This weekend I spent my Saturday morning exploring around Janesmoor Pond in the New Forest. I took my Z8 and started out with the K&F CPL filter on my 24-70 f4. Straight away I noticed something was wrong – the images were both blurry and lacking detail. I took off the cpl filter and things were perfect again. I’m going to have to research filters some more, and potentially get a higher quality one.
As it happened, I quickly switched to the 50mm 1.8 either way. I definitely prefer primes, and as you’ll see, by the end of the morning I was eyeing up the Tamron 90mm 2.8 macro…
I used the OS Map app to find a circuitous route and headed out. (See below).
After fumbling with my filter for five minutes, I punched in the settings I’d be using today – I wanted to experiment with a square crop and primarily black and white. As you’ll see though, I soon realised I’d be needing some punchy colours for what I’d find.
The first decent shot I took was of one of the many horse riders returning to the car park; it was full of horse boxes, so I’m guessing something was going on. I never discovered what though.
The den. Nikon Z8, Nikon Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 S
I started to get into my stride with the black and white, before I noticed how many fungi had sprung up everywhere. I continued to photograph them in black and white, but also shot them in colour – it seemed sensible, given how vibrant some were.
I edited these photos in Lightroom, starting with the Vibrant Nikon profile and adjusting from there. I’d never seen so many fungi in such different shapes and sizes. The main issue I had was the close-focusing distance; on both my lenses it wasn’t ideal – I’d definitely look at investing in a macro lens in order to help with this. I know the PetaPixel team (htttp://www.petapixel.com) swear by the Tamron 90mm f2.8 – so I’ll definitely research that more.
Also continued to shoot in black and white though, and took some photos I was quite pleased with. I also experimented with using the torch on my iPhone to help add a bit of side-light to some of the darker subjects. (See below).
In terms of black and white, I found the fungi with more dramatic patterns and textures worked best:
As you can see, the fungi still look great in black and white, and if anything take on an even more spectral appearance.
I did spot some other compositions in the forest, though I was purposefully limiting myself to 50 and 85mm, so it meant I had to think outside the box at times…
The final photograph I took was of a solitary tree near the car park – my fascination with them continues!
Overall, I’m a big fan of the square (1:1) aspect ratio, and will continue to experiment with it. It gives a very distinct look and means nothing gets hidden away in the corners; everything in your composition has to earn the right to be included. I like both the colour and the b&w shots from the day, but feel that some of the fungi deserved to be captured in colour.
