DEALING WITH HIGH ISO SETTINGS

1/40s, ISO1600

There were many ways to escape the summer heat during the weekend. Since we had the grandkids in town a visit in the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium was one of the options. We went there actually twice… It’s such an interesting place that has many things to offer for people of all ages and although we have been there often before, there is always something new to see and to learn.

1/125s, ISO 4000

I in particular enjoy all the big aquariums with displays of different habitats in the Mississippi River and about the marine life along the coast lines of North America. It’s always a challenge to shoot through the thick glass under low light conditions. Fish usually do not stand still and to freeze the action my ISO settings were between 1600 and even 10000. These high ISO values pump up the amount of digital noise in the photo to a level that just doesn’t look good anymore.

1/200s, ISO 4000

The Nikon Z6II handles digital noise much better than any DSLR camera I have ever owned, but in that range some noise removal needs to be applied in post process. Thanks to noise removal software that is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) we can enjoy some amazing results these days. Adobe Lightroom is the first software for most of my editing and it has a pretty good AI powered Denoise feature built in. However, I still prefer Topaz DeNoise AI, which has more choices about how the final noise removal is done.

1/160s, ISO 4000

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S

FIRST ONE OF 2020

National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, Iowa

I hope you were able to start the new year with something interesting and exciting. When our grandkids are in town a visit of the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa is always on the agenda. It is one of the best places for education and entertainment, and this is valid for every age.

This first photo of the year was made at 70 mm, 1/320 s, f/4, and ISO 6400 through the thick glass of one of the seawater aquariums. Not my usual kind of photography but it always powers me if light and colors have something to offer. I hope 2020 will be a good year for all of us. I look forward to see your pictures and share visual stories with you again.

IN CAPTIVITY, BUT STORYTELLING

Diamondback Water Snake, Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, Iowa

There is at least one thing that any picture of an animal has to have in common, no matter if it was shot in the wild, or like this one, shot through the thick glass of a terrarium in the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium. I’m talking about sharpness, in particular the sharpness of the eye. If the eye is not sharp the image goes to the trash can. Are there exceptions? Of course, as always in life. I have plenty of pictures in my library that will never see the eye of the public because they are not sharp, but I keep them for reference. The photo library is also a diary and can tell us, i.e. what day in late April or early May the migrating birds arrived from South America.

Back to this photo of a Diamondback Water Snake. Until tonight, when I sat in front of the computer screen, I didn’t realize that I had photographed this beautiful snake before in the wild but had mistakenly labeled it as a Northern Water Snake. The body part that reveals the pattern of a Diamondback is from another snake and beside that, I trust the naming of professional biologists still more than my own research. Not a big deal, that’s what museums are for, educational places not just for the young generation.

If you try to find out how the body of this snake is coiled in this picture you may get lost. What you see is the head of one, but underneath were three other snakes, hopefully enjoying location and climate as well. However, the composition of this photo is not an accident. I wanted to have the upper part of the body in a coil, knowing that the blue color of the background will still help to tell the story of a beautiful critter, even if displayed in captivity.

I WISH…

Spiny Softshell Turtle, Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium, Dubuque, Iowa

… I can find a Spiny Softshell Turtle one of these days out in the great outdoors. This one is a resident of the Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa. More “summer fun” with the grandkids again today and a visit of this great museum is always on the agenda when they visit us.

The softshell turtle’s soft, rubbery, and flat shell makes it easy to distinguish them from other turtles . The long and piglike nose gives the turtle a unique appearance. They are among my favorite critters in the museum and when the day comes I find one in the wild, you will hear from a very happy photographer…

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4 @ 200 mm, 1/250 s, f/4, ISO 400

RIVER OTTER

North American River Otter, (not a wildlife image)

Almost two weeