Mosses 'In Flower'

Peristome of Homalothecium Sericeum

Peristome of Homalothecium Sericeum

The sun was out this morning, and that makes all the difference when photographing 'in the field' at high magnification.  The moss homalothecium sericeum has been shedding spores for some time now, but I haven't had the opportunity to take any photos.

As we're about to find out, a magnification of at least 5X is required, and that requires high light levels.

The mosses look somewhat as if they are in flower, but things are much more advanced than that;  they are actually shedding spores now, and the function of the peristome is to slow down the release.  Fertilisation took place some time ago.
I am very glad to have taken photos at 5X magnification 'in the field', but the images are far from perfect.  It is very difficult to 'find' the subject at these magnifications, and I was reduced to shooting hand-held at whatever I could find in the view-finder - clearly not satisfactory.  Somehow I have to find a device that will scan the camera accurately in three dimensions, given the completely uneven surface of the moss-garden.

There is also the problem of 'composition'.  Is there enough in these images to constitute a satisfying image?  It would be better if I could find a pair of heads, but both the width and the depth of the subject is less than three millimetres here, so the prospects are not good.  Cropping the image is always possible, but I am reluctant to dip much below 12 mega pixels per image.

One of the positives to come out of the day is that I have found that it is practical to shoot with ISO at 3200, use my normal level of noise reduction in the Canon software, and then remove any residual noise by hand.  I am using the Canon 550D here, which is my usual habit when I am trying to 'work something out'.  I will revert to the Canon 7D later.