How to properly photograph mushrooms to determine

Sooner or later, each of us is faced with something unknown. Of course, it is much more accurate to collect well-known and proven white, chanterelles and mushrooms. But I want to expand - to whom the horizons, to whom - the range of mushroom dishes. What if an unknown mushroom is encountered? Of course, take pictures!

On VikiGrib.ru, in the section Identifier of mushrooms by photo, you can upload photos of unknown mushrooms and get an answer: what kind of mushrooms are they, are they edible, and, possibly, recommendations for cooking.

However, unfortunately, it is not possible to identify a mushroom with ease and absolute certainty from every photograph.

It is about how to properly photograph a mushroom, what points should be highlighted in the photo, and we will talk in this article.

First of all, a photograph directly, as they say, “from the scene,” that is, how the mushroom grew, will be very informative and useful for determining. Examples:

But one such photo is completely insufficient for identification. Why? - Yes, because the most important details are not visible: what's under the hat? Plates, "sponge" (tubular hymenophore) or "needles"? In the above examples, one mushroom has a lamellar hymenophore, the second has a tubular one, but this is completely invisible from the photo.

Therefore, be sure to take a photo of the underside of the cap:

And it's very good if the focus is on the place of attachment of the cap and leg.

An important detail for the definition is the mushroom leg, entirely, especially the bottom, in no case cut or peeled.

If the mushroom has a blanket or a ring on the stem, take a photo in which this particular detail is visible in close-up.

If the mushroom changes color on a cut or when pressed, it would be good to photograph it after the color change:

It is quite clear that not everyone has professional cameras, and the color rendering of photographs taken with a mobile phone often leaves "no one knows where", and lighting plays a very important role. Therefore, if you are taking a photo at home, put the most ordinary sheet of white paper under the mushrooms.

Estimating the size of the mushroom is also very important, but this does not mean that you need to carry a ruler with you into the forest. For photographs in the forest, use any object that will allow you to estimate the size, it can be a match or a matchbox, a lighter, keys, in a word, anything with an understandable size.

For photographs of small mushrooms at home, it is ideal to use a sheet from the most ordinary school notebook "in the box".

And finally, a cutaway mushroom. In some cases, such a photograph can greatly facilitate accurate identification.

I consider it necessary to warn you: it happens, unfortunately, that even with the most “correct” photographs, it is not possible to identify the mushroom quickly enough. But this is not a reason to despair! A lot of wonderful finds await us all in the forest, and if some mushrooms are temporarily hanging in “riddles”, this will not spoil the impressions of the “quiet hunt”.

Photos are used in this post with the permission of their authors.

Gumenyuk Vitaly

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