Macro Fungi Light Painting
A nature photography blog by Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire based landscape photographer Rob Thorley Photography.
Time flies when the DIY is done and it’s the back end of October already. I tend to find that October (in recent years) is when I remember that I have a macro lens and this October was no exception.
Whenever I go out to do a bit of macro photography, rightly, or wrongly I leave all my other lenses and the kitchen sink at home. Other than my camera and the macro lens, the only other equipment I take is a torch, my flash and the tripod. Which for me is travelling light. I knew my torch was being a bit dodgy, so took some rechargeables to swap out if I wasn't getting enough light.
The recent weather in the UK had been good for the ducks and gardens but in general it hadn’t been the best for landscape photography. It was however pretty good for fungi, so it was no surprise that I found myself at Consall Valley to try a bit of fungi light painting.
The day started well and as I suspected there was an abundance of fungi and mushrooms about. One of the trickiest problems is finding a cluster that you can get your camera on without ending the day looking like you’ve done a tough mudder. In this respect, whilst there was an abundance of fungi they weren’t playing ball and it wasn’t long before I was covered from head to toe in mud.
After I nice start to the day it quickly went down bank. I wasn’t bothered about being covered in mud but my knees were definitely not enjoying the fungi hunt. Add to that I’d wrapped up way too much and I was cooking. Even after I shed the jumper and thermal I was still too warm and for some reason getting too warm always seems to impact my enjoyment of photography.
The main flaw in the plan however was my torch. I’d bought along my spare batteries but I hadn’t realised that it took AAA's and my rechargeables were AA's. Sadly I didn't realise this until it was too late. Hot and bothered and with no light to work with I cut the day short only to remember when I pulled back on the drive I had my head torch with me which would have been more than enough. I also light painted the wrong mushrooms on a couple of shots ( the joys of photographing with the camera upside down and being blind as a bat), so overall it could have been better.
Not the best day at the office as I made too many cock-ups.
You can view more images of fungi and mushrooms, and my gallery of other nature subjects.
