Young Ringless Honey Mushrooms and Depth of Field / November 14, 2017 by Todd Henson

Small cluster of young Ringless Honey Mushrooms

I found the mushrooms above in one of my favorite parks along a wooded path in late August. I believe these are young Ringless Honey Mushrooms, also known as Armillaria Tabescens, that grow on the roots of hardwood trees in eastern North America. There were several small clusters in the area, all growing on the forest floor below hardwood trees.

It was still early in the day and the trees were filtering the sunlight, creating a soft light on the mushrooms. I thought these might look nice shot with a shallow depth of field and a completely out of focus background, so I took the camera off the tripod and lay down on my stomach, resting the camera on the ground in front of me to get a ground-level view of the cluster of young mushrooms.

Achieving a shallow depth of field was fairly easy with the long lens I had with me. I shot at 440mm and was as close as I could get to the mushrooms and still focus (around 6 or 7 feet). I used an aperture of f/6.3 and given the level of light I boosted the ISO to 1600 to get a shutter speed of 1/60 second. As you can see, this allows for a fairly shallow depth of field.

But looking at the photo now I realize I should have attempted a few shots with smaller apertures to increase the depth of field and get a little more of the mushroom cluster in focus. There wasn’t anything directly behind the mushrooms, so I could easily have kept the background out of focus. I love shallow depth of field, but I need to constantly remind myself to also create images with a larger depth of field. Maybe an aperture of f/8 or f/11 would have been better. I should have experimented more.

So next time you’re out in the woods, take a moment to look down. Maybe you’ll find an interesting mushroom along the forest floor, something worth photographing, or at least worth studying. And if you do choose to photograph the mushroom take the time to work the subject, experiment, try large apertures for shallow depth of field, but also try smaller apertures for more depth of field. Perhaps even try a very narrow aperture to capture the entire scene in focus showing the mushroom in its environment. It only takes a few extra minutes to work the subject, and it’s almost always worth the time.

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What Does an Engorged Tick Look Like? / October 3, 2017 by Todd Henson

Eastern Cottontail Rabbit with at least 4 ticks. Look at its snout and ear. Click on the images in this post for a larger view.

We know to avoid ticks, that they carry disease, and that they can be very small and sometimes difficult to notice. You generally don’t feel them when they embed their head into your skin, so you have to go out of your way to search yourself for them after a hike through their territory. And they survive by feeding on the blood of their hosts.

But how often do you see an engorged tick? Do you know what a tick looks like when it has been attached and feeding for several days? Well, if you hike through enough parks where they live you’ve likely seen them on rabbits, deer, or other wildlife. They may be very difficult to see when they first attach themselves to their host, but they are very easy to spot when they have engorged themselves on their host’s blood.

Closer view of the rabbit with 2 engorged ticks on its snout, and at least 2 ticks on its ear.

These photos show a small Eastern Cottontail Rabbit at a local wildlife refuge that is host to several ticks. Rabbits and deer are very prone to hosting ticks because they frequent just the sorts of grassy environments where ticks often hang out, waiting for something to walk by.

Closeup of the rabbit's snout. You can easily see the 2 engorged ticks.

During one visit to a park I kneeled down on the trail to look closely at the grass growing down the center of the trail. The trail was a dirt service road with grass in the center. Just in that one spot I could see dozens of ticks perched at the top of blades of grass, with their front legs open and stretched out, ready to grab onto anything that brushed against them.

Closeup of the rabbit's ear. There is an engorged tick, and one higher up that hasn't been feeding quite as long.

Thankfully, I have not seen quite this concentration of ticks since then, but I do still pick one up from time to time. I’m usually able to find them on my clothing, but sometimes I don’t find them until they’ve attached themselves. That’s why it’s important to check yourself very carefully after every trip to this sort of environment. If you can find the ticks quickly, before they have embedded themselves too deeply, they are much easier to remove. And I’ve read there is much less chance of them passing on any of the diseases they carry if you can remove them within 24 hours.

