Study in Moss & Lichen...Stack VS Unstack

[beetleman]

This is a picture on a section of tree bark with lots of life on it. There are at least three types of lichen and Some beautiful moss all in this small area...FOV is 2.5"-3". First picture is standard, I focused on the moss in the center and I liked the way it came out, but i wanted it all. The next day I took my tripod to work and decided to do a stack of the same area. Actually the second stacked picture is a little bit closer than the first. A stack of 11 pictures with Helicon Focus. Notice the hairy fungus lower left.

1/40
F5
ISO100


1/40
F3.2
ISO100

_________________
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

[Mike B in OKlahoma]

What a riot of colors! I am a blind-butt, but I don't get which is the hairy fungus....
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Mike Broderick
Oklahoma City, OK, USA

Constructive critiques of my pictures, and reposts in this forum for purposes of critique are welcome

"I must obey the inscrutable exhortations of my soul....My mandate includes weird bugs."
--Calvin

[beetleman]

Hi Mike. I probably should say fuzzy..not hairy. In the second picture ,you have the moss in the middle, the green lichen to the left of the moss, look at the lichens lower edge and you can see the fuzzy stuff which almost follows the crack in the bark to the bottom of the picture.
_________________
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

[rjlittlefield]

Just gotta love that stacking technology, don't you?

Your little chunk of ecosystem is pretty cool too!

--Rik

[beetleman]

Thanks guys, why settle for moss when you can have the whole enchalada. I notice the moss has re-hydrated itself with all the rain we are having.
_________________
Take Nothing but Pictures--Leave Nothing but Footprints.
Doug Breda

[Ken Ramos]

Nice photograph there Doug. The hairy fungus, that Mike "blind-butt" cannot see, is sort of obscure, if you don't know what you are looking for but I too eventually found it. I have read that certain fungi are benificial to the plants that they thrive on or around, especially around the roots of the plant but with all those lichens, one has to wonder if that is really a benifical fungi or an ascomycete, a parasite of the algae, which too is probably living there.
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Ken Ramos
Rutherford Co., Western North Carolina

"Social isolate?"

[Cyclops]

I wonder if that fuzziness is an artifact of the stacking process, as it should also show in the first pic if its an actuall fungal growth(mold?)
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Canon 10D | EOS 300 (Rebel-film) | Panasonic FZ-7 EB | Vivitar/Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro lens | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Vivitar Series 1 19-35 f3.5-4.5 | Slik 88 Tripod. | My macro shots:
http://stumm47.deviantart.com/gallery/#Macro-and-Close-up

[rjlittlefield]

Cyclops,

Good eyes, good question! But I'd give very good odds that the fuzz is real. Without getting into gory details, I'll just say that it doesn't have the appearance of any stacking artifact I've ever seen, and that part of the subject doesn't have the structural features that cause problems for stacking. I think the explanation lies in what Doug said about going back the "next day". We're seeing a day's growth in the fuzz. Look at the moss, and you'll see significant change in that too.

--Rik

[Cyclops]

Either way its a neat pic, and a great way of boosting DOF
_________________
Canon 10D | EOS 300 (Rebel-film) | Panasonic FZ-7 EB | Vivitar/Cosina 100mm f3.5 macro lens | EF 75-300 f4.5-5.6 USM III | EF 50 f1.8 II | Vivitar Series 1 19-35 f3.5-4.5 | Slik 88 Tripod. | My macro shots:
http://stumm47.deviantart.com/gallery/#Macro-and-Close-up