Fungus, The Sequel

[Jim Poor]

I finally made it back out to try some more fungus images. The same one was still there, but it had changed a bit. Apparently fungi open and close during the day like flowers, though not to that great of an extent. This one had "opened" up and instead of a nice flat right side like before, it wad bowed upwards considerably. While this made for some interesting natural lighting, it also straightened out the gills to a less wavy, less appealing shape. Still, I tried some more images.

This particular image was made at f32 with th3 200-400 and the TC1.7.

D3
1/60 @f32
SB800 off camera held to the side while the camera was on timed delay

I wanted to leave a little of the edge of the fungus (upper left) but am not sure it works in this image.

I guess it is all the detail in the lines, but I had a REALLY hard time getting this under the 150kb bar. I used "Optimize to File Size" in save for web set to 100kb and the final result was 180+. To get it down to size in save as, I had to use quality setting 3. It took a pretty big hit :(

[edward saltau]

hey jim, love the curves in this one! i hope you don't mind but i thought this crop would be more suitable. I also lifted the midtones slightly in curves. what do you think?

[Jim Poor]

Wow, I like that much better! It has the diagonals coming straight from the corner and then sweeping upwards. It think the more vertical comp does wonders.

Exactly how did you lift the mid tones? I played with curves quite a bit, but never was truly happy.

[edward saltau]

uuummmmm, i just opened curves then clicked the dropper on the upper right of the image where it was a bit dark. i lifted the curve a little bit at that point then snapped it back to a straight line roughly 1cm either side of that point. have a play in curves, i think it will really benefit.
glad you like the crop!

[John Cooper]

Gill structures of the fungi make great pattern shots as you have shown here Jim. And yes I think Edwards repost has strengthened the composition quite a bit. I like it!!!

[Tony Kirkby]

Jim I like this but would have left just a little more to the left to show the start of the curves.
Did you solve the original problem of photographing the whole fungus?

[Robert Amoruso]

Hi Jim,

You are definitely onto the right idea and Edward's crop fine-tunes it. The placement of the curves in the image is just right, It was the inclusion of the fungi edges in the top corners that took away from the image. The closer crop defines the image on its most strongest attribute, the patterns.

[Jim Poor]

Thanks everyone.

Tony, I did get some images of the whole thing. I'll post one today or tomorrow. I have another image in mind too.

Robert,
Composition on these more abstract images is something I have yet to learn well. I can definitely see how the curves fall right at a ROT spot now that it has been cropped. Too bad I couldn't see that myself at first, but I'll get there :D

BTW, I found a ROT grid in PS under vector shapes.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jim, this one is not working for me as well as the first post. The first one had more a interesting flow with more highlights and shadows, and the new post is just straight lines with even lighting in a slight curve.

[Jim Poor]

Hey Jim, this one is not working for me as well as the first post. The first one had more a interesting flow with more highlights and shadows, and the new post is just straight lines with even lighting in a slight curve.


Yeah, I think I need to catch it earlier in the day before it "opens" up and straightens out the gills.
The wavier gills are certainly more interesting.