Monday, December 28, 2015

Monday macros

From what I can find in our mushroom book, this is un coprin chevelu (coprinus comatus), known as a shaggy ink cap or shaggy mane mushroom in English. These are supposedly good mushrooms to eat young, but this one has gone beyond that stage. I see lots of edible youngsters out there, pushing up from under the leaf litter. I won't be trying any.

Coprin chevelu, 100mm (macro), f/2.8, 1/250s, ISO 3200.

I've noticed that many of my macro and 50mm shots have very high ISO settings. This often makes the images "noisy" or grainy. I can fix that a little in post-processing, but the end result is never as crisp as I'd like. The reason for the high ISO is that the camera is hand-held when I take the photos. The light level is often very low during our morning walks this time of year, so I need a wide aperture and a fast "film speed" to get the exposure right. Not to mention that I need a fast enough shutter to minimize the effects of camera shake. I think that if I used a tripod, I could lower the ISO, close the aperture down some, and use a slower shutter for a crisper photo with more depth of field.

This morning is the chilliest morning we've had in a while with a temperature of 4ºC (about 39ºF). Not very cold for a late December morning. Normally we'd see temperatures much closer to freezing (0ºC) early in the morning. Our unusually warm winter continues.

6 comments:

  1. Great pic Walt...
    I love these...
    when fully shaggy they cannot be mistaken!
    Make a wonderful vegetarian "chicken" risotto...

    I just bought a relatively cheap monopod [£4.99]...
    [ https://www.7dayshop.com/products/7dayshop-monopod-high-quality-aluminium-4-section-h170cm-with-shoulder-case-TRIPODWT1003 ]
    it makes a lot of difference...
    and is a good walking aid, which a tripod isn't...
    it isn't for all day, everyday use... not at that price!
    If you want that.... Manfrotto do one... 97€ including ball and socket camera mount.

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  2. Stunning photo. 4C?!? Too cold for me!

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  3. Love the mane on that mushroom! Also love an extra minute of daylight today. We'll soon be noticing the longer days....

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  4. nice mushroom in Poland temperature is the same

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  5. judy, I got lucky!

    tim, I do have a monopod and a decent tripod. I'm going to try to use one of Ken's "mini" tripods for ground-level photos and see how that works. Carrying the big ones on walks is no fun.

    mitch, it feels warm to us, LOL!

    evelyn, I can't wait!

    gosia, it's a warm winter in many places.

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