A close-up image of mushroom clinging to the bark of a dying tree in the Wicklow Mountains, Ireland. Click on the Image to see a larger version, and to purchase/license.
On Wednesday last the weather forecast indicated we would have a potentially great sunrise, so I was up early and headed up to a spot I had noticed when I was last shooting up at Lough Tay (and here). Unfortunately I must have been looking at the wrong forecast because when I reached the location the fog was so heavy I couldn’t see a meter in front of me. On the way up though there was a small pocket free of the heavy fog so I turned the car around and headed back down the mountain. I was relieved to return and still find the area free from fog but it was still very overcast Sky’s.
So no magic sunrise today so! As I often do in these situations, which is a lot in Ireland with our unpredictable weather, I took my 100mm Macro out and went for a wander. Photographing Mushrooms has been on my shooting list for a long time so I was delighted to find some in the remains of a wood.
This particular mushroom was growing out of a surface root of a dead tree, so was practically on the ground. Tripod is of no use in this instance so I used my Filter case to act as a flat surface for the camera to rest on (note to self – buy a beanbag). I switched on live view and positioned the camera to create the composition I wanted. I then zoomed live view in at 5x and manually focused so that the rim of the mushroom was in sharp focus.
Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Lens: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Exposure: 0.4s
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 100mm
ISO Speed: 100
