Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

Not sure of the exact type, but as a child I called them worm houses. Point Blank, Texas. I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks!

(Download)

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I hope some of the macro people will chime in, there's some good mushroom shooters that come by here, but I'll try, since your photo is drifting towards the lower part of the page :)

Cute mushrooms in an interesting array that forms an upside down triangle, nice for composition. Nice colors contrasting greens and orange/yellows. If I took it, I would consider it sharp enough, but I've seen mushroom pictures here that are sharper. I believe you could've got more of the formation in razor-sharp focus with a smaller aperture, and it seems like the shutter speed was such that you could've afforded a slighter slower shutter with no bad consequences.

It might could do without some of the upper foggy background, unless this is already a tight crop. If it's already cropped, I might darken the brightest area just a tad to keep the focus more on the mushrooms. Gentle PP (dodge/burn/vignette\sharpening) can help direct the eye towards what you want it to appreciate most.

Don't take what I say too seriously though, I have never made what I considered a good shot of mushrooms.

Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Be sure to view the download.
Exposure excellent.
Focus: shallow DOF that catches the near parts of the fungi, but not the far side of the tops.

Nice effect of the complementary green and orange.

Dave in SD

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

Minniev and Uuglypher, thank you for your replies. I have a long way to go on a complete understanding of photography. I have more studying to do and more pictures to take to completely understand how aperture affects depth of field.
Again, thank you for your kind words and pointing me in the right direction!

Nightski

I agree with Dave that you nailed the focus and lighting. Love your subject .. a cute little mushroom family. I think this shot could be better though if you eliminated the distractions .. the grass .. I would have plucked the blades & weeds in the foreground so that they don't distract from your mushroom family. Perhaps shooting them in low light conditions, closing down your aperture, and doing a longer exposure would soften the rest of the environment. Here is a link to 500px that has lots of mushroom shots done in many different ways. Notice how wonderful the shots with no distractions are. Notice the macro shots zooming in on parts of mushrooms or the mushrooms shot blurring the environment. The settings are listed so you can see what they did. Pick what you like and go out with some new tools to do the job. :-)

http://500px.com/search?q=mushroom&submit=Submit&type=photos

Japakomom Loc: Originally from the Last Frontier

Thank you Nightski!

bkyser Loc: Fly over country in Indiana

All of the technical stuff is there, but to my eye, I think a tighter crop could really take it to the next level. When I look at an image like this, I try to figure how much of the surrounding area helps to tell the story. In this case, to me the grass is just "meh" I'm not saying to go too crazy, but maybe a square crop and just show some less of the other stuff. My disclaimer on all my opinions are the same.... they are worth exactly what you are paying for them, so listen, don't listen, I just offered it to you.