Autumn is getting closer by the day. Although temperatures are still very pleasant during the datytime, nights are getting quite chilly and leaves are starting to loose their color. A good time to start looking for the first fungi and toadstools.
We set out with a small group of photographers from our local nature photography club and went to a very nice beech/oak forest. Normally a perfect spot for fungi and toadstools. But there is always a but: it has been an exceptionally dry summer. Water levels are very low wherever you look. A huge water expanse I regularly visit is now divided in two parts by a grass trail and several streams have run dry. And so was the case with the stream that runs through the forest we visited. The result: hardly any toadstools or fungi to be found as they need moisture to thrive. But then, you often only need one.
I found a small group of small fungi along a ditch and spent most of the morning at that spot. I got down low in a ditch to photograph the fungus from a low angle.
I positioned the camera so that the fungus was placed in the spotlight of a circle of light that shined through the canopy. The upper part of the frame consists of an out of focus patch of blueberry and part of the canopy. I rendered the image B&W in postprocessing, as I am of the opinion that the color takes away from the essence of this image.
Fungus at sunrise; Canon 1D Mark III w. 150/2.8; 1/3s at F5.6 and ISO 200; Tripod and remote release, mirror lock-up
