Blue Earthstar

Artist: Adam Gormley
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Card: US$4.32
Print: from US$18.53

Blue Earthstar

Thanks to the many talented members of RedBubble, identified this as a Earthstar Fungi. Shot in Surburban Noosa Heads area.

Measures about 1cm diameter, 3cm petal base.

The inside was a fine powder, and very little of it, mostly air, similar to the little ball mushroom you get in the lawn sometimes. Star-like petals on the base. A tiny root system attatches itself to rotting wood. It’s been very very wet in the area lately, so might be something that sat dormant for a long time.

Canon 50D, 800mm (400mm + 2 x Tamron). Night shot, no flash, but used a natural light LED to “paint” the subject over a 30 second exposure. Photo is as is from the camera, besides a light crop.

Available Large, and Best viewed large!

Blue Earthstar belongs to the following groups:

Complex Simplicity of Art, ! 100% !, All That is Nature (Photography Only), Canon DSLR (One Image Per Day & A Canon Camera Must Be In The Description Before It's Accepted), Extreme Close-Ups, First Things, Fungilicious, JPG Cast-Offs, Made By Nature - {2 a day} - {Nature images only!}, Miniatures and Mammoths, Moody, Dark, Evocative (no nudes), Nature's Wonders, Purple Passion Gallery. 2 per day , Queensland the sunshine state. 2 photos per day, The Addicted Photographer►2 Per Day◄, Timelapse/Long Exposure Photography and Vibrant and Vivid Color Available for sale as

Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters

David Hibberd

that is a mystery to me but a good one
Davo
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks a bunch Davo mate! :)
kathy s gillen...

fantastic capture
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Kathy! :)
Tracy Faught

Wow!! I have no idea…but it is really pretty! Well shot! ;]
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Tracy! :)
joyousmoon

Can’t help you, but it is beautiful!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Pamela! :)
Esther's Art a...

Sounds like a puff ball and looks like a earth star but I have never came acoss this colour. Amazing , great find. Maybe Steve or Carla knows.
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much for the help mate, an interesting find :)
Marilyn Harris

Sorry Adam, I don’t know, but it sure is beautiful! :o)
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Marilyn! :)
Vanessa Anderberg

Great find and capture:)
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Vanessa! :)
AnitaInverarity

Sorry I dont know, but it sure is beautiful xx
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Anita! :)
John Peel

Great shot, Adam but no mystery: it’s a starfish with a blue umbrella
Adam Gormley replied

Hehe, you were close mate!! Thanks very much John! :)
LavenderMoon

The color alone is fascinating enough… but the way it grows, the shapes… very beautiful, Adam! I can’t wait for Carla Jandelle Petters to see it… she is addicted to this kind of thing. I can tell you she will be thrilled AND envious!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much for the lovely comment, we got to the bottom ot it, kinda! :)
Victoria Sheldon

This is an amazing Shot. The color is beautiful. Very unique!!!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Victoria! :)
Karen Tillotson

My goodness…how fascinating! Beautiful capture Adam…!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Karen! :)
Hans Bax

Wow, this is gorgeous, Adam!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Hans! :)
David Clarke

Not a clue, Adam, but I’ll ask around – this is the land of funghi! Great shot – looks like it’s about to get up and walk away!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much David, does look lika alien like :)
tkrosevear

have never seen a blue one, wish I could help…beautiful find though Adam ;) xoxox
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much TK :)
Kane Slater

It’s some species of Earthstar.
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much for the valuable info Kane mate! :)
Phineous Cas...

its fungusmungus biggusdickus elcontorio
back in the day of the zzrimble rebelion swordsmen would cook up batches of these mungusfungus and sit around getting stoooned on the fungus , and after a period of time say 3 hours , they would be able to teleport on the power of the biggusdickus
hope this helps :)’
Adam Gormley replied

WOW awesome info mate!!! HAHA, well done!! :)
corinna wagner

wow! this is great!
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Corinna! :)
Shannon Beauford

Your mystery fungus is better known as the Earthstar. Here’s some info on it.
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks so much for the info and link Shannon, so cool to find one this far North :)
Steve Axford

A purple one (earthstar that is)! I have never seen that before, so it may be new. I am learning that few mycologists live north of Sydney, so we have the field to ourselves.
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Steve mate, fantastic info, sounds like a fun field!
MyheART

cool image:)
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Robin! :)
Esther's Art a...

It looks very similiar to Geastrum fenestriatum. If the image was black and white. Cheers Esther
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much mate, it looks like the LED actually bounced off some blue light, very strange, as it does not do this to other subjects, that is why I purchased the LED over the bulb.. Interesting….. Maybe the pigments in the fungi responsible for this?
Esther's Art a...

This is the only blue one I could find. Have a look.
I reckon you found somethimg specieal!!!
CLICK HERE
Adam Gormley replied

Very interesting mate, this is so cool!! I have spent several months hiking through wet rainforests hunting for great fungi to shoot, and I found the most interesting specimen at home in the garden!! hehe. I found another one this morning, as it’s alot easier to hunt during the day, and it was a deep royal blue, almost black. Looked dead though, so I think it was past it’s used by. Is there somewhere I can send a specimen if I fond another growing, maybe to get some research done?
Bunny Clarke

Gorgeous capture. Such beautiful colors.
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Bunny! :)
Esther's Art a...

I’ll give you a Bubble mail. Cheers Esther
Adam Gormley replied

Cheers mate, thanks for all the help, it’s much appreciated! :)
Travis Easton

stunning, great find adam
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Travis mate! :)
Teacup

Beautiful. It almost glows. :0)
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Teacup! :)
Heloisa Castro

great shot
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks very much Heloisa! :)
Carla Jandelle...

yikes…the more i look at this the more it’s making me crazy. do you by any chance have an image of it before the colors/ps was worked on it? the stem under the spore-case is very interesting but the colors throw me of because of the un-natural-ness of them.
i’ve been all over the net last night (over 2 hours) exploring images then realized this wasn’t the actual color! ugh…u fooled me. :o)
Adam Gormley replied

I actually didn’t enhance the colour at all on this, I usually try keep the fungi shots as natural as possible. I think the blue is due to the reflection of the LED light, unuasual effect. Read up for some more info.. :)
Carla Jandelle...

my apologies…now i read that u used the LED lighting…so that’s y the blue turned out so rich. i might try this next time when i find the gray/silver beauties out there! great use of that
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks a bunch Carla, nect one I find, I will photograph in the daylight, see the difference! :)
Colleen Milburn

Wow, what a gorgeous little piece of fungi – wonderful work, Adam :))
Adam Gormley replied

Thanks so much Colleen!! :)
kalaryder

A wonderful capture
Marilyn Baldey

That is pretty special.