How to Turn Mushrooms into a Hidden City?

[William Baroo]

Yesterday I was mowing, and I saw some strange-looking mushrooms. I decided to spare them so I could take pictures.

I got down as low as I could and used a Sigma 105mm macro lens on a full-frame camera.

I have noticed that close up photos of things like this can make them look gigantic, as though people could climb around inside them and find shelter.

What would be the best way to get that effect? Should I use a wide lens and put the camera on the ground? Should I dig a hole under the camera so I could shoot upwards?

 

[Jeff15]

Nice shot....

 

[William Baroo]

Thanks.

 

[William Baroo]

I went out to see if I could get more shots today, and these mushrooms were dark brown and had nearly disintegrated.

 

[smoke665]

I have noticed that close up photos of things like this can make them look gigantic, as though people could climb around inside them and find shelter.

What would be the best way to get that effect? Should I use a wide lens and put the camera on the ground? Should I dig a hole under the camera so I could shoot upwards?

Close up views that fill the frame create the same effect as if you were to look through a magnifying glass. Welcome to the world of macro.

The problem with Macro is that DOF (Depth Of Field) that's the distance in front of and behind the focal plane that is actually in focus is usually very thin. DOF is a function of Aperture (the more you open up, the less DOF) and distance to the subject (the closer you are the less DOF). That's why many who shoot macro use focus stacking, a process where multiple shots are taken with each focus being slightly different than the one before, then they merge those images post. For example here's one I played around on for practice awhile back.

obviously needed more layers on this one, but you get the idea.

Mushrooms are fun to shoot. I frequently find them interesting enough to warrant a photo or two. I also use them as creative fodder in post created composites like this one.

 

[William Baroo]

That is fantastic advice. I wondered what focus stacking was.

I'm reading up. It looks like you have to have the camera solidly mounted in order to get exactly the same framing. Not sure how I can do that when shooting right at ground level.

 

[Rickbb]

That is fantastic advice. I wondered what focus stacking was.

I'm reading up. It looks like you have to have the camera solidly mounted in order to get exactly the same framing. Not sure how I can do that when shooting right at ground level.

Lots of tripods will allow you to reverse the center pole so the camera can be very close to ground level.

 

[smoke665]

That is fantastic advice. I wondered what focus stacking was.

I'm reading up. It looks like you have to have the camera solidly mounted in order to get exactly the same framing. Not sure how I can do that when shooting right at ground level.

As mentioned above many tripods allow reversing the center pole.

You can mange focus stacking a couple different ways. 1) you can manually refocus on different points or 2) you can use a Focus Rail What is a Macro Focusing Rail (and How to Use One) . This is the preferred method as it provides a more precise stack. You can find them new for around $40 on up, used maybe less. You also need a post processing software that will allow you to align and merge the individual images.

 

[RacePhoto]

I'm surprised that no one mentioned this. It takes a little to get it right and the number of images, doesn't need to be as many as I would have guessed. AND... I still don't have it right, but free software.

PICOLAY - Home

www.picolay.de

Also this is a good site and includes how to calculate the number of exposures: Extreme Macro Photography

Focus Stacking Calculator: Focus Stacking Tutorial From Start To Finish