The Beauty Beneath
These woodland fungi were almost more beautiful below than from above
These woodland fungi were almost more beautiful below than from above
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Dec, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
Walking a mountain trail in Glorieta, New Mexico, I came upon a garden of these fungi and was captivated by their range of beauty. As a novice photographer, I tried to capture them from all angles.Time
I was at a retreat center helping chaperone a group of young people from my church. When the teenagers were pulled into hour-long discussion groups around 2:00pm, I grabbed my camera and headed up the mountain for some personal quiet time.Lighting
The retreat center's high elevation seemed to magnify the sun's brilliance, but on the mountain a canopy of trees filtered and softened the light. I used existing natural light for the shot.Equipment
I carried only my Nikon D3000 (that I had scored at a Black Friday sale 2 years earlier) and the 55-200mm lens that came with it.Inspiration
Viewing them from the top, the fungi resembled flowers. I shot the topside first, but I also wanted to capture the delicate, detailed beauty underneath. To get this picture I laid full length on my stomach in the grass. That was some feat for this overweight, stiff-jointed, 60-something grandma - but so worth it!Editing
When I took this picture in July, 2015, I had not yet discovered the photo editing program on my computer, so this and the first few other pictures I posted on my Viewbug page were not retouched. I've learned a lot more since then.In my camera bag
I recently bought a used Nikon D3300 from another photographer, so now I have two cameras. Over the 4 years since buying my original Nikon D300, which came with 18-55mm and 55-200mm lenses, my husband has surprised me on birthdays and Christmases with 55-300mm zoom and 40mm micro lenses and an external flash with remote control - and a sturdy new camera bag that holds everything. That's about it for now. I'm still learning to use them all.Feedback
The idea of me giving advice to anyone is really kind of funny, since I'm such an amateur. I'm still amazed when some of my shots turn out well and feel that most of those were happy accidents. I guess the best thing I could tell anyone is to take pictures of things that make you feel something. Looking through photos on Viewbug, I see a wide variety of textures, patterns, colors and forms. You can tell when people are drawn to their subjects, fascinated by them, enjoy them. The other thing is to take lots and lots of shots, from many different depths and angles. When I first got my camera, I would routinely take 200-300 or more shots of any given subject and be glad to get 2-5 really good pictures out of it. Now I'm getting more good shots per hundred, but I still snap away. I figure the more frames, the better my chance of catching that great composition.
