Reminiscence

Remember this?
If you liked it, you'll love what it became when autumn touched it. Also, this is my first step in tone mapping - not very successful but I proved to be a good learner.

Today's Picture:

Gold

Today's Picture:

I really love this one.

Pine

Today's Picture:

This one is specially made - a true puzzle from several shots, all blended together to create this frame, where everything is crystal clear and in focus. By the way, the actual "model" is only 2 inches tall.

Mushroom Week: The End

Today's Picture:

This is the seventh, and last of the "theme week" posts. Ironically, this was the last picture I took that day.
However, autumn has already started and is approaching it's full beauty, so expect more pictures through the rest of the week.

Mushroom Week: Leaning Tower

Today's Picture:

This isn't set up - the mushroom did grow in that direction, for reasons I shall never be able to unveil (how literary, lol).
Anyway, I like the composition - the pine-cones, even the hawthorn seed/fruit on the cap's edge - all worked together to make this shot the way it is.

Mushroom Week: Fairytale

Today's Picture:

This photo turned out to be quite a challenge. The cap of the mushroom got overexposed all the times I tried to capture the area around it, and if I got the cap correct, the rest of the photo turned out almost black. Thanks to Photoshop and some multiple image editing, everything in this picture became clear and properly lit (except for the stem, but it was almost impossible to fix, so I "sacrificed" it for the greater good).

Mushroom Week: Think Pink

Today's Picture:

I have no idea what is the exact scientific name of this mushroom. I don't even have a guess what it is. But it's whatever, since the color is one of the rarest among mushrooms - and among biological species at all - think up 2 more pink things except a flamingo and this mushroom - can you?

Mushroom Week: Lycoperdon echinatum

Today's Picture:

The spiny puffball is one of the strangest mushrooms I've seen. Easily mistaken for a spiky seed coating, most people wouldn't even notice it among the fallen rotting leaves where it grows. Even if you see it, you'll probably approach it with some caution - these spines look quite real - but are in fact soft as the rest of the mushroom.
The one on the picture is still young, when they mature enough they grow a 2-3 cm long "stalk".

Mushroom Week: Russula atropurpurea

Today's picture:

Also known as purple brittlegill, this brightly colored mushroom is not one of these you'd pick on sight to cook a nice soup. It is easily confusable with poisonous species (and I am not sure I've guessed it correctly myself) so it's tricky to anyone who isn't a pro. The other one, wrapped around the brittlegill is beyond my identifying skills (which are Wikipedia + Google combo) but the overall composition was all that mattered when deciding if it was worth the shot.

Mushroom Week: Amanita Muscaria

Today's Picture:

Today is the beginning of the musrhoom week, starting with the fly agaric (Amanita muscaria). This is the most common mushroom you'd ever encounter in magazines, fairytale books, postcards and many more. It looks incredible and is quite poisonous, too - if taken in large quantities. A funny fact is that small pieces of this mushroom (when dried out, raw fly agaric causes nausea) are a powerful hallucinogenic drug, approximating the effect of lysergic acid diethylamine (known as LSD). I don't know anyone who has tried this "shroomy" dope but if something shows up I'll surely post an update.
And another surprising thing : Today there will be more than one picture - all of them about the most beautiful toadstool.

A small fly agaric:

Another one:

Twice as nice:

The favorite place for these mushrooms is just under a pine:

Autumn

Today's Picture:

Autumn's coming and it's time for lots of beautiful photos. This is gonna be a "mushroom" week, because this season is just the right time for these ... no they're not plants... let's say things.
Expect major blog activity the following two weeks cause I've got a pocketful of exciting new frames.