Characteristics of good identification photos:

• Sharp focus--using the viewfinder rather than the LCD display screen often gives a better indication of the true focus.
• No harsh shadows. If using natural light, mid-day is best.
• Get as close to the specimen as your camera will allow while keeping focus sharp. The closer the better!
• Show ALL parts of the mushroom: top of the cap, underside of the cap, the stem and the base. If you only have one specimen take multiple photos! At least one image should show the entire mushroom.
• If possible, use fresh, intact mushrooms; dried, rotten, cut or incomplete specimens may be difficult or impossible to identify.
• Whenever possible, show pictures of the mushroom(s) in habitat.
• Place something in the field of view to indicate scale such as a ruler, pen or pocket knife. Do not use coins. Most coins are shiny and "blind" the light sensors in most cameras when used in "automatic" mode.
• If photographing indoors, incandescent light seems to give more life-like colors than fluorescent lighting.
• If enough specimens are available make a photo showing a "growth series": immature ... mature ... very mature.
• If possible, use a digital camera with an image size of at least 1.5 megapixels (i.e., 1000 x 1500 pixels). Images taken with cell phone cameras often lack sufficient resolution (or focus) to be useful.

Do not:

• Attempt to sharpen focus, change colors or otherwise "improve" your images using image manipulation applications.
• Resize images to make them smaller or larger.
• Send images with a large amount of neutral background such as carpeting or table top. You may crop unneeded background using an image manipulation application.