Trametes versicolor - The Green Man

[Bruce Williams]

Hi folks,

A photo from this afternoons dog walk. This is just about the most common species seen along the border of the wood, however most (in this wood anyway) are a light brown. This one made quite a show covering a solitary stump in a small, bright clearing.

I'll take my tripod next time and take a series for stacking.

Note: The Green Man is a medieval character from English/British mythology, see: this entry in Wikipedia

Bruce

[DaveW]

Spectacular Bruce!

Looking at the background though I think there is a bit of a blue cast on the image that could be removed in your processing software, possibly caused by reflection from the sky?

Wish I could find bracket fungi that big!

All the best, lets see some more!

DaveW

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for pointing that out Dave.

You know I just hadn't noticed it - but as soon as you pointed it out I saw it immediately. Here's a colour corrected version - what do you think?

Bruce

[Carl_Constantine]

Yep, that second post-processed shot is a keeper. Nicely done Bruce.

[DaveW]

Yes, a lot better. Maybe stand even a bit more correction?

DaveW

[beetleman]

Very nice fungus Bruce. You did a nice job on the second picture. I do not think I have ever seen them with green bands only white, brown and gray. I wonder if it is an algae growing on them or actually inside the fungus. Looks like some green on the tree trunk. I think we need a full dissection and examination under the scope Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

Both images look fine to me Bruce and I found that following through your Wiki link to be very interesting. Makes one wonder where all these mythological creatures emminated from, whether from events imagined or maybe something that is no longer with us.

[cactuspic]

Good shot of a very interesting fungus, Bruce. I don't remember ever seeing anything like that before,, certainly not that big or that colorful.

Irwin

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for all your kind and helpful comments guys.

Dave - yes I thought the same after I'd posted it, but whilst colour correction only takes a couple of minutes in PS, reducing the 800X600 ex. PS file from 420Kb to under 200Kb (with minimal loss of quality) takes a lot longer (so lazyness won out ). FYI - I use XAT to selectively "paint on" different levels of JPG compaction.

Doug - you know I think you could be right about algae. I have looked at the full size original and believe I can detect a difference in surface texture in the green areas (the tree is pretty much algae free). I plan to take my tripod next time and will take a stackable series much closer up. May even bring a bit home to check under the microscope.

Bruce

[Ken Ramos]

Your right about the algae. I took some like these and soaked them in distilled water and then took them apart, examining them under the microscope. You will find spherical algae along with a diverse amount of crystal formations from minerals and a few ascospores scattered here and there.

[svalley]

Bruce, very nice shot! I notice that the green bands are mostly closer to the base. I wonder if the color banding is due to different minerals or maybe different cell types in that area. Why would the algae only grow there and not over the entire surface....maybe the other bands are toxic to it??

[Ken Ramos]

I have seen bracket fungi completely covered in algae, as for the algae starting in a particular area I am not sure as to why, maybe the conditons on that particular shelf is more conducieve to algal growth until they are established. At one time I wondered why lichenization had not occurred with these things, it was not until later on that I found out the the bracket fungi belonged to the Basidiomycotina and not the Ascomycota. The Ascomycota being a parasitic fungi.

[Bruce Williams]

Thanks for your comments guys.

If you're interested, I have posted a close up on one of the pads here:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... php?t=1575