Stalked Hairy Fairy Cup Lachnum niveum: Images Added

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 5:44 am

It was a frosty morning and I fancied a sit-down session, well a kneeling one anyway. I placed my foam pad next to a large, rotten log at the bottom of my garden, rolled it upside down, and took a look.

I was really after insects but saw a crowd of tiny, white dots. I knew there were discos, some of the tiniest mushrooms, no more than 1mm diameter. I hesitated to add to my images of these fungi but recognised an opportunity to use the wideangle end of my reversed Kiron zoom, with its field of view only 3mm wide.

So I fired a test shot. What a delightful surprise. Discos are discs on stalks, the edges of the discs usully turned up but otherwise not specially photogenic. I seems to have found the exception.

I have experimented considerably with these images and feel that they need quite a lot of processing to show the structure. The images have been cropped only for format, the first only vertically, thus showing a scene 3mm wide.

All at f11 ISO 200, twin manual flash.

These seem a little past their prime:

As they were all under the log, on its underside, why were some wet and some dry? They were all within a distance of a few cm.

Harold

abpho · Post by **abpho** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 8:02 am

Very cool. Such diversity in mushrooms, moulds, and fungi. I have been meaning to head out and photograph things other than bugs. Next year.

PS: I think you need to clean your sensor.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Nov 03, 2012 8:27 am

abpho wrote:Very cool. Such diversity in mushrooms, moulds, and fungi. I have been meaning to head out and photograph things other than bugs. Next year.

PS: I think you need to clean your sensor.

You can find such species in many seasons, especially on rotten wood.

Yes, I seem to have pollen or something on the sensor. It only shows up in ultra close-ups and very small apertures. I have retouched it out of the first two. Thanks.

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 1:35 am

I omitted the third image from the retouching and now rectify that:

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 8:58 am

Thanks to Malcolm Storey, I now know it is either Lachnum virgineum or Lachnum niveum syn. Dasyscyphella nivea syn. Peziza nivea.

Having looked at a number if images on the internet, I am going with L. niveum but I am far from sure. This species seems to vary from having just a frllly rim around the cup to the extreme form I have shown.

I have modified the topic title accordingly.

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Fri Nov 09, 2012 6:16 am

I have just done a quick calculation and the effective aperture was around f120.

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Nov 10, 2012 10:10 am

My Kiron 28mm f2 has arrived. I shot these at f16 ISO 100:

I hoped to show the feathery clothing better than previously but these droplets were most unhelpful:

In fact they were not the only ones, these being rather other-worldly. Cropped mostly vertically:

So why not enjoy them?:

This one seems quite successful:

Some of these are from what looks like another colony (but it may be the same one) a few cm away from the original one, on the same log,

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Fri Nov 23, 2012 8:53 am

Now my replacement Kiron 28-70mm zoom has arrived. These were shot at f11 and 28mm, twin flash, ISO 100:

These give the appearance of having broad teeth

The presence of these droplets makes it difficul to see fine detail:

Although I am not totally convinced, due to the number of variables involved, the prime lens seems to do a better job of the highest magnification attained in this setup.

Harold

TheLostVertex · Post by **TheLostVertex** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 4:25 pm

Interesting little mushrooms.

Though I find my self slightly more intrigued by your not so spotless sensor. Since you are shooting at such a high effective aperture and you have all the particulate on your sensor, I am wondering if the small rings around them are actually diffraction rings? The rings seem to be quite visible what ever they are the product of.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 12:05 am

TheLostVertex wrote: The other reason I prefer film is system failures. At present I cannot access my files because Windows refuses to boot up in any mode due to a system 32/config error. This is posted from my son's PC. Yes, I have the majority of files backed up but I cannot access the latest or Photoshop. Hopefully, a copy of the OS which I have just puchased will allow a repair.

Windows is now repaired, no thanks to Microsoft's hurdles. XP changes Internet Explored back to an earlier version than will not allow the OS to be activated. Thus, I could not access Noraml Mode or the Internet. There was a workaround on the internet, located via another computer. I still can't download updates via IE 8 but that is my least concern. All my files and software are intact and accessible.

Harold

TheLostVertex · Post by **TheLostVertex** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 7:32 pm

Harold Gough wrote: The other reason I prefer film is system failures. At present I cannot access my files because Windows refuses to boot up in any mode due to a system 32/config error. This is posted from my son's PC. Yes, I have the majority of files backed up but I cannot access the latest or Photoshop. Hopefully, a copy of the OS which I have just puchased will allow a repair.

Harold

Ouch. That is always a painful process. Hopefully fixing everything goes smoothly. I know I have been there more times than is preferable.

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 8:17 am

Discussion elsewhere prompted me to try my Olympus Zuiko OM 50mm macro reversed (otherwise the same setup). I used the lens at its closest focus and f16 and ISO 100.

These are the best images:

They lack the detail given by the Kirons. This is not a lens to use reversed.

Harold

Harold Gough · Post by **Harold Gough** » Sat Dec 15, 2012 9:07 am

I put an additional 30mm of extension in place and used the lens in conventional orientation, again at closest focus and f16:

These are rather better than the reversed lens but seem not as good as the Kirons, although what detail can be seen on different occasions does vary.

Harold

DQE · Post by **DQE** » Tue Dec 18, 2012 5:00 pm

Harold,

I especially enjoyed these entities and your photography.

I then tried to figure out why, but couldn't come up with anything more than "they look unusual, are very small, and have a complex, delicate shape". I suppose it's just my aesthetic preferences expressing themselves and nothing more (I am very ignorant about fungi in general).

In any event, thanks for making and posting these photos!