Admittedly I'm not the first to do these types of shots, but I've been wanting to create these for a while. So yesterday morning I headed out to Eaton woods near to where I live and had a wander. I was fortunate on the path that I took as within a few feet I saw a tree stump covered in moss and mushrooms. I had a walk around the woods after I'd finished but didn't find any others as photogenic as these. Below are 3 of the edited shots I created..
The effect of the light coming from under the mushroom is actually pretty easy to achieve and involves taking straight shots on a tripod (So the camera doesn't move)..
..followed by shots with a torch held over the top, so that the light shines through the top and comes out underneath..
Once the shots are in the bag, its then a case over overlaying the images in Photoshop and using layer masks to expose the illuminated part of the mushroom.
Below is a straight shots that I initially took. I wanted to illuminate these but couldn't get the angle due to thick foliage..
As a photographer I try to mix what I do in my shots, I've done still life, some macro work, lightpainting and I enjoy a good model shoot. If you'd like to check out any of my other work I'm on Facebook, or you can find me on Instagram under neilru75
Thanks very much for looking
Kind Regards, Neil
This is super cool. I've been doing macro mushroom shots for a long time and it's always an adventure. I'm no pro like you... so it will be cool to see you try this style out some more. I'm sure the lightpainting options are there to play with too. The lighting and editing technique you shared in this post is one i didn't think of before. Thanks