Rough-skinned Newt, Pacific Coast, John Dellenback Dunes, Oregon
It started raining when we left the parking lot for a hike on the John Dellenback Dunes Trail, a protected part of the 40 miles stretch of the Oregon Dunes. No off-road vehicles are allowed in this part of the landscape. Before you can climb the sandy part of the dunes to reach the Pacific Ocean the trail leads through a wooded area. With a dark overcast sky and the dense vegetation of the forest there was hardly any light for a photo by handholding the camera.
Well, we got all excited when we saw a newt crawling through the mud on the trail. You may think a newt is a slow mover, but for making a photo of this critter it seemed to be still quite fast. I really wanted its picture and did something I have never done before. I cranked up the ISO in the camera to 20000 (Yikes!) and ended up with an exposure of 1/250s @ f/6.3. The Nikkor Z 24-70mm opens up to f/4 but I really wanted a little more depth of focus, so not only the head of the newt would be sharp, but also part of the body.
The photo is sharp but the question remained, how much detail is left after digital noise removal in post process at crazy ISO20000? The de-noise tool in ’TOPAZ Photo AI’ came to my rescue. I think ADOBE made some good progress with their AI noise removal in ’ADOBE Lightroom Classic’ lately, the software I use for my post processing most of the time, but I still like the control over the process and the results with TOPAZ better.
The Rough-skinned Newt was a first sighting for us and I’m very happy to add this critter to my wildlife photo library. It is known for the strong toxin exuded from its skin. If you like to find out more about its interesting biology, check out the entry at Wikipedia.
Oregon Dunes
The Oregon Dunes are a unique area of windswept sand. They are the largest expanse of coastal sand dunes in North America and are the home of native plants that are vital for this ecosystem. Many bird species live in the different habitats and need attention for future survival. It’s too bad that not all parts of the dunes are under protection. Finding the Rough-skinned Newt near a creek at the foothills of the dunes was a real treat for us.