Nightski

This is the shot where I discovered what long exposure can with light. I know lighthouse's is much better, but that is what experience does for you.

F/22
8 Second Exposure
ISO 100 Here is a shot of the same type of mushrooms shot in golden hour sunlight. I was disappointed in the contrasty light, though I did like the composition better.

http://500px.com/photo/73383919/fungi-family-by-sandra-nightski?from=user_library

Luminous Mushrooms

(Download)

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Your final assessment is mine as well...but I'd recognize the character of the light rather than be disappointed by it...and the composition is great as is. Are the compisitional options? Absolutely. Would any of them be better? Beats me.
It Sure looks like the same species that LH portrayed
There is less translucence of the stalks,in spite of longer exposure, but the light is, indeed different..

Experimentally not helpful, ....but a great image!


....and even with long exposure no noise evident at NVD.

OK...I'd like to see it cropped 1/3 off the right and 1/4 of the bottom to give a closer crop with the sujects move toward the right side.

Congrats on an excellent job.

Dave

Nightski

Thank you, Dave. I am excited to keep working with this concept. I have to find a winter subject of some sort.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

I'd love to try it out with short and long exposures on glacial "blue ice" under different illuminations. When I think "translucency" it's that deep cerulian blue ice that leaps to mind! Might be a good subject on which to test it out!

or the translucency of the petals of a number of flower species...

or of a back-lit baby's ear...sleeping, of course to permit a Loooong exposure...

or of a glass of Ouzu with water...

or fine, delicate porcelain..??????

....the mind boggles....?

Dave

Nightski

With the lakes frozen now, and the big ice chunks being cut out for spear fishing ... ice ... that's a great idea...

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

With this image if you accept what you tried did not work 100% then with a tiny bit of PP give it some contrast and pop you actually have a lovely photo here.
I would feel inclined to clone out the bird poop? in the bottom right hand corner.
I admire you dedicated folks freezing ya butt of experimenting with light.

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

Sandra, I disagree with you. Lighthouse's image is not much better, but it is so amazing, I can understand why you would feel that way. IMO yours is also exceptional and the way you captured the light, colors and details is really nice. You both have inspired me with these exceptional images.

lighthouse Loc: No Fixed Abode

A beautiful image in it's own right Sandra.
Definitely a different species of mushroom to mine though.
I love the delicate tones and detail you have captured, especially when viewed at the larger size on the download.
There are a couple of minor distractions and if they were "magicked away" the image becomes even more wonderful (the little green "weed" above the fungi "bulbs" and beside them, and the stick towards the bottom right that mimics the fungi stalks.)
Well done.
I like it a lot.

Nightski

You see what lighthouse has just said? These are the things that bother me too. But I think I'll go try again instead of editing because:
1) I'm not good at magic. LOL
2) I had to crop this image far too much.

If you notice, lighthouse's image is a macro shot .. he says it right in his OP. So obviously his mushroom is tiny, and yet look at the detail! I have seen these tiny mushrooms, and I have shot them. I shot them all together .. I did not think to shoot just one as lighthouse did. Even if I wanted them all in a micro mushroom shot, I should have focused on just one.

Notice the DOF that lighthouse has. Yes the moss/lichen behind it is OOF, but you can tell what it is .. so that is something I do not understand. How did he get that much depth, shooting so close and still get all that detail? The picture looks easy to the novice who hasn't tried it, but I can assure you it is not. This novice fully understands what can go wrong with a shot like that. I have a whole bunch of wrongs in my files!

I have learned something though on focus, and I can't wait to go out and try again next spring!

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

Sandra, focus is certainly important. I went back and looked again at this photo and the DOF he got at f11. To accomplish that DOF, at that fstop I would have had to focus stack several images using Heligon focus. Chek out this link to see what I mean. http://www.heliconsoft.com/heliconsoft-products/helicon-focus/

Nightski

He did not stack that image .. can't wait to see what he says about it. Anyway ... check out the new mushroom pic I posted. I believe this is the type of mushroom lighthouse posted. You can still see the luminance in the mushrooms, but I don't know that I nailed focus and my background is busy.

http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-260757-1.html

waltchilds Loc: Central Florida

I like this shot you took of these mushrooms, and the biggest difference in yours and his is he used a Macro lens at 1:1 on a tripod probably with a focus rail. I also still suspect his image was stacked, but I could be wrong. If you find out more please let me know.

Nightski

We will have to wait for lighthouse. I love when we have these interesting discussions about how images are achieved. :-)