292/365: "Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life." ~ Rachel Carson

2 more pictures in notes above! :)

About a week ago, I discovered some special mushrooms growing down by the road where I saw them last year. Because I know that these ones live for weeks, I didn't rush to take pictures, and instead waited for the right time. Well, today was the day! Steve had the camera on a photo shoot until this afternoon, which meant the sun was in the perfect placement for these mushrooms. In the morning the area is in deep shadow and only when the sun begins to dip towards the horizon does the light look just right for this area of the property.

I took Moosie and Zoe with me and as I approached the spot, I noticed that there were other mushrooms too! Taking one look at the large, gorgeous mushrooms, I immediately plopped down and groomed the area for taking pictures while Moosie and Zoe had fun nosing around and exploring nearby. When I got home, I was very happy to find that there were many nice images to choose between, but in the end, I ended up merging two pictures: one with an aperture of 2.8 for a soft background, and one with an aperture of 16 for deep focus on this mushroom, which was about 6" tall! I used a Topaz filter called ReMask to get a clean mask around the mushroom and then placed it into the image with the 2.8 aperture. A bit of massaging to remove bits of the original mushroom, a bit more massaging to work the crisp mushroom into place, and voila! Picture of the Day! :) (If you are interested, Topaz Labs has a 30 day free trial for all of their products, including ReMask: www.topazlabs.com/downloads

Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Wikipedia: Rachel Carson

Explored on October 20, 2013. Highest placement, page 4.