Toadstools 2

I felt compelled to invest a few frames on these fungi, this being

my favourite. Ever the purist I added nothing nor removed

anything. On reflection perhaps I should have removed the pine

needle supported by these fungi. What would you have done? Best,

LM.

Left as it is i believe as that is what you are seeing when approaching your subject, its a good picture!

Personally, I do not believe in that whole 'purist' thing. I think we as photographers should be pure to the 'here and now'... so if that means that as you survey the entire scene and decide that something needs to be changed then so be it. After all, do you shoot in direct overhead sun or do you wait a moment for a cloud to provide cover and then shoot? Were you 'a purist' when you decided to shoot 'as is' with the wrong lighting? About your shot - what it says to me now is that you shot toadstools with a needle on them instead of shooting simply a beautiful cluster of toadstools... my thoughts and opinions only that will be contested by the next commentary - take care! Glenn

Toby, Thanks for offering your thoughts on this one. I really could have easily taken this one both ways. Don't know why I didn't. Lesson salted away for next time. Best, LM.

Glen, Thanks for your thoughts. You offer some valid opinions. I think we sometimes confuse 'manufactured' and 'controlled'. I believe that controlled is OK, but manufactured, for the most part, is not. I would obviously remove a gum wrapper or discarded bottle & I do think it permissible to remove any other distracting elements. My biggest source of confusion is why I didn't shoot it both ways as I was conscious of the needle at the time. As I said to Toby, "...next time....!". Best, LM.

I'm very fond of this shot, particularly due to the dark background. I took the liberty of manufacturing it a bit just to see wht it would look like "sans aguille", or without the needle. I also tried lowering the brightness and contrast of the foreground leaves and left-ground needles to focus more attention on the toadstools. What do you think?

Sorry, I should probably show you my results...