocky Schenck into your output it might be truly stunning.
Now the geeky question.....Bronny?
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Mr T
Very nice, methinks number 12 as a family do it for moi...
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very nice :)
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Now the geeky question.....Bronny?
I'm pretty sure it is the Bronny after reading the close-up filter post.
Field cameras don't really need close-up lenses... and I can't imagine Leon dropping down to 35mm ;D
Not that there's anything wrong with 35mm...
Besides, I think the square images give it away :)
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Forgot to mention...thorndenshroom4 is awesome ! looks like a underwater creature ! like a ghost from the sea... i guess the softness make me thing that those shots for taken under the water.
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Stunning, all of them! My favorite is the third in the first group. I had no idea fungi could look like that.
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Thanks everyone for the positive comments. I'm glad the pics are well received as the theme is a bit of a departure for me, so it's always good to get the approval of peers.
Ed - yes - it's bronica with cheap close-up filters of varying strengths.
Erin - that particular thing is called the Hedgehog of the Woods and makes for good eating so I'm told (not that I'm brave enough to try it - I think the risks of getting it wrong http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4660269.ece (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article4660269.ece) are far too great).
The biggest problem I'm having with this lot is any small bright highlights behind the subject are magnified by the filters to become huge pentagonal blobs. And being in the woods, there will always be little bits of sky peering through the leaves. They need a lot of careful printing down. I might really go for the portrait theme and take some dark card to position behind the mushrooms - but then again, I like the vague suggestion of detail behind them too. Something to work on though.
Leon
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Ok, that part about the liver being broken down to a pulp is enough to scare me off mushrooms forever! LOL! I dont like them anyway. Dont like the taste and could never get my brain past the whole fungal aspect of them. Just cant eat fungus. :)
I really like the natural backdrops to these closeups. I shoot lots of closeups and macros and have always enjoyed the bokeh. However, I would also love to see these shot portrait style with a black card behind them. I can picture in my mind how it would look and see this interesting combination that would look like a natural setting created in a studio. I think it would look awesome!
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Ok, that part about the liver being broken down to a pulp is enough to scare me off mushrooms forever! LOL! I dont like them anyway. Dont like the taste and could never get my brain past the whole fungal aspect of them. Just cant eat fungus. :)
You really are missing out there! I love a good mushroom. there's a field near me where loads of field mushrooms erupt every year. I come home with pockets full everytime I take the dogs out for a walk :). Fry them with some chives and butter and have them on toast - loverly. I'm fine with IDing field mushrooms, but the ones in the woods are much more scary.
I read a more recent article about Nicholas Evans that said he and his family are on regular dialysis and are on the transplant list for new kidneys! Serious stuff if you get it wrong.
Mind you, I think that's why I'm so fascinated by them - you can have something like the Destroying Angel or the Death Cap which WILL kill you, both of which have virtually identical mushrooms which are perfectly safe to eat ... amazing things really. And they are so beautiful.
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Leon, these are wonderful. Just keep 'em coming and a great project!
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I find it hard to believe that nobody's done the joke yet!?... OK I will then... "Love your images Leon, must come out with you sometime as you must be a fungi to be with..." ;D ;) There it's done now!
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Sorry Leon I meant to add... have you tried an extension tube instead of close up lenses? I have one for my SQA and it can easily do 1:1, you lose a lot of light and have to add a stop and a half mind you.
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I find it hard to believe that nobody's done the joke yet!?... OK I will then... "Love your images Leon, must come out with you sometime as you must be a fungi to be with..." ;D ;) There it's done now!
Very good - but seriously ... You're welcome to come out at some point - you'll have to walk though, I only have a small car and there's not MUSHROOM inside.
I even make myself laugh sometimes.
PS - as for the extension tubes - I'm on a tight budget, so I'll have to stick with the filters for now :(
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These are great! I can't pick a favorite, and now want to go back walking in the forest to try some more pinholes of the ones around here.
I love this series, Leon. I do think it's one of your best. I even like these better than the boats..... :)
Becky
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I find it hard to believe that nobody's done the joke yet!?... OK I will then... "Love your images Leon, must come out with you sometime as you must be a fungi to be with..." ;D ;) There it's done now!
Very good - but seriously ... You're welcome to come out at some point - you'll have to walk though, I only have a small car and there's not MUSHROOM inside.
hahaha~ I love you guys :D
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I keep coming back to these, Leon. They are very beautiful.
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All of them - beautiful.....
Favourites are Kingswood Mushroom 4 and 12. Classical - these should be in a gallery.
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beautiful!
man i love mushrooms, wish i could find some like that!
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I saw these yesterday on APUG and was bowled over. They look even better on FWs. Superb control and printing. Not the sort of photography I am interested in taking and, in any case my low centre of gravity these days means I tend to keel over forward whenever I bend down too low, but great respect for these - their simplicity and formal elegance.
G
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thanks Graham - I have to say it is a struggle scrambling around on my knees in the wet leaf mould. I went out again yesterday - I found some really nice subjects, so set about clearing away some of the detritus around them, placed my hand down firmly and went about the shot. After a few minutes, my hand felt a bit itchy - I looked down and saw what must have been at least 50 inch-long maggots crawling all over it. I'm ashamed to say that I actually screamed - much to the consternation of a passing Malamute and its owner. It must have been quite a sight - a 6 foot overweight late 30's man on his own in the woods running in circles screaming like a girl.
I'll wear gloves next time. :-[
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I looked down and saw what must have been at least 50 inch-long maggots crawling all over it. I'm ashamed to say that I actually screamed
Leon, well it was Halloween yesterday after all! ;D
I was in my local woods a few weeks ago and unknowingly put my camera rucksack down next to a wood ants nest, after taking an image I popped the bag back on my back and ambled off... a few minutes later I felt something crawling round my neck... I was covered in ants! the rest of the story is similar to yours!
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I looked down and saw what must have been at least 50 inch-long maggots crawling all over it. I'm ashamed to say that I actually screamed - much to the consternation of a passing Malamute and its owner. It must have been quite a sight - a 6 foot overweight late 30's man on his own in the woods running in circles screaming like a girl.
Lucky you didn't throw the camera at the same time :)
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I'll be sure to learn from your mistakes D:
be well!
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Wow! They need new kidneys now? Holy smokes. Thats terrible.
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Hey Leon, nice work!!!!
Roger
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magic. Great set of pictures, particularly the final set.
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Scuse me for bellowing out loud with laughter at the maggot story.
As far as backgrounds go, a nature photographer I know has an interesting technique. For example, he might want to photograph poppies in a field of corn, but knows that the various out-of-focus poppies in the background will be a distraction. He finds a section of the field without any poppies, throws it completely out of focus, photographs it, then prints it up quite big, mounts the image on card and uses it as a portable background in the field. He has dozens of these things and has worked out how to use them extremely convincingly - you would never, ever know they weren't the real thing. Sounds naff, but it really works! (Of course, he's probably shooting digital now, in which case I doubt he needs to worry about it any more!)
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I can just imagine him, in the field with his large LCD screen, computer and long extension cord, choosing the background on his 1TB auxiliary drive and snapping the picture trying to make it look real... :P
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I love mushrooms & these are lovely looking specimens, especially shroom4 which is an odd looking thing.. great shots.
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They're lovely, Leon, such weird things too!
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I really dig the idea of he huge print working as a fake backdrop in nature. It sounds awesome, not only because I think it would look great but I really like the idea of faking the viewer out. Not sure why though. A sort of real sort of fake shot done on film. Just sounds intriguing to me somehow.
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Spectacular work Leon. Really pleasing to look at. Skj.