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John Smalldridge

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Everything posted by John Smalldridge

  1. Dave, the area where I live is loaded with tulip poplars and I have only found a half dozen morels here ever. It's funny how the same tree type from different areas produce morels so variably.
  2. Evan, I have also contemplated using an iPhone to photograph mushrooms. I often see many excellent photos like the ones you've posted above, but the quality of the photos seem to not stand up to much cropping or low light photography. In the photo of the newt above, there are areas of what appear to be digital noise which causes photos to lack sharpness. This is more noticeable in the out of focus areas. The second photo has areas that are slightly overexposed, this also could lead to loss of detail that might be helpful in mushroom I.D. The problems I've pointed out can probably be overcome when using a smart phone, and they also occur when using a digital camera, but are easier to correct in my opinion. The benefits of a smart phone are their portability, really nice jpeg color reproduction, and multifunctionality. I am not criticizing your photos here, just pointing out the differences between taking photos with a phone vs. a digital camera. I read a comment the other day that stated that smartphones should honestly be called smartcameras.
  3. Adawg, the Hasselblad 501 cameras are still used professionally today. Many in use today are fitted with a digital back and produce wonderful images with lots of detail. Many would consider these images superior to many of today's high end dslr cameras. It's not a portable system, but would be rewarding to use to take photos of family and composed photos of mushrooms that you've brought back from the fields or woods. If I was the owner of such a camera, I would put it to use shooting film and having that developed and scanned. Also, I would like to know who your father was and wonder if I might find examples of his work online.
  4. If you are thinking about moving up to a dslr like camera, I'd suggest that you look at a mirrorless interchangeable lens camera. These cameras have been around for a while now and can be found used for fairly reasonable prices. Most have adapters available that let you use lenses from other companies. This allows you the flexibility to purchase older macro lenses to save some money or to get exactly what you need in a lens. The advantages of the mirrorless cameras are that what you see on the cameras LCD screen is what the photo will appear like. Any adjustments are seen and you can also zoom in to see exactly what's in focus. They also have the ability show over exposure data as a screen overlay so that you can make adjustments to correct this. One other advantage is that mirrorless cameras are for the most part much smaller than traditional dslr cameras.
  5. There's a lot of advantages to using smartphones and Point and shoot type cameras. They are small and easily carried and the smaller image sensors have a deeper field of view.
  6. Dave, I don't know what species this was. This was a multi family camping trip and I had very little time to commit to my mushroom hobby. I have already warned everyone that this year I'm going to spend more time with the mushrooms.
  7. Dave, there's many varieties of tabletop tripods that don't add a lot of weight and can be helpful for longer exposures and composing photos. You may not need them, but I just thought I'd mention them.
  8. That second photo of Xanthoconium purpureum is beautiful, and those are larger examples of Xerocomus hortonii than I usually find here in eastern N.C.
  9. I'm a member on MO and will try to post these over there in the next couple of days. Most of these photographs were taken during a trip to Black Mountain N.C. The most amazing flush of mushrooms I have ever seen took place in the Black Mountain campground. There were so many different mushrooms fruiting within a couple hundred yards of camp that you could have spent several days photographing and IDing them all.
  10. I'm sure that put a dent in your skiing and snowshoeing. Down here in N.C. we're used to a few warm days during the winter, but one day got into the eighties.
  11. I agree with Dave, Craterellus ignicolor. These usually have a visible hole in the center of the cap that extends down through the stem. Also the cap and gill color is often darker than Cantharellus cibarius and Cantharellus minor.
  12. Thanks ladyflyfsh. I'm having to experiment a little this year so that I can accurately document what I find.
  13. Please keep in touch regularly ladyflyfsh! I can't wait to see how your adventure turns out!
  14. Around here there are at least six different species in the Cantharellus/Craterellus group. I suspect there may be more. The learning and discovery part is what makes this fun!
  15. The one thing I generally look for in chanterelles is veining running between the gills. It looks like you can just see this on the mushroom with the gills fully exposed in the left of the photo.
  16. You are living in the middle of mushroom hunting heaven out there on the left coast. Can't wait to see your posts.
  17. How's the morel hunting out in Missouri? The seasons on its way.
  18. Looking forward to seeing the mushrooms you find out in Arkansas.
  19. Nice one! I look forward to seeing more of your photos in the coming months.
  20. I often find myself out finding mushrooms in the woods late in the afternoon with not enough light to take a decent photo of a mushroom. So I've been looking at lighting options and I've found some small LED lights that are daylight balanced. I was just wondering if you thought this would work for ID and insitu photos. I know you often stress using natural light, but if these are daylight balanced, shouldn't these have the same effect?
  21. I love curry. Never thought oh adding mushrooms to it. Sounds good.
  22. Last year the chanterelles started here earlier than usual. May was amazing last year, but June is usually the start of chanterelles for me.
  23. Last year the chanterelles started here earlier than usual. May was amazing last year, but June is usually the start of chanterelles for me.
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