Fabulous Fungi - Brook Sanctuary, Nelson, NZ

Nelson’s Brook Waimārama Sanctuary is home to a growing variety of flora and fauna, including over the last few years, a thriving population of the endangered Kākāriki karaka or orange-fronted parakeet.

Closer to ground level there’s a rich and colourful display of life to be discovered in the form of fungi – including some rare varieties.

All but one of the shots in this video were taken during the 2022 fungi season which seems to have been a particularly good one in the Sanctuary and elsewhere – at least prior to the severe August weather event in Nelson.

The video shows only a small sample of the many varieties and examples of fabulous fungi that have been seen in the Sanctuary.

See a growing collection of Brook Waimārama Sanctuary fungi observation pics here »

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About the Video

Photographing fungi has become quite a thing these days and I certainly don’t count myself amongst those skilled proponents of the art whose stunning works grace the pages of Facebook, flickr and Instagram etc. The shots in this video (which are, in fact, all video clips despite some being quite ‘static’ :) are learning experiences and mostly taken within the time constraints of completing a walk.

All the clips were shot on a Panasonic GH5 with either an 8-18mm or a 12-60mm lens. The GH5 is a micro four thirds (MFT) camera, so double those numbers to get the full frame equivalent focal lengths. The video was edited in Final Cut Pro.

The 8-18mm (16-36mm full frame equivalent) is not a great macro lens, which is not surprising considering it’s an ultra-wide-angle zoom. The humble 12-60mm f3.5-5.6 on the other hand, is not too bad. No doubt a proper macro lens would be ideal with these sorts of shots.

There are a few challenges around videoing fungi with a MFT mirrorless camera. I think I took a tripod on most of these walks, but not always used and in some cases, just not a practical solution when you need to get the camera close to the ground.

Making the most of the video format by getting some movement in your shots can be surprisingly difficult when shooting fungi. At the short distances involved pans and tilts need to be super smooth. Some unwanted movement can be improved or removed in post, too much can render a shot unusable.

Unlike shooting stills, using long exposure while closing down your aperture to get decent depth of field is not really an option with video, at least not to the same extent. And there are limits to what you can do with ISO, especially on MFT where the low light performance is generally not as good as full frame or APS-C. So using light modifiers like bouncers and diffusers (which seem to be commonly used for photographing fungi as well) can be handy. Using a powered light source is also an option employed by fungi photographers, but does introduce some other challenges.

So it’s not an exaggeration to say that every shot is a learning experience and hopefully over time, you’re adding skills and probably some extra kit to your arsenal. Some of the shots included in the video should probably have been left on the cutting room floor, but at the end of the day, learning not to be too precious about your art can also a useful skill at times :)

About the Identification Process

Accurately identifying fungi is challenging. I’ve learnt it pays to get good shots of both the top and underside of fungi where possible. Alas, that wasn’t done for some of the fungi included in the video and there are some that elude identification. And even the IDs I’m feeling more confident about are treated as provisional.

Similarly, colour is critical for ID purposes, so good white balance is very helpful, especially in the varied lighting conditions you’ll find throughout a shoot in the NZ bush.

Check out the collection of Brook Waimārama Sanctuary images along with ID sources which are being added over on the fungi image page.

The Brook Waimārama Sanctuary website: https://www.brooksanctuary.org.nz