Let’s face it, most of you would have heard of ghost fungus, or Omphalotus nidiformis, which is their correct scientific name. When translated to English the meaning is something like navel nests, from the words Omphalotus – navel from the Greek word omphalos, and nidiformis from the Latin words nidus (nest) and forma (shape/form). These amazing, glow in the dark fungi are such a beautiful part of the night forest that you simply cannot live in a place where they are found and not ever experience them at least once in your life.
Ghost fungus was first described in 1844 as Agaricus nidiformis (after Agaricus ostreatus – the oyster mushroom, due to its shape), but it has been known by several names since that first given name. This current scientific name was finally given in 1994.
This fungus can be found on the west coast from around Perth to Esperance, and another area is from around the east of South Australia (up towards the Flinders Ranges) and all the way along the coast and inland up to southeast Queensland. They are also found in Tasmania. Overseas, they have been found on Norfolk Island and as far as India, where some were discovered growing on a coconut tree stump back in 2012.
The ghost fungus is similar looking to oyster mushrooms with a cap that can be as large as 30cm and can be found singly, or in clumps. The cap is quite variable in colour: it is most often cream and may be tinted with brown, orange, grey or purple and sometimes a blue-black shade. The cap margin is lighter, often cream, though brown forms have tan or brown edges. The center generally has several darker shades and young fruiting bodies may often be darker. The cap is funnel-shaped or fan-shaped in appearance with in rolled margins. The cream-white gills extend downward along the stem and often drip with moisture. The following images show the moisture under the gills.
NOTE: See the magenta highlights in the image? I will be posting another blog entry about what I considered were sensor issues with the OM System OM-1 camera bodies. And rightly so, while my sensor was replaced under warranty a year ago, there was a much simpler fix for these magenta casts during the post processing. And I will explain that in this blog post here.
The fruiting bodies of ghost fungus are often found in clumps on, dying, rotting or dead trees in suitable habitat, which is typical eucalypt forest and even in planted pine forests. I have personally observed them in dry and wet forests alike, so there is no real secret ingredient to guide you to a specific type of forest. Since their location could vary, it is always worthwhile checking suitable habitat at the right time of the year for them. Usually, around Sydney and surrounds, the best time is during autumn and winter, especially after rain.
The bioluminescence is a phenomenon that is produced in a manner like the glow in fireflies. Inside the fruiting bodies there is a compound called luciferin (very appropriately named for a glow in the dark fungus) and it interacts with luciferase, an enzyme. Add oxygen and energy from decaying matter and you have a chemical process that emits the white glow in the night forest. The energy component is collected from the decaying logs and stumps; thus they are referred to as saprotrophic for the reason they feed on decaying matter.
Some of the images you see here were photographed over a month ago at Wentworth Falls. Two of our friends found them and messaged me almost straight away to come and photograph them, if I am interested. Since neither Netra, nor I, photographed them for a couple of years, we drove up to Wentworth Falls the following evening to suss out the clumps distributed over an approximately 70-meter radius right beside a busy fire trail.
The fact we had no other photographers, other than our friend Andy, The Rockman, on the first visit, just shows most people didn’t notice these clumps (easily visible from the firetrail) as they went past. Even though this trail gets busy with cars and bikes over the weekends, this is evidence that many people can’t see things right in front of them, as they appear to be so far out of touch with nature, that these things just don’t register.
We waited for dark and contemplated different compositions by picking our own clumps to sit with and got ready for light to disappear with the onset of night. While there was the ambient glow of the Sydney basin visible in the distance, we could clearly see the dim white light emitted by the fungi in total darkness. That’s how they appear to the naked eye. To see the known green glow emitted by these that are posted right through social media platforms, we had to use long exposures with our mirrorless cameras. You can get adequate results with your phone and a small tripod as well, if that’s all you have handy.
NOW FOR THE TECHNICAL STUFF…
Firstly, safety. I never underestimate the dangers of the Australian bush. Therefore; I always take compression bandages for snake or spider bites – not that I expect any accidents as I have been trained in handling venomous reptiles, and have a far greater knowledge of most fauna than the average person. The bandages can come in handy in an emergency. I also carry bushman’s insect repellent, water to drink, a head torch and a hand-held torch. Being able to use natural features in my surroundings to navigate wherever I need to be, including back to my car is also an essential skill. This just means, I have enough common sense to know that I can use an instrument or my own perceptive abilities to navigate my way in and out of the forests I enter.
To take images successfully, you must have your rig on some kind of support, be it a tripod, a bean bag or camera steady on the ground. Otherwise, there is no chance you can hand hold a phone or camera with a lens for a long exposure required to get the glow looking its best. You may get away with substandard night modes used by phones, but they are not the best choice for high-quality images if that’s what you really want to take.
