Macro Mushrooms

Mushroom Cluster (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro lens, 1/25 sec at f/2.8, ISO 200, tripod, focus stack of 13 images)

This afternoon I spotted some interesting brown mushrooms/toadstools in the Lochalsh Woodland Walks.  I am not sure what this species of fungi is called so if you know, please get back to me.

I returned with my camera gear later on, to try out some macro shots, and specifically to try out focus stacking using Photoshop.  I took a straight macro shot using my Sigma 105mm macro lens at f/16 to try and get as much of the fungi in focus as possible.  This worked OK (see below), but the background was not as soft as I would have liked.  This being the conundrum of using macro lenses, balancing depth of field to achieve a nice soft bokeh effect. 

Mushrooms (Canon EOS 5D Mark II, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG Macro lens, 1 sec at f/16, ISO 200, tripod)

So, I took thirteen shots of the mushroom, focusing on different parts of the image as I went.  The camera was set at f/2.8, my lens' widest aperture, taking care to avoid movement of the camera on the tripod, using my remote trigger to take the shots.  The result is shown at the top of this post, and as you can see the whole of the mushroom is in focus but the background is beautifully soft.

I tried another single larger mushroom nearby, this time with a stack of fourteen images.  This one worked well too, as you can see below.

Mushroom (Canon OS 5D Mark II, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 EX DG lens, 1/25 sec at f/2.8, ISO 200, tripod, focus stack of 14 images)