Bellidiflora Up Close And Personal

Day 202: I recently purchased a snap-on macro filter thinking that I'd be able to get more detail for the field-guide style shots I present to my readers. I was only half right. While shooting macros does bring you "up close and personal" with your subject, the "field guide" aspect is lessened due to the diminished depth of field which excludes any habitat features one might use in making a solid identification. A good zoom keeps that frame of reference by allowing foreground and background detail when desired. Personally, I find out-of-focus foreground material distracting (the moss in this shot, for example). In macro photography, it is difficult to avoid when the camera is placed at a side-on angle. That said, a photo like this one could be useful in a classroom situation where the instructor wants to define terms: apothecia, squamules, podetia, primary and secondary thalli. Add a couple of arrows, and you have a PowerPoint slide for Lichens 101.

Cladonia bellidiflora would make a good poster child for lichen-speak. The bright red apothecia appear at the tips of podetia thick with ragged squamules. Even without arrows, you can recognize those parts.