The ones I have shot here are particularly large fans at about 40mm across, growing on quite a chunky stick. Usually, I see this species up to about 20mm growing on small spindly sticks.   The tops are quite a pretty burnt orange colour but they are truly beautiful from underneath.  I was lucky to find these ones on a broken branch lying on the ground so I was able to flip the whole lot over to get this shot.  The lighting in this image is from an off-camera flash and you can see it really adds some dimension to the highlights and shadows, catching the structure of the gills.

Next is one of my favourite species from the southwest.  Artomyces austropiperatus, the crowned coral fungus.

This decomposer fungus seems to be one of the first species to sprout up in the winter and I’ve seen it on both rotting wood as well as out of the ground and leaf litter.  The delicate, upright towers and turrets remind me of a fairy tale castle.  I deliberately shot this one from a tripod and without flash because I wanted to capture the late afternoon light coming through from left of frame.

Let’s look at a traditional “mushroomy” species now.  Cortinarius perslendidus, the splendid red skinhead.

At least I think it’s this species!  I forgot to check whether it had a yellow mycelium or a pink mycelium, which would be a different species. A third Karri forest species, this skinhead is not busily decomposing the fallen wood, it is a mycorrhizal species that is symbiotic with tree roots. I always have a little trouble lighting this species because one of it’s characteristic features are paprika-red gills, and getting the light and camera angle right can be tricky.  Creative use of off-camera flash can usually direct the light enough to create a pleasing image.  It also helps to find a patch of them on high ground so you can get a really low angle.

Let’s move on to a species that I shot in Perth but can be found in lots of different habitats.  Cyathus species, A bird’s nest fungi.