Judith Lesnaw
October 2026 - The Guardian
Original
About the Image(s)
Last month an abundance of mushrooms appeared at the base of a tree I monitor. Some mushrooms looked like eggs, others joined to give the appearance of a creature with a fancy hat and fan. The scene sparked thoughts of a Guardian waiting for nascent hatchlings in an old time fairy tale book. I photographed the scene with an iPhone 16 plus pro, imported the image into Lightroom Classic, cropped and with a series of radial masks toned down the bright background areas.
8 comments posted
That's an interesting photo and you did a nice job in processing it to tone down the brightness. It does have a mythical look to it with little hobbit shapes. I also like the horseshoe shape created with the opening in the tree and the mushrooms wrapping around. It's certainly unique and fun to look at, almost like the shapes give the photo personality. Posted: 10/06/2026 17:39:33
Thanks Tracy, I too felt that mythical affect when I spied the scene. Posted: 10/06/2026 19:20:10
I see all kinds of things in these mushrooms too. On the upper right it looks like a wooly sheep in profile to me. I might want to look at it just cropping out to that section of the scene. Nice eye. Posted: 10/08/2026 11:57:30
Thanks Mike. I will try the crop. Posted: 10/08/2026 16:05:18
What an interesting find. The phone cameras do a great job with sharpness and detail. I think your post processing has worked well. I do see a sheep head at the top of the right group of mushrooms. You could pull two separate images from this photograph. I think a vertical crop of the mushrooms on the right would be very interesting. Great find. Posted: 10/10/2026 23:18:57
I believe that your mushrooms are Inky Caps (but don't hold me to it). I enjoy the lines of mushrooms that you chose to include and the lighting is just right. The lower right corner has a dark quarter circle that you could consider cropping out by taking a touch off the bottom. Very nice image. Posted: 10/13/2026 17:28:10
I thought there was a mouse in the upper right LOL! This image makes me think of Lord of the Rings (I only ever saw one of the movies, but to me it has that vibe). Do you do any compositing? If so, maybe you could add an "actor" to this scene - like a chipmunk or other small critter. Of course that is way beyond the scope of a nature image, but it would create a story. You are clever...I'll bet you could come up with lot's of ideas. Posted: 10/13/2026 18:43:12
Nice capture. I like all the tonal brown and beige colors along with the great variety of textures present with the mushrooms, grasses and the tree's bark. I also think if you could remove some of the shadows on the cavity on the left above the mushrooms it would create a little more depth within the image. Posted: 10/19/2026 20:55:50