Remember, that this kind of long exposure photography is done at night, so you should be prepared in more ways than one.
For the photography part, we generally use a tripod with a ball head and a quick-release (QR) camera plate attached to the camera base or the tripod foot of a longer lens. We then use either some form of remote release (cable, wireless remote or a phone app from OM System) or a two-second self-timer, if there is no remote of any other type available. We prefer to use the OM System cameras and lenses over others, because the top end of their range of camera equipment is built to professional standards and items are small, light and produce excellent image quality in the right hands. The lightness also means they are far easier to travel with when flying. The OM System is also far more affordable at the pro-level than full frame options like Sony, Nikon or Canon. Something I would like to make clear is that we have no affiliation with the brand at all, and you can get excellent results with most DSLR or mirrorless cameras if you capture your RAW files well and know how best to post process them on your computer later.
For camera bodies we use the OM-1 camera, which was released over three years ago now and has been superseded by the OM-1 MkII earlier in 2025. When it comes to photographing ghost fungus, we take many lenses such as the 7-14mm f/2.8 Pro, 12-40mm f/2.8 Pro, 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro and the 60mm f/2.8 macro lens and I have recently bought the Panasonic Leica 9mm f/1.7 lens, which is incredibly fast when used at its maximum aperture in low light. Note, that since the OM System has a 2x crop factor, you would need to multiply the listed focal range I mentioned by x2 to get the full-frame camera equivalent lens focal lengths. For example, the Olympus 7-14mm lens has the field of view of a 14-28mm lens on a full-frame camera like a Canon R3 or Nikon Z9.
For exposure we usually take a base exposure and shoot with the lens wide open at f/2.8 – or maybe close the aperture down to f/4 – and keep ISO at 3200 with shutter speed of 10-20 seconds to begin with. Then we review the image and adjust settings as needed. Usually, we slow the shutter speed down, or at times push ISO up to 6400. It’s not that difficult, as the fungi don’t run off like a wild animal would, so you have oodles of time to experiment with exposures once you have made your base exposure. The important note is that irrespective of what gear you use; the higher ISO values will introduce digital noise into your images. There is a way to select in-camera noise reduction for every shot taken from within your camera menu, but then the camera generally spends as long to process that captured image as the initial exposure you selected. This means that a one-minute exposure may also end up with a one-minute noise reduction process within the camera after the photo was taken, making it a two-minute exposure in total. If I have time, I select the in-camera processing. If I don’t then I use the AI Denoise functionality in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) that converts my RAW files for Photoshop. This is the same noise reduction engine that is found in Adobe Lightroom. It’s very, very good at reducing the noise in RAW files taken with long exposures (or very high ISO, for that matter). We also have Topaz Photo AI installed on our PC to use if needed and until about 18 months ago, that was our preferred noise management software. However, Adobe AI Denoise has become the standard for us within our own workflow.
Below, an extreme example of digital noise from a long exposure. With careful post processing, you too can get a very good result from even such noisy file. So don’t be discouraged!
On the second night, I decided to use the in-camera noise reduction option, which doubled my total exposure time, but the results were surprisingly good! See examples below.
The most unusual thing you will find is that you have to use manual focus for the capture, as it’s easier and gives much more reliable results. The way I like to go about my workflow in the field is to use autofocus (AF) with the aid of a torchlight to focus on the part of the fungi I want my main focus point to be on, the turn off the AF with a preset button on the camera, making my lens manual focus (MF). Once I’ve done that, the focus ring – and point of focus I had set – will NOT move unless I physically move the ring, or perhaps bump the lens/camera, and only at a time like that will I reengage AF again to refocus, then turn it off back to MF and keep making exposures. It is not that hard at all, to be honest.
The one thing that can be a little (or a LOT) frustrating with these kinds of night shoots is if there are too many people in one location all trying to get photos around each other. It’s easy to pollute someone else’s shots with unnecessary torchlight beams flashing into someone else’s long exposure. Therefore, it’s always better to minimise numbers at any ghost fungus site. This is one reason we tend not to share ones we find or ones that are shared with us by our closest friends.
While social media makes location sharing instant and easy for anyone who has little time, the best part of the photographic journey is the adventure of planning, learning, researching and anticipation. When I first started my nature photography journey back in the mid-1990s, there was no internet, and there were only reference books, magazines and networking that could assist me in obtaining images of animals or other things I was trying to add to my photographic collection.
Our keen naturalist friends at times offer us locations, usually well off the beaten path, and we do reciprocate the favour, when we find some cool critters as well. However, personally, we still very much enjoy the work behind the scenes and not having things handed to us on a platter.
If you want to learn more about photography, feel free to peruse your options to learn from two industry professionals, and nature photography experts, by clicking this link below. We will be adding more workshops, including online image processing via video link, an introduction to macro photography, and other types of photography soon.