Avoiding Ticks

Please don’t let ticks dissuade you from visiting the beautiful parks out there. But do be aware of their existence if they live in your area. Take precautions to avoid being bitten:

Use tick repellents. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend tick repellents that contain 20% or more DEET, picardin or IR3535 for protecting your skin. They recommend using permethrin on clothing.
Be careful where you walk and perhaps avoid leaving the trail. If possible, avoid grassy areas.
Check yourself over carefully every so often as you hike. It’s best to find them and knock them off your clothing before they bite you.
Carefully check yourself when leaving the park. I like to do this before getting in the car. Once I didn’t do this and found a tick crawling on me while driving. Not a good distraction.
If you use a tripod be sure to inspect the tripod before packing it up. I have found them crawling up the tripod legs.
Don't forget to check any bags or backpacks you carried with you, especially if you set any of them on the ground.
When you get home, the CDC recommends throwing your clothes in the dryer on high heat for 10 minutes to kill any ticks crawling on them.
When you get home also look yourself over even closer to catch any ticks that made it under your clothes and might have attached themselves. Taking a shower can help you find any and possibly wash them off. But don’t scratch them off if they’ve bitten you, that might leave the head under your skin.

Removing Ticks

If you do find a tick that has latched onto you follow the directions from the CDC on removing the tick. They recommend using fine-tipped tweezers. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull upward with a steady, even pressure. It can take more pressure than you might think, especially if it has been attached for any length of time. Ticks don’t want to let go. So just keep slowly pulling upward until you do remove it. Then be sure to thoroughly clean the area of the bite. In the coming days and weeks watch the area of the bite. If any rashes appear or if you develop a fever, go see your doctor and mention the tick bite.

To recap, please continue to visit all the wonderful parks in your area. Just be aware of ticks if they are in your area. Take precautions to avoid them. And if you are bitten remove it as quickly as possible.

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Luray Fireworks from Skyline Drive / July 4, 2017 by Todd Henson

First grouping of multiple fireworks images.

Luray, Virginia, home to Luray Caverns, sits in a valley visible from Skyline Drive, the road that stretches from one end to the other of Shenandoah National Park atop the Blue Ridge Mountains. I had always been curious what Luray’s Fourth of July fireworks would look like from Skyline Drive, so one year my brother and I decided to find out.

Skyline Drive and Luray are actually pretty far apart, probably 6 to 8 miles. Being able to see Luray from the road makes it seem much closer than it is. And as large as fireworks seem when they burst, you have to be close for them to have any real impact. So the fireworks were far smaller than I’d imagined.

Second grouping of multiple fireworks images.

Third grouping of multiple fireworks images.

We weren’t the only ones curious about the view, though, as the overlook quickly filled with cars and people. I imagine many were camping in the park and these overlooks were the closest they could come to viewing the fireworks without leaving the park.

As small as the show was from this distance I still enjoyed watching and photographing it. I debated not posting anything from this trip as the photos are not very good fireworks photos. But I enjoyed the trip and thought you might enjoy seeing what fireworks in a valley look like when viewed from atop a nearby mountain.

First set of fireworks, groups from earlier in the show.

To create these images I imported them all into Photoshop and merged together multiple shots, combining individual fireworks into groups. The horizontal images were composed of fireworks set off in sequence. For the vertical images I selected whichever displays I thought went well together, creating my own groupings. You’ll see some of the same displays in multiple images.

Second set of fireworks, groups from midway through the show.

So far these are the only fireworks I’ve attempted to photograph, though I’m sure I’ll make more attempts in the future. I hope this encourages you to give it a try. Find a local fireworks display, pick a decent location, set up your camera on a tripod, and experiment with different shutter speeds, see what works for you.

This image is a single photograph towards the end of the fireworks show.

All these images were shot at ISO 200, which was the base ISO of my camera. Using the base ISO would force longer shutter speeds after dark, which would allow nice streaks of light as the fireworks burst. I had the camera in manual mode to allow me to choose the aperture and shutter speed. This allowed me to keep the scene dark since it was at night. In an auto mode the camera would have attempted to lighten the scene. I set the aperture between f/16 and f/25, though I could have used other apertures. My shutter speed was between 8 seconds and 30 seconds. Looking back, I should have put the camera in bulb mode, where the shutter would remain open as long as I held the shutter button (or remote release, which I would recommend). Then I might have captured more bursts in a single image.

All the photos were shot at 200mm, which was the longest lens I had at the time. As you can see in the uncropped image, this left a lot of blank space in the frame, so I cropped the rest of the images on the computer. If you’re closer to the fireworks this shouldn’t be as much of a problem.

Uncropped version of the final image, showing how far away Luray was from Skyline Drive.

Now it’s your turn. Next time there will be fireworks in your area grab your camera, tripod, and remote shutter release, and head out to find an interesting location. Try to find something of interest in the foreground that will be lit by the fireworks, maybe a building or a bridge. Having something interesting in the frame can make a much stronger fireworks image than just photographing the fireworks themselves, which is what I’ve done here.

Give it a try. See what you can create. And don’t forget to enjoy the show!

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