Tag: Moss

A rugged tree root overgrown with patches of green moss

I was drawn to the beauty of nature's ground level.

I was drawn to the beauty of nature's ground level, emphasising the overlooked ecosystems underfoot and the cycles of growth and decay in nature.

In the foreground, the early morning light illuminates a rugged tree root overgrown with patches of green moss and clusters of thin, orange-brown grass-like growths. Colonies of this moss are growing all over the small stones and detritus on the southern side of Blue Spring Road. The out-of-focus background reveals the start of Autumn Hill Preserve, with bare trees and warm light casting through the branches. This photograph is from late autumn.

I used the new lens blur tool in Lightroom to enhance the shallow depth of field of the original iPhone 11 Pro image.

Textures

Each Wednesday, The Daily Prompt Photo Challenge provides a theme for creative inspiration. Participants take photographs based on their interpretation of the theme, and post them on their blog anytime before the following Wednesday.

This image was captured during a walk in the Hopewell end of the Sourlands Ecosystem Preserve in the Sourland Mountain Range. I used my AF--S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 lens attached to my Kenko extension tubes and Nikon SB-600 flash.

signatiure
Each Wednesday, The Daily Prompt Photo Challenge provides a theme for creative inspiration. Participants take photographs based on their interpretation of the theme, and post them on their blog anytime before the following Wednesday.

Moss and Lichen, Sourlands Ecosystem Preserve

This set of images was taken during a spring nature hike hosted by the Sourland Conservancy. I captured these on a Kenko auto-extension tube attached to my AF-S Nikkor 35mm f/1.8 DX. Most of the images are shot at f/8 and I used my Nikon SB-600 Speedlight flash to add some extra lighting.

According to Wikipedia mosses and lichens are quite different.

Mosses are small flowerless plants that typically grow in dense green clumps or mats, often in damp or shady locations. The individual plants are usually composed of simple, one-cell thick leaves, attached to a stem that may be branched or unbranched and has only a limited role in conducting water and nutrients.Moss

Souland Mountain Moss
Souland Mountain Moss

While Lichen:

A lichen is a composite organism that arises from algae or cyanobacteria (or both) living among filaments of a fungus in a symbiotic relationship. The combined life form has properties that are very different from the properties of its component organisms.Lichen

Souland Mountain Moss
A patch of moss with some lichen.

Unlike most plants, mosses do not have seeds, are non-vascular, and absorb water and nutrients mainly through their leaves, harvesting carbon dioxide and sunlight to create food by photosynthesis (like plants).

Souland Mountain Moss
A patch of moss showing both gametophytes (the low, leaf-like forms) and sporophytes (the tall, stalk-like forms)