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Poisonous Beauty


Poisonous Beauty
Photo Information
Copyright: Janice Dunn (Janice) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3318 W: 149 N: 6113] (18646)
Genre: Plants
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2006-05-20
Categories: Fungi
Camera: Canon EOS 300D, Tamron 28-300 XR
Exposure: f/4.5, 1/60 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version
Theme(s): Fly Agaric - Amanita muscaria [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2006-05-20 4:19
Viewed: 3146
Points: 36
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Red Cap Mushrooms

Today I visited my son who lives at Paremoreremo (Pa-ree-ma-ree-mo) on a section with a native bush with many different types of ferns and tree ferns(HURRAH!!), native trees, bushes and scrub. They have been talking about me going to see their red mushrooms they had growing. And what beauties they are.

And I have now learnt that these red-capped mushrooms are very poisonous. We have as excellent website in New Zealand belonging to one of our TN members. Clive Shirley has this site I can thoroughly recommend:
www.hiddenforest.co.nz/fungi/

These Amanita muscaria are growing under Pine Trees (Pinus Radiata) and the ground was quite covered in these attractive red capped mushrooms poking through the pine needles. They are bright red and of various sizes. Some were jusr appearing through the needles and others were up to the size of a bread and butter plate.

Amanita muscaria is one of the most striking of all mushrooms. They have:
White warts that grow on the top of the redcap
White gills / lamella
Well developed rings that covers the top of the stalk / stipe
And a distinctive cup / volva of rings as it comes out of the ground.

Common Name: Fly Agaric
Found: Under Pine trees
Substrate: On ground
Spore: White
Height: 80 mm
Width: 50 mm
Season: Autumn
Edible: Poisonous

I had help with my notes from www.hiddenforest.co.nz/fungi/… Thanks Clive
extramundi, eruyanik, soccer, marhowie, dew77, phlr, scottevers7, wallhalla15, ellis49, firelord, jcoowanitwong, thistle, lovenature, SkyF has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To loot: Mushrooms v toadstoolsJanice 3 06-14 01:05
To lovenature: RedJanice 1 05-23 22:02
To eruyanik: ThxJanice 2 05-20 05:05
To extramundi: Thanks FelipeJanice 1 05-20 04:50
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Janice, I think everything has already said about your subject, so please allow me to tell you a trick for fungui that works well. Next time try to focus the stem inestead of the cap, so the focus plane will be almost in the middle of the fungus. If you focus the cap like in this shot, you can see that the focus plane is too close too you, so the stem and the contour are slightly OOF compared to the focus point :) Hope that helps
Nice colours and composition for this imaculate muscaria.
Best regards, Felipe.

Hello Janice,
I think that it is the best photogenic mushroom. Great shot with brown pine needles! I like it a lot! btw Felipe's advise is great for me too! Thank you,
Ersin

Janice,

The contrast in colour is great! You have a wonderful subject and the Comp, POV, DOF and sharpness are all great. TFS,
Sheriff

Hi Janice,
Great note and a very good shot, anything beautiful and vibrant with colors can be "dangerous!!" in nature.
BTW Felipe's advise is great too!!
TFS
Goutham R

Hi Janice,
Very good shot of this red cap. I like the DOF, isolating just the cap in the frame..
Perfect exposure and color, nice details...
Well composed - Well done mf!

  • Great 
  • dew77 Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4774 W: 294 N: 4020] (13209)
  • [2006-05-20 8:13]

Excellent capture Janice,
This kind of mushroom i'd never seen on nature and when i saw it's photos,smurfs come always to my mind:)Colors,POV,details are wonderful.Very well exposed and composed.Have great weekend!TFS...:-)

  • Great 
  • phlr Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 1241 W: 129 N: 881] (2814)
  • [2006-05-20 10:48]

Indeed a beauty! But poisonous!
Excellent photo Janice!
Wonderful colours!
Very good POV, DOF and details!
5* and TFS!

Hi Janice,
An excellent shot on this Red Cap Mushroom. I am always amazed at the colors and textures of the cap. It almost looks like candy. Excellent exposure. Everything looks great.
Scott

Hello Janice,
this is a great photo. Great colours, excellent sharpness and POV. This is a very nice composition. I like it very much. TFS.
Gr.
Heinz

Janice,
There is a saying the old Vikings in my place used this stuff before they went to battle, as the effect made them even more crazy, wild and dangerous than before...
Nice composition of this colourful little fellow!
Greetings,
Pablo -

Hi Janice,
this is a lovely picture of a "Rödvit flugswamp" and
I can verify what Pablo say about the vikings.
Well composed, good POV, nice colours and good details.
Well done.

How is it down under? Freezing in the cold winter with a lot of snow;-)).
It's spring here but it's not so warm yet and the butterflies and other insects are not seen either.

Hello Janice,

This is a really nice image of the polka dotted mushroom. The vertical format fits the well exposed subject nicely. Beautiful colors on this one. :)

Hi Janice,
Beautiful red cap. Good technique from Felipe. Nice captured, good composition and POV. TFS
JC

Hello Janice,
Lovely shot! This picture could've been taken in my forest. We have them here too.
The shot is great. The cap looks great because of it's sharpness and strong red colour. Great POV and framing too!
VERY WELL DONE!

The only place I've ever seen these is here, I'd love a chance to photograph this kind of mushroom. Great color, and sharpness. I love Felipe's idea of focusing on the stem too. Thanks for posting this beautiful and dangerous fungi...not such a "fun-guy" after all!

Hello Janice,
Beautiful capture of a beautiful and famous mushroom, a pity it was so poisonous. Good composition and note.
Regards
Hernán

Nice closeup Janice! The colour is wonderful. Your notes are very informative. I've never seen a red mushroom before. There should be a little elf underneath dancing a jig. :)

I sure love this website.

Janice

  • Great 
  • SkyF Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2244 W: 188 N: 1929] (8127)
  • [2006-05-24 19:35]

Hi Janice,
Nice closeup of this dangerous mushroom. Excellent composition, colour, sharpness and nice blurred BG.
TFS..Sky

  • Great 
  • loot Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 5366 W: 591 N: 3600] (9885)
  • [2006-06-13 19:46]
  • [+]

Hi Janice
A candy coated poison punch. Is there any truth in the traditional name of toadstool? Do toads really use them as stools or where do the name come from? Even the name mushroom has some strange connotation. If one look at the synonyms for “mush” = paste, pulp, mash, blend, soft mass, or smooth mixture and link that with room you end up with a descriptive that does not describe the subject. Or am I missing something?
Anyway, another beautiful fungi shot from you taken under obvious difficult lighting conditions. The composition is great, the colours are rich and well saturated, the details are sufficient (although Felipe’s advise is valuable to remember for future shots), the fallen pine needles makes for a good BG, and you handled the exposure very well.
Great work and TFS.
Regards
Loot

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