This weeks blog is a look at this weeks shots from the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan. Saturday I again took a walk thought the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan, with the cameras with a bit of Rain here last Thursday, I thought there was a better chance of finding some mushrooms to shoot, But as you'll see not so much luck. 

 I started out around the Stolen Generation Memorial, where I usually find a few birds about and some time mushrooms, this week no mushrooms and not to much bird life around. So I moved on to the small dam opposite the plant bank where this White-faced Heron (Egretta novaehollandiae) was on the hunt.  So this three shots are of the bird scouting out. 

Preparing to strike. 

Then the strike, you can see the protective eyelid come over the eye to protect the eye and all the feathers on the back of its neck stand up from the force of the strike. 

Just behind this dam is a walk along the side of the cannel in the wattles there are often the Thornbills both yellow and Brown, this shots of a Yellow Thornbill (Acanthiza nana). 

With not much bird life about and no mushrooms so far I decided to try my lens at flower photography, The mistake here was not to note down their names, Shall pick them up next week so will update this blog when I get the names. These are all taken in the connections gardens, for those that know these gardens.

These next two are of a small native Pea with the second shot showing the pea pods.

The White Waratah's were in full flower this week so this was the week to see these. With the first shot showing the flowers on the whole plant this one about 1.3 meters high, with the flowers measuring around 150mm in Diameter. This shot was taken on the curve in the path, not standing in the garden as it may appear. 

Then a close up on an individual flower light with one speedlite, the shot under exposed to loss the back ground then light with the speedlite to fill in the flower the speedlite was to the left slightly in front. hand held as was the camera in this case so a bit of a juggling act here, mainly because I have the Gimble head on the tripod and didn't change it out for a ball head. Still need to come up with a workable system of changing out the heads on the tripod.

I did eventually fine a mushroom to shoot this weekend. This one in the connections garden, The front edge of this one has been eaten away but a snail or slug as there is still a bit of the silver trail on the right edge of the cut out but looks like a little home for someone. This one lite with two speedlites one in a soft box to the left and a gelled speed light to the right. 

The last three are back to some of the birds found this week, starting with am Eastern Spinebill (Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris) This one was eating insects which is a bit different to the normal sector they take. 

An Australiasian Grebe (Tachybaptus novaehollandiae) maintaining its nest, theres already a few chicks motoring around the lake now. 

​Last shot for this week a dusky Moorhen (Gallinule tenebrous) watching me watching it. 

​So thats it for this weeks shots I did mange to get a mushroom shot for the week plus a few bird shots so all up not to bad for the week. Nothing to exciting but still time out and about with the cameras so all good. 

​Thanks for dropping by my blog this week, I'll be back next week with more. 

Glenn.

Reflections on Mushrooms the Journey so far.

Thought I’d reflect on my journey through mushrooms so far, this week.

It’s been a few years now since I took my first decent mushroom shot, June 2012, my first attempt at off camera lighting. Since then my photography moved up a whole new level and has not looked back. My first attempt was using the Infrared trigger inbuilt in to the flash and camera so needed line of site Camera to flash and only one flash used. I only owned one at time and was working out how to use it and what to use it for.

I was happy with this one and did a little post processing work in lightroom, pretty basic colour correction a little bit of a post crop vignetting that was it,  and with that I had started my trip down the road of mushroom photography. More by happy accident than planning.

One of my next shots was again my experimenting and seeing what I could do, not really knowing what I was doing, for this shot, I set the camera up on a tripod, set it on remote timer and had it set for a long exposure and hand held the flash over the top of this group of mushrooms and manually triggered the flash many times over the top, blasting the light through the tops of the mushrooms, I tried quite a few of these and eventually got a few I liked. Once again just playing around and seeing what effects I can get with light. This one I did a bit more work in light room as by now I was getting a little more experienced with light room and just what it can do.

About now I found Google plus and found a weekly theme called +ShroomshotSaturday curated by Patti Colston (https://plus.google.com/u/0/+PattiColston/posts) where each Saturday you post a Mushroom shot on Google plus, This was the real start of the mushroom photography for me, From then on I have pretty much managed to post a separate mushroom shot every Saturday for the last few years, Where ever possible I head out every Saturday and go looking to shoot a mushroom, each week trying to improve from the week before, not always easy depending on what I find.  Occasionally I come back empty handed but then go through my back catalogue to see what’s worth posting that hasn’t been posted as yet, In this way I manage a shot every weekend well pretty close to it. It gives a reason to go out and take photos not that I really need one, but with a goal set of one shot every Saturday Ideally taken on the Saturday then you have a driver to push you.

