Study Group 16 Member 6

Study Group 16

Kathleen L. Sims

Barb Athanasiou

January Image - Wild Mushroom

How I did it:

I was looking for an unusual Nature image. I feel this is a good example where less is more so by cropping the original, increasing the saturation, sharpening only the mushroom and adding a white boarder, I felt I might be able to create an acceptable image. Can someone tell me what kind of mushroom this is?

Source Image:

COMMENTS:

Barb Athanasiou

Ernie Zimmerman The mushroom stands out very well, especially with the tight crop and only sharpening the mushroom. Sorry, I don't know the names of mushrooms; I only eat them (not poisonous).

Kathy Goldner

Mohanan Nair The image gives the details of the mushroom. The background is slightly disturbing. I would have taken it from a lower angle with large aperture. You should have cleared some of the dry leaves from the surrounding and also one piece which is on top of the mushroom. Now you can use the 'blur tool' on these leaves to improve the image.

Sally Grugan I enjoy looking at the original image with about an inch cropped off the top. The white border is an attractive addition,but the angle of the specimen when enlarged is not pleasing.

Bogdan Bricelj
Kathleen, cropping and other "postprocessing" is needed on this photo. But the first, most important step is, to make as good as possible photo in camera.. In case of making photos of flowers and plants, you should first clear the neighbourhood of the plant. That green plant in the background is still disturbing, although unsharp. Also upward standing leaf. It would be also better to make photo from a lower perspective. In that case also the background would be more unsharp by itself and the mushroom would be more sharp.
The mushrooms are called red toadstools.

Member Bio

Kathleen L. Sims - Biography

I am a retired Chicago Transit "El" Operator. I first began my joy of photography in 1997 when I joined The Washington Park Camera Club and shortly thereafter joined PSA.

Although I photograph almost anything, my favorite subjects are sports and nature which I capture with my Nikon D300. My photos have been published
by AARP, The Kankakee (Illinois) Bureau of Tourism, and some of my slides have been selected for archival by The Chicago Historical Society. This year
for the first time I finally took "the leap" by submitting digital images for Charleston Revisited.

Photography complements my passion for travel. I am currently using Photoshop CS4 and exploring the wonders of HDR by teaching myself the Photomatix Pro 3 software. I am looking forward to sharing the wonderful world of photography with you all

Webmaster: Robert B. Gorrill, APSA, MNEC