From antibiotics to alcoholic drinks, organic decay to delicious food, fungi play an important role in all manner of things. They range from microscopic structures to the largest living organism on the planet. Underground, the 'wood-wide web' of fine tendrils creates a network that allows plants and trees to communicate. Above ground, the fruiting bodies form as mushrooms and other stunning structures, offering great opportunities for macro photography.
Fungi and mushrooms in particular tend to prefer dark conditions like dense woodlands, crevices in rotten wood and shady areas. When photographing in these murky spots, a burst of flash can provide a welcome lift to the scene. But it's not just about increasing the light levels, a flash also gives you the opportunity to enhance the mood.
By firing the flash off-camera, either from the side, above, behind or even below, we can highlight the fine fungi features, draw attention to colours and textures or show the delicate gills on the underside. Whenever we add our own light into a scene like this, the ambient daylight becomes almost like a secondary light source. We can decide whether the daylight plays a major or minor role in the exposure, either by balancing our flash with it for a subtle lift, or by overpowering it for a spotlight effect.
But before you head out in search of fantastic fungi, it's worth saying that you shouldn't touch anything you don't know, don't inhale spores and wash your hands after. As for eating foraged mushrooms, please heed the words of Terry Pratchett: 'All fungi are edible. Some fungi are only edible once.'
PROJECT 1
ON LOCATION MAJESTIC MUSHROOMS
Get your off-camera flash set up correctly for fungi close-up shots
01 EXPOSURE & APERTURE
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra April 2024-utgaven av PhotoPlus : The Canon Magazine.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Speed up editing with recipes
Edit a single photo and apply processing settings to pictures taken at the same time
PHOTOSTORIES
World Unseen - Canon’s incredible World Unseen campaign opens up the world of photography to the visually impaired
MATTHEW PERKS
Matthew Perks is a talented lifestyle photographer whose passion has evolved next to his career in engineering. He sees processing photos as a balance of inspiration and instinct…
Perfect your colours with HSL
James Paterson enhances colours in Affinity with HSL
Turn the noise down with Denoise AI
James Paterson shows you how to use Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw AI to fix noisy images and improve quality
Go vintage with a Wet Plate effect
Sean McCormack shows you how to give your images a unique look by emulating the historic wet plate effect
Playing with shadows
Dan Mold’s three easy one-light B&W portrait set-ups to follow at home
Hit the streets with your Canon camera
Next time you’re in a big city be sure to try out these fun techniques for creative cityscape shots
A place in the sun
Learn key Canon camera skills for stunning silhouette portraits, then stitch them together for a striking image that will turn heads
Vive Loire Valley rally
An unexpected change in the weather forces a race against the sun to shoot Chambord