Focus-stacked Fungi etc

As well as the previous blog post of single-exposure images with my Fuji Compact, I also took several focus stacks with the Olympus 60mm macro lens of the various frosted specimens and also this daisy among the frosty grass and leaves.

Birds Nest Fungi etc RSPB Sandy

A very enjoyable day at RSPB Sandy hunting for fungi on a dull but dry day with RPS and CCC members. We were delighted to find Bird's Nest Fungus - these are very small but perfectly formed nests with 'eggs' - this one is one a bracken stalk for scale the group were on a piece of bark. While photographing a small Mycena species growing out of a fallen branch, I realised there were small objects in the frame - a group of slime moulds. My focus stack for this one was not optimal so there is a bit of shadowing but pleased with the detail. I think the following image is also a slime mould. Otherwise a mixture of small, medium and large species to challenge our photographic skills.

Variations on a Poppy Field

Most years there is a wonderful display of poppies on Burwash Manor Farm in one of their organic fields. I never know how to best portray them so here are some variations of technique - 1,2 Multiple exposures one in focus, one out of focus (23mm lens); 3 Focus stack at F4.5 (160mm lens); 4 single exposure F16 (23mm lens). Rest mixture of lens length and aperture.

Hardwick Wood Focus on Flowers

I spent a morning in Hardwick Wood last week trying to perfect my technique for focus bracketing  using Fuji X100V  i.e. aperture, focus point, number of shots, distance lens moves between shots etc (images 1-4,6 are stacks) . Not sure I am a lot further forward as still a degree of hit and miss as regards the different parameters including light on the subject - the sun made a brief appearance during the second image plus an LED front light. Other images employed shallow depth of field

Late Fungi Hardwick Wood

I was surprised how many fungi were present in Hardwick Wood today - mainly Mycena species, plus some very large Clitocybe geotropa caps. I focus stacked quite a few of the toadstools at F2 or F4 (30 images) giving diffuse backgrounds. Used a LED light that changes colour temperatures for lighting - mainly daylight but also did a composite of several images taken with different colour lights.