Fungi and a Frog
Over the past two weekends I have been visiting the New Forest, hunting fungi to photograph. This is much earlier than I normally do this ( normally it’s October time). However with reports that this year may be a good year, and seeing some out I thought it might be a good idea to hunt early. Finding fungi in good order, makes them better subjects to photograph, and you also need to get to them before they’ve been eaten or kicked about.
My first site that I visited was the Knightwood Oak area near Bolderwood.
On this occassion I took my full manfrotto tripod and my Canon 100mm Macro Lens. Shooting in just natural light at ISO 100 and deep apertures in the woods, making the tripod a necessity. This place is ideal as you don’t have to carry the equipment to far from the car park! It was also here that I found a small frog, that frooze itself stock still in the moss, allowing a shots at F16 in natural light at half a second in length.
The following weeks visit was to Matley Wood near Lyndhurst. And again I took a tripod – but this time my mini one. I also only took a non-macro lens (A 50-200mm lens), to which I attached extension tubes to get closeups.
Here are my favourite shots from those visits. Note all identifications are my best guesses – these may be wrong!
Fungi on fallen log. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 100 F16 0.6 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Puffballs. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 100 F7.1 1/20. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Mycena Fungi. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 100 F3.2 1/60. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Common Stump Brittlestem (Possible). Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 100 F16 2 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Amethyst deciever (Probable). Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 100 F11 1.3 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Small Frog in Moss. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 400 F16 0.5 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Small Frog in Moss(2). Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 100mm F2.8 USM Macro Lens. ISO 400 F16 0.5 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Fungi and Acorn. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 50-200mm Lens & Extension Tube. ISO 400 F13 1.6 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Bracket Fungus. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 50-200mm Lens & Extension Tube. ISO 100 F13 0.8 Seconds. On Tripod in Natural Light.
Fungi and Acorn. Taken on Canon 650D with Canon 50-200mm Lens & Extension Tube. ISO 100 F8 1/4 On Tripod in Natural Light.
Finally a fun shot of a fungi – taken with coloured flashes ( green and red ) to light it up. Processed for added effect in Topaz Adjust and Nik Color Efexs.