When Google Plus created the collection function I started to put my mushroom shots into a collection, Collecting all my mushroom shots in one place in google plus. Somehow and I’m not sure how that happened Google plus managed to find this collection and it now appears as one of there recommended collections to follow and since then my mushroom collection of shots on Google plus has taken off, I currently have over 55000 following my mushroom collection, (https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/8enZW) compared to only just under 7000 following my bird collection (https://plus.google.com/u/0/collection/A7TRT). Who would have thought there were that many people interested in mushroom shots, certainly surprises me each week as the number of followers grows there. I think the google recommendation certainly helps that a long mind you. 

My next step was getting a second speedlite and going to wireless triggers, also adding in a small spray bottle to my kit so I can add in a fie water spray if needed to add some effect or just to damped a mushroom and the moss to enhance the colours. I also started to use a small piece of alumni cooking foil to add as a fill reflector as well. So by now going from a simple one light set up to a quite completed at times set up. But the results are getting better I feel.

My final step late last year was when I meet Spikey Mikey, a Mushroom that stayed around for over a year (Yes this one has a name) This one was one of the more unusual mushrooms I’ve found to date like a donut on a stick but covered in small spikes the mushroom is only around 8mm in Diameter and very contently growing on a small stick which I can pick up and walk around with, this makes a great subject as I can take Spikey Mikey for a walk to areas that are very mossy or in one case supported the stick in a tree and shot him at a comfortable height. With all the detail that Spikey Mikey possessed to do it justice I need to go to yet another level so I taught myself Focus stacking and bingo Spikey Mikey in fully detail.

My final set on my journey so far has been to take my shots and take them to a different level, adding a fine art touch to them, This one I picked up by going on a photography workshop. I found a workshop by Steve Parish on his nature connects website https://www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au/upcoming-events/categories/ Where I found the Western MacDonnell ranges tour https://www.steveparish-natureconnect.com.au/macdonnell-ranges-tour-2016/

The trip was great only a small group of six of us with included Steve and Ruth I got to visit central Australia again after about 28 years, and had a great time. One of the things I learnt from Steve was taking an image and taking it to a different level again, I’ve been playing around with that the last few weeks since I got back and getting some good results so far, early days yet and certainly on a learning curve again but I can see this has promise and can’t image where it will take me.

So that’s my trip through mushrooms so far, in four years I’ve come a long way from someone that took basic snap shots, to some one that can now technically craft an image using multiply lights and software to enhance an image, the journey has only just begun so who knows where it will take me in the next few years. I’ve now got a presents in Google Plus, 500PX, Ello, TSU, Instagram and Flicker. TSU also has communities and there is a group there again for mushrooms ran by Harry Yale and some great photographers in that group as well.

The trick is to never stop learning and be open to ideas and let things go while getting out and enjoying all that nature has to offer.

Thanks for joining me this week on my journey through mushrooms over the last four years, for all those that’s following my mushroom collections on google plus a big thank you to all still hard to believe there are over 50 000 following my mushroom collection.    

Thanks for dropping by my blog, Back next week for more.

Glenn.

This week’s blog post is covering the shots taken in the Australian Botanical Gardens, Mount Annan, plus a few test shots I took trying out a Canon 5dmk4 in the local Camera shop.

Saturday morning the local Camera Shop, Macarthur Camera House, Macarthur Square, had a Canon Rep in store showing of the new Canon 5dMk4. So I had a bit of a play around with it, the shots below are just testing out a few things, so the shots aren't the best and far for what I would normally show here. The 5D is a camera I am interested in looking to replace the 60D I use for landscapes and mushroom shots, one of the big draw backs on the 5D for me was the lack of an articulated screen, which I wanted for the mushroom shots with the camera siting on the ground in all kinds of difficult situations often amongst tree roots and the likes making it hard to get down and view through the view finder not to mention often wet and muddy as well, so the lack of the Swivel screen was one issue I had with the new 5d, considering I shoot more mushroom shots with the 60D than anything else definitely as issue for me. There is always the 80D two generations up on the 60D and also if I wait till next year the 6dmk2 is rumored to have the articulated screen, so I could hold out getting the articulated screen and a full frame camera at the same time, at half the price. My other issue is timing, I'm heading off to Tasmania again next year again on a Steve Parish photography tour and would really like to have a full frame camera suitable for low light for all the lush forest shots under the canopy’s there. One option is to rent a camera for that trip then buy the 6D when it comes out. Or buy the 5dmk4 and get the best for a full frame less the articulated screen and that’s where these test shots come in. The new 5dMk2 will connect via Wi-Fi to a smart phone for remote shooting, so instead of a flip out screen I can hand hold the phone or iPad and shoot from that. So I tested this out with the two shots below of my watch. You can tap on the phone where you want the focus to be and the shot is actually focused on that point the phone doesn’t actually refresh that focus live which is a little disconcerting at first but the actual image seemed to come out pretty good as in focus wise. As I said these shots were just set up on the counter and I didn’t really take my time, but as far as proof of concept goes the system did work and I did get a few images to play with focus stacking with.

Certainly shows up all the details of the wear and tear on my watch and every little scratch there. With 30 Mega pixels plenty of detail to zoom in on as well. The app only has some pretty basic functions controlling aperture shutter speed ISO a few other minor things but would certainly help if it allowed you to control the off camera speedlites from the Camera menu, I mentioned this to the Canon rep who said she would pass it on, she also said they are working on developing the app so maybe some time it will be updated to include controlling the off camera speedlites. Would be great if it could, Then it would be a no brainer and definitely on the wish list, Though I’m pretty sure it already is. 

The shops in the middle of a shopping centre so not a great place to go and practice with but I took a few shots at 32000 ISO and pretty impressive, really quite usable there, you wouldn't want to zoom in and go into the details but at 32000 on a screen really looked OK. Again not the best picture but at 32000 ISO certainly workable. 

The l at last shot here is  5000 ISO a more normal range if not on the high end, but again clean shot and zooming in in lightroom I can see every scratch and mark on the frames here so very happy with the results. A big thank you to the team at Macarthur Camera House, Macarthur square for putting on this event with Canon to test out the camera wiht hands on and the Canon Rep to answer my questions and help set up the Wi-Fi. Canon are bringing out a Wi-FI card for the 7D Mk2 in November so I'll probably get that test it out a bit further see how the phones battery life goes with it, I suspect it will certainly eat that up. then make a call on which way to go, I've got till early February, but would like to have time wiht the camera before I head to Tasmania with it.

After play time it was back to the gardens and some shots fro the day. First up a Bell Miner (Manorina melanophrys) Bell bird. Not a great shot and a little to far away, the other issue with this one is the light from bright to dark shade so not the best location for this shot. But I'll keep trying each week and see what I can come up with.

Next up I could hear this one but took a while for me to locate it,  A Grey Shrike-thrush (Colluricincla harmonica) they really have a pretty call and can be heard from a way off when in full voice.  Again this one was a fair way off so more patents needed till I get a decent on of these.

As usual the Male Superb Fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus) was playing hide and seek with me more handing than not so a shot through the sticks here not a clean shot this week.

Another one playing hide and seek was this Jacky Winter (Microeca fascinans) so this one was in the shadows and high ISO to get the shot so a little grainy here in this shot. Followed by again hiding behind the sticks. 

Next up a little Brown thornbill (Acanthiza pusilla) there was a small group of these hunting the insects, around the walkway along the cannel opposite the plant bank. 

Along with the Brown thornbills was a couple of Yellow thornbills (Acanthiza nana) were hopping about as well, this time they got a bit closer and allowed me to get a few decent shots the first one would have been better if its beak didn't line up wiht eh branch in the back gourd but they never stay still long enough to recompose the shot, still some nice details here in this one, followed buy two more shots as it bounced around. 

From there I moved on tot eh connections garden and at the moment the paper daisies are still doing there stuff as is this rock Orchard, some great colour in the connections gardens at present. 

The White Waratahs are not flowering and will be fro about another week or so, one plant seams to be more advanced than the others so you may still have some time if your in the area, this shot was taken wiht one off camera speedlite to give the light and shade effect. Plus under expose the back ground giving the black back ground effect. Hopefully they will be still out next weekend so I can have another go at these. 

Last up for the week as I was walking back to the car for the day to head home there was this pair of Rainbow lorikeets (Trichoglossus haematodus) feeding on a spike of the grass trees in the sculpture on the main lawns. 

A noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala) watched on while the lorikeets were feeding patiently waiting its turn. 

So thats it fro this weeks shots a bit of a mixed bag started off with a few not so good shots and finishing up with better shots as the day went on. plus still have to make up my side about the new body. Pretty sure its already made but still a few months to decide. 

Thanks for dropping by my blog this week. Be back next week with more. 

Glenn.