Thanks for your thoughts Terry, and please don't be sorry: I asked for your comments and welcome them (really). I 100% agree with the general idea of not molesting nature; leave it as you find it works for me. The back story on the bracket fungi: I found that 8" dead and dried branch on a path while hiking after a recent wind storm. The fungi were bone dry and hard, and I assume probably not alive or likely to be resuscitated. Once photographed, I returned them to the forest floor on a return visit. I consider that reasonable stewardship of the environment.
On esthetics, well, I beg to differ, and strongly feel that there are plenty of times when isolating subjects from nature in a studio on a simple black background is often preferable, especially when the desire is to focus on the subject (not nature), but that's my sense of what works and what makes me smile. (Maybe that esthetic comes from my 4+ decades of being a scientist (microbial geneticist), and how I was taught to record images for scientific publications and presentations.) Of course, when presented with a subject and background that works in a natural setting and provides me with the vision I want to capture, I'll photograph that way, untouched.
Best wishes, Bob
