Mushrooms and others

A mushroom photography day story starting with a frog... Well ok, maybe mushrooms aren't my most favorite subjects, so if I get the possibility to do something else, I will. This frog is probably the most photographed frog in the Horsterwold as many people were laying around it while it was posing nicely. It was really nice, with all the autumn leaves around (even on top of) it, making a nice atmosphere.

The second favorite picture is still no mushroom but a butterfly. This Comma Butterfly was already prepared for winter, resting on a branch. This makes it very easy for photographers to take good pictures as they are not likely to move at all until the temperatures get above 15C again.

Well ok, one mushroom... The place where we always have our lunch break was filled with several Shaggy Manes. As they also stay at the same place for a while, I tried this nice close up.

More pictures can be found on my website, under "recent pictures"

Reflections

On Friday I attended a Nederpix-Birdpix moderator meeting in Zwolle. As usual I got a ride from Jaap. In this case we made a detour to Den Ham as he had to pick up his new camera (a canon 5DmkII, and no, I'm not jealous at all....). I agreed with myself not to spent any money, but failed to keep to that agreement. I ended up buying a 5 in 1 reflector. This can be used to lighten up shades for portrets or macro photography. This reflector has 5 different options. I has a silver, a gold and a white side that can be used to reflect light, a black side to create a nice background and it can be used as a diffuser to diffuse bright sunlight. 
I tried it the next day at the mushroom photography day. With this White Saddle I tried different versions. Here I show the golden side (a bit warmer colours), the silver side (a bit colder) and without the reflector. The effect isn't very visible here, because the pictures were taken in a forest without direct sunlight. The brighter the sun, the stronger the effect. 

Autumn

For me autumn is the time of year with nice light, beautiful colours and decay. But its also time to say goodbye to the dragonflies. When I saw several darters flying around, this picture came to mind. It combines most of those autumn aspects in 1 shot.

ps. Yesterday I gave the lecture "Het rijk van de IJsbeer" (The real of the Polar Bear) for the first time. It worked out fine, nice audience, good comments in the end. Anyone interested?? Sent me an e-mail.