Rodney Campbell's Blog

Aussie Aussie

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 24-70mm f/4 S @ 32.5 mm, 62 sec at f/5.6, ISO 3200 x 8 Frames

Out walking the dog again and came across some more ghost mushrooms (Omphalotus nidiformis)

This is one of two small clusters at this spot, which is literally only a few meters from a main road (Pittwater Road in East Ryde here in Sydney)

Headed back there that night to confirm. There is a lot of ambient light here (there’s two street lights close by). So I had to shield them with my camera backpack and an umbrella from the car. Plus the full moon in the other direction so we had some crazy white balance going on

This image is a focus stack of 8 frames (each a minute @ f/5.6 and ISO 3200). Surprisingly very little noise or hot pixels so nothing to clean up in post

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Gigantor

NIKON Z 7 + NIKKOR Z 20mm f/1.8 S @ 20 mm, 490 sec at f/13, ISO 1600

Returned the next night to this gigantor of a specimen of a ghost mushroom. It’s easily a good 30cm across

This time Gerry joined me so he could get hist first look at a ghostie. He was somewhat disappointed that we couldn’t in fact easily see the glow with the naked eye. It was however pretty bright out with a full moon

I know it looks like the sky was quite bright and almost daytime looking in this shot. It was in fact night (9pm), but the sky was quite overcast, and the moon pretty bright, and this is an eight minute exposure 🙂

Tonight I switched from the 90mm macro long lens to my new 20mm native Z lens for some up close and personal work. Here you can see just how crazy the shape was of this single shroom

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Gargantuan

NIKON Z 7 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 1/100 sec at f/5.6, ISO 500

Is it typical for these Omphalotus nidiformis (ghost mushroom) to get this large? This is the first one of these that I’ve come across and photographed in real life. Most of the images I’ve seen online appear to indicate that they are typically much smaller. Tho it is hard to tell without some frame of reference

This shot just gives you an idea just how large this single specimen is. I’d say easily 30cm across

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Ghost Hunter

NIKON Z 7 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 490 sec at f/11, ISO 1600

Shot from right on the ground (literally – had to spend a while digging sand and dirt out of the bottom of the camera when I got home :)). This was so I could look more upwards under the gills since they appear to be the parts that glow the brightest green

This shot is 8 minutes stopped down to f/11 (which is almost enough DoF for most of the gills) and ISO 1600

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.

Searching for Ghosts

NIKON Z 7 + 90.0 mm f/2.8 @ 90 mm, 466 sec at f/8, ISO 1000

Gerry has been chatting with me about photographing the bioluminescent Omphalotus nidiformis (aka Ghost Mushroom) for a couple months now. And showing me some cool images from the Bioluminescence Australia facebook group. So we’ve been looking for places where we might find these fungi ghosts. You basically have to find them during the day, then go back at night

I’d mentioned that during the covid lockdowns we’d rediscovered all the many bushwalks around our home. And looking at some of the daytime shots of what they look like, I was sure I’d seen them on some of those trails. So I’ve recently been on the lookout during said walks. Yesterday when walking the dog near our home I found this one (extremely large) fungi that looked quite promising

Now normally most of the shots I’d seen of these there would be a cluster of small thimble to perhaps shot glass size shroomy ghosts. The one I’d found was next to the path in full sun, and was dinner plate size! It was right on the ground so didn’t have the longer horn funnel stem. But it did have the cream coloured caps with the yellowy/orangy top turning to almost black centre. I pinged Gerry about my potential find with a few phone pics

Last night I went back with camera in tow to check my luck. As you can see we have some success

I couldn’t actually see the glow with the naked eye. There was however an almost full moon out so there was way too much ambient light. I had to jury rig my camera bag and jacket to “shade” the subject so the moon wasn’t lighting it up. Even still I think there was probably too much ambient. I also don’t know if or  how the strength of the bioluminescence might change over time – e.g. do the tiny baby ones glow or do they need to get to a certain size/age before they do; as they age (to be really old like this one) does it fade, etc

As for the shot – I used the 90mm macro lens (tho I didn’t need macro in this case given the size). I also had to shoot from quite some distance away to fit the whole fungi in. I’m basically near ground level so I can see some of the gills underneath. Even at f/8 I’m getting very little DoF (I tried wide open and f/4 but the DoF is way too shallow). At ISO 1000 I needed an almost 8 minute shot to get a good exposure. In this case a wider lens from closer with a wider aperture might be a better option

Now to find some of the more traditional cluster of smaller ghosts…

Note: These photographs (especially the wider shots) look much better when larger. To see larger versions in an inline overlay slideshow gallery viewer click any of the images.