Over the hills from Paterson the early morning drive can be dramatic with mists hanging about the hills.
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Once you arrive you usually have to have the right weather conditions for fungi – temperatures below 10 degrees and damp rainforest.
Fungi are the main recycling agents for most of the dead plant material produced on earth. Without them logs and plant litter would not become humus and return to the soil.
My destination is Telegherry State Forest, where you can experience vivid colours on the trees and on the ground from various types of fungi.
To photograph them though, you have to be prepared for working low to the ground - waterproof pants are a must and gaiters can also be good as they protect your lower legs.
Certain photographic equipment is required too. You need a camera with macro lens, an on-camera flash and a smaller flash for back light. Also a tripod, preferably one that goes down to ground level.
After that, certain practices have to be carried out.
One: make sure your camera is square with the subject, as depth-of-field is important. Remove any items that are out of the focus area.
Two: check your background. No distractions.
Three: set your camera on aperture priority, set to about F16.
Four: set flash to manual and cut power to 1/16. Also set the small back light the same – this is used for rim lighting and better separation of the subject from the background.
This is the way I approach photographing fungi. It may seem complex but it becomes habit.
Remember too, you are in low light, so when you trigger the camera with a cable the flash will go off but the exposure will continue for a short time, depending on light conditions. The point where the flash goes off is where you hold your back light - say a metre behind the subject.
On conclusion repeat the practise, but this time set the back flash at half-a-metre, and so on. In this way one of your shots will be spot on (others will have too much light).
Unlike birds, the subject does not fly away so you can spend time to get the perfect shot.
