It feels like the tail end of fall up here in the cold, foggy southern Willamette Valley, time to steel oneself against 5 or 6 months of dreary weather. Almost all the leaves are off the trees, except for a few types like oak whose dry brown leaves cling to the branches until springtime. The departure of the leaves has made photography a little more challenging as they greatly increase photographic opportunities, but the thick old growth woods are full of mushrooms, moss, and other macro possibilities. I’ve got 3 macro photos to post, taken over the last two days.





Canon 5d Mark ii, 100mm Macro Lens, 2 sec at f/11, ISO 100

I’ve really enjoyed waking up to thick frost for the last week or so and it’s pretty rare here, so I tried to head out with my camera every morning. I took this photo yesterday, which seems like it will be our last frosty morning for a little while. I was pretty sure I had a photo when I saw the leaf laying over the thick grass, and I just had to determine the composition. I almost always use a large aperture on all my non-landscape photos, but when there’s no background that needs blurring, like with this photo, I will use a smaller aperture for more depth of field.






Canon 5d Mark ii, 100mm Macro lens, 1/60 sec at f/2.8, ISO 400

These little mushrooms were growing from thick moss on a vine maple branch about 7 feet off the ground. To get the straight-on angle I wanted of them, I flipped on Live View and held the camera over my head, and composed with the LCD screen.






Canon 5d Mark ii, 100mm Macro lens, 1/8 sec at f/11, ISO 100

After rising abruptly when we had a couple days of heavy rain a while back, the Row River has dropped very low and left a lot of small pools of water along its banks. They’ve all frozen during our recent cold snap, so I walked along the river today, checking them out. I had a heck of a time choosing a composition when I found this leaf, but i’m pleased with how it came out.