Portrait of a fungus

This blog entry actually dates back to the 19th of September, when I spent a day at Dundreggan, photographing the huge abundance and large diversity of fungi fruiting there then. In particular, I spent quite a long time with a specific group of one species, taking about 50 photographs of them. However, it is only recently that I’ve had the species identified as being the common cavalier (Melanoleuca polioleuca), and so I’m taking the opportunity of writing up this blog about it now.

There was something about the colour combination of chestnut brown caps and pale cream upturned gills on each of the fungi in the group that attracted me, while the position of the gills provided a rare opportunity to photograph them in situ, without having to pick the mushrooms and turn them over. Taking advantage of this unique opportunity, I took a series of photos, gradually moving in closer and closer to the gills themselves.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was able to take these photographs by using my specialist macro lens, the Canon 65 mm MP-E, which gives up to 5 times life size magnification. It’s not an easy piece of equipment to work with, and it’s taken me a while to develop the skill and facility to get the best results from it. However, it has been well worth persevering with, as these images here demonstrate.