Monday, October 31, 2011

Kings of the Forest


Kings of the Forest
NCAR11D-265
October 23, 2011

After a summer of light rainfall and pretty dry conditions, followed by a quick descent into fall, I had lost much hope that the fungi would bloom.  Warm, moist conditions were ideal for these all-important decomposers to put forth their fruit and spread their spores before winter fell.  However, I think with our fall storms coming through, it helped give them the boost, for hiking through Uwharrie National Forest a week ago brought close to two dozen different mushrooms into view, from Lepiota like these guys to coral fungi as big as my head.  It was impressive.  I wanted, with this image, to switch up the size orientation, get a better look at the world of the fungi not shooting down from a standing position, but instead at their level.  I like the size difference, and the image that conveys how large these fungi loom in the forest ecosystem.  Enjoy.

Technical notes:
Camera: Nikon D80
Lens: Sigma 10-20 f/3.5-5.6
Focal length:  11 mm
Exposure: 1/80 @ f/4.2 ISO 400
Post-processing: Minor tone adjusted with PS 4 and LR 1.4.

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