Can anyone ID these?

[fishhead]

Found these in the woods today. Sorry about the quality of the photo's. They are brown on the cap getting lighter near the edge. Stalks are pure white and the gills are very crowded and also white. I think they are some type of Russula.

[Leif]

It is asking for trouble to try an id from your photos, but my guess (and that is all it is) is Clitocybe nebularis, based on the general shape and colour. I suspect you can form a long "might be" list.

[Leif]

BTW notice how in one sample there are some small ones forming at the base. That is not characteristic of Russula.

[fishhead]

Originally Posted by Leif

BTW notice how in one sample there are some small ones forming at the base. That is not characteristic of Russula.

Yeah, thanks for your info Leif. I'm new to all this. I have a couple of books and can't ID them from them. Never mind, I know the pics aren't the best but I can't seem to work out how to get better pics. Cheers!

[Leif]

Originally Posted by fishhead

Yeah, thanks for your info Leif. I'm new to all this. I have a couple of books and can't ID them from them. Never mind, I know the pics aren't the best but I can't seem to work out how to get better pics. Cheers!

The secret is to use a small aperture (F11 or F16 when using a macro lens and an APS DSLR such as a D200) and to get the lighting right. A nice soft light helps. I find for the sort of photo you have taken, that using natural light and fill flash from the built-in flash works well. Generally direct sunlight is bad news as the contrast will be too high, so in that case a diffuser screen should be used. I also use reflectors, and a separate flash. Some people use flash on its own and that does have some advantages. As usual, experiment to work out what does the trick.

BTW fungi identification gets easier with experience. It does seem confusing at first. I find that making notes at the time of collection helps. Recording details such as associated trees, smell, colour, shape etc often make an id easy.