Welcome to another visually extended post! I decided to save the third post of the last round of photos for another time since this one has so many mushrooms too.
Here, are some shots from a walk i went on over the weekend. I hope you like them. I did include some shots that i normally wouldn't have in order to give you a couple of tips.
Within walking distance from where i am now there is a cool place called Teleborgs Slott or Teleborg Castle. You can read a bit more about the history and such at that link if you like.
It's a really cool place to go and walk around... so we did. This day was a very overcast and chilly day, so I must say the lighting was not good for the majority of this walk.
I don't usually try to shoot the castle when i am there because i can really feel and see the restraints of what i want to achieve compared to what my camera is capable of. Either way, it's great practice to get the most out of a limited tool.
I titled this section Castle(berry) Grounds because of those last two shots. My name is Castleberry and we don't see too many castles back in Texas and in order to get the shot i had to lay on the ground on my back and click the shot upside down pointing the camera backwards.
Those last two shots are the exact same image. The one upside down is the original orientation and the first one was the rotated version. So technically, Castleberry was on the ground on and of the Castle Grounds.
I tried to progressively get closer but approaching from the same angle to give the appearance of zooming in.
My eyes are meticulous when it comes to alignments and perspectives. I always try to consider this when i am framing a shot. Where is the horizon? What is parallel to the horizon? What is vertical compared to the horizon and how does that align with other vertical objects in the shot?
When curating this awesome Photography Lovers Community, there is nothing worse than a crooked horizon or ground level being not level to ruin a great photograph.
Look at the triple arch at the very top of this next shot. Look at the balcony above the arches lining up precisely with the edge of the photo.
This is a skill that takes time and the eye to develop... not to mention more patience than most people have. It's well worth the effort to hone as a skill though. However, it is most challenging with architecture in my opinion.
When our lenses are round... straight lines won't all be straight. So, you have to find a spot to anchor your alignments to. For example, in the next two shots which are virtually the exact same shot... the only difference is where the orientation was.
If you look closely at the wood door under the stairs you will see the bottom of the photo aligns parallel to the bottom of the door. Unfortunately, the stone lines at the bottom right are now not parallel with the bottom of the image. The outline edge of the corner tower is pretty vertically straight though.
Now, compare all of those same things to this picture below. The stones are lined up but the door bottom is not. The corner tower even looks like the leaning Tower of Pisa.
Not everything will always line up but being able to see how and when and why they will or will not line up is a crucial skill to learn in framing the best shots you can. Out of those two castle shots... the first one looks much better overall in my opinion.
This next image is a great example of when to make sacrifices in framing to focus on what you want to emphasize. I wanted the lion's paw at the bottom right to stand on the bottom of the photo. However, to achieve that shot i had to compromise the angles of the castle in the background.
So, it had just rained the day before we went on this walk (which is good for shrooms) and there are many lakes around here with surrounding forests and footpaths. This castle has one of those lakes and some forests right next to it with plenty of shrooms.
Sometimes you can see the glitter effect some of these shrooms give off and sometimes you can't. Usually, it's because they are wet or have such a fine fuzz or skin on the cap it shines. I find it very similar to flower petals. I hope to get better at capturing this photographically.
More faces... (i left some out for the sake of brevity)
Texture...
Some glistening snail or slug snot. If you look at the far left where the snot connects to the bark... it's transparent. Now, if you look in that same spot in the second shot, it has become translucent and you can see the sheen. Unfortunately, i couldn't get the color or the glitter effect very well.
Sometimes i can't tell if the shot was in focus or not, due to the digital nature of things and the angles i have to shoot at for these macros, until after i come home and go over the captures. And sometimes this can be a cool thing or you can miss some great opportunities because you only took one or two snaps and moved on.
The next three shots are an interesting progression. The first one has the focus on the moss behind the mushroom. So, the shroom in the foreground and background are totally out of focus and the moss in the middle is super focused and crisp.
The second is getting the shroom more in focus and the some of the moss is good... but overall it's a meh photo. If i cropped it in tight and had that one lonely moss sprig that is in focus as the main focal point then perhaps this could be an intersting shot.
The third shot has the mushroom and the moss in focus and overall it's a much better shot. I wouldn't have gotten the good one if i didn't take multiple shots from different angles.
Sometimes, the best shots are more based on your focus as a photographer than the focus settings on your camera. I think many folks miss their best shots now because they are too much in a hurry to get to their next shot.
This next one was a first for me. It was yellow and fuzzy on the ruffled edges... but a dark red brownish juicy fleshy-looking inner area. Because of the green cast in the forest and the overcast lighting i didn't really capture the color as well as i would have liked but check it out.
This next one looked frosted and super cool. You can also see some Finger Mushrooms holding a leaf where the frosted one connects to the bark of the tree.
This next one was super strange-looking too. I was told it's a type of coral fungus but i don't know. That pine cone was tiny too. This was just like one tiny looking tuft of yellow fluff growing on the cone and bark.
Seeing faces or mouths or other parts of the body when looking at mushrooms is interesting to me. Kind of like seeing things in the clouds. Sometimes i would like to know what you see when you look at some of these shots... and sometimes i probably wouldn't like to know.
Blue turtle shell from Mario....?
The light was literally glowing through those eyes and mouth...
...
The Three Amigos...
So, towards the end of our walk i saw a giant knocked over puffball mushroom that shoots out spores. They don't have a stalk but are just bulbs on the ground. This one wasn't ready to spew forth it's spores and i felt bad it got separated from it's mycelial network.
You can actually see some of the mycelium still attached. There were others near by so i didn't feel too bad.
That leaf is cool looking.
The sun did come out a little towards the end.
The irony of a fungus eating a fungus.
This next one was in the hollow of a big stump. This was the only good shot i got because it was so dark inside the stump and i don't like using the flash when i shoot macro. That shroom is probably the size of your pinky nail.
This next one was just growing sideways out of a hole in the side of a tree pretty far off the ground.
Everytime i see red... i always look to see if it's the Super Mario Mushroom.
It wasn't looking like i was going to see any on this trip. If i did see some they would probably be all mangled or decrepit.
But alas, at the literal last leg of the walk and in the least suspected place i found a few! I found some next to the sidewalk and a few other grassy areas on the local university campus.
They were lone beauties standing tall with wonderful structure and very interesting characteristics.
A few of them were more and less red than others.
This next one reminds me of a person for some weird reason.
These next two shots are probably two of my favorites out of the whole day's collection.
I thought those red ones would be my final fungi to find but they weren't. Right at the end of the row next the sidewalk in one of the last patches of grass there was this fella which is probably a poisonous Panther Cap.
My first final thought (that's an oxymoron) is that i am glad you made it this far... rather you are still reading or just looking by now. I have really appreciated the comments and support on the last few posts i made. Thank you for taking the time to comment and see what there is to see. I do hope those tips made sense and are helpful to some of our fellow photographers here!
My last final thought is that i would like to know which of the castle shots you liked the most or least and which of the fungus shots you liked the most or least. Thanks again for stopping by and i hope that you all have the best week ever!
