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Archive 2015 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory

  
 
e6filmuser
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


I was recently with a foray group in local Beech woods on the Chilterns chalk hills. One of the group offered to show me the location of some “Pipe Clubs”, a name unfamiliar to me.

The fruiting bodies Macrotyphula fistulosa were of extreme size for club fungi, some nearly a foot (30cm) tall, although of fairly typical thickness.Obligingly, they were in a line, making a choice of any two pairs from three for a frame (too widely spaced to include three).

I took some shots, using triple flash (one on an L-bracket and two free-standing) through my Kiron 105mm lens.

I returned, about ten days later. This time I had my latest lighting aids with me. When using flash lighting it is useful to have some light from above and, sometimes, some from the side, or even from a low angle. These options become more difficult to provide from the position of the camera , especially when moving back for a wide FOV. I have recently obtained a pair of “spikes” which are small monopods, each with an integral tough spike which can be pushed into the ground.

Two images show how I used them for the second session. Allowing for being pushed firmly into the ground, they will raise your camera or flash from ca 25 cm up to 50cm above the ground, a very handy range for macro. My flash guns come with a removable shoe for free-standing, which has a threaded tripod socket in the base. The guns can also be angled downward by 45 degrees.

All my flash units can be, and are for all my macro use, remotely controlled from the camera and metered at the camera. (To show this kit the light from the flash at the camera, which would normally provide the main illumination, distorts how the subject would be illuminated).

I hope that the problem of placing second and third flash guns, often a tricky balancing act, will be largely overcome by using these spikes.

These spikes are available from:

www.wildviewcameras.co.uk

“Adjustable Ground Spike”:

http://www.wildviewcameras.co.uk/accessories

The fourth image is one of the clubs which has shed its spores.

The last one is a detached one nearly a foot (30cm) long

Harold





© Harold Gough 2015





© Harold Gough 2015





© Harold Gough 2015





© Harold Gough 2015





© Harold Gough 2015



Edited on Nov 12, 2015 at 01:52 AM · View previous versions



Nov 12, 2015 at 01:33 AM
LordV
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Interesting fungus Harold
Brian V.



Nov 12, 2015 at 01:49 AM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


LordV wrote:
Interesting fungus Harold
Brian V.


Thanks, Brian.

I had the sequence of images wrong so have reloaded them.

Here is the lighting setup for the two fill flash.

Harold














Nov 12, 2015 at 01:53 AM
Dalantech
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Interesting subject and thanks for showing how you set up for the photo!


Nov 12, 2015 at 03:14 AM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Dalantech wrote:
Interesting subject and thanks for showing how you set up for the photo!


Thanks, John.

At this time of year a large proportion of my subjects can be tiny structures on +/- substantial chunks of rotting wood. Often, spacing of freestanding flash in relation to the subject has been more to do with availability of a flat(ish) surface than to do with desirable distance and beam angle.

Harold



Nov 12, 2015 at 03:19 AM
Dalantech
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


e6filmuser wrote:
...Often, spacing of freestanding flash in relation to the subject has been more to do with availability of a flat(ish) surface than to do with desirable distance and beam angle.

Harold


I can see those spikes giving you a lot more options -very nice! You've got me thinking of a field studio with an off camera flash and a radio trigger



Nov 12, 2015 at 05:05 AM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Dalantech wrote:
I can see those spikes giving you a lot more options -very nice! You've got me thinking of a field studio with an off camera flash and a radio trigger


Of course, the likes of GorillaPod are OK for small flash units, on the ground or higher up, when there is something to wrap them around. (I have one somewhere here and should dig it out).

For anyone despairing at seeing my reference to remote control (IR) and your mention of it, cables could be used to link the units on manual flash can be done with care and calibration (or trial an error). (I have a flash meter here somewhere...).

Harold



Nov 12, 2015 at 05:20 AM
douter
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Wow, I would have walked right by these thinking them to be grass shoots!
Douglas



Nov 12, 2015 at 07:53 AM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


douter wrote:
Wow, I would have walked right by these thinking them to be grass shoots!
Douglas


The flash gives a false impression of how visible they were. The lighting was under shade on a dull day, with fallen leaves looking much the same in all directions. With respect, neither of us might have seen them.

Had I been close enough, there were two possible giveaways:

They were the only things growing absolutely vertically, straight up and they were in a straight line, possibly due to an association with the tree root beneath them

Harold



Nov 12, 2015 at 09:22 AM
surfnron
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


Neat fungi Harold. And I appreciate seeing your setup ~ Ron


Nov 12, 2015 at 08:29 PM
e6filmuser
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Pipe Club Fungus and a Field Lighting Accessory


surfnron wrote:
Neat fungi Harold. And I appreciate seeing your setup ~ Ron


Thanks, Ron.

Harold



Nov 13, 2015 at 02:08 AM





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