Beard lichen or alien from Mars?

[Arlon Motsch]

I love the beard lichens, reminds me of something from Star Wars..

http://www.pbase.com/arlon/image/119886272/large.jpg
LARGER VERSION (http://www.pbase.com/arlon/image/119886272/original.jpg)

Shot with an old manual focus Vivitar 90mm F2.5 macro lens on the D90.
I used the onboard flash, it was just too dark for shooting hand held otherwise.

1/200s at F11 and ISO 200.

[Ed Vatza]

Interesting comp that looks great considering the use of on-board flash. The white look pretty good on my monitor. The black background sets it off well. Nice.

[Julie Kenward]

I love the plant - would love to see you eliminate a little more of the tree branch and really get in on the fungi.

I cleaned up the URC and cloned the branch at the bottom so it went straight off the frame. I selected the BG and took it to all black as there was a bit of posterization going on at the bottom (probably from the upload.) I then added just a hint of kick with a slight levels adjustment. See what you think...

[Arlon Motsch]

Like the clone job better. That little bit of branch at the bottom was just a distraction.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Arlon, very cool plant, Jules repost help clean it up a bit. Very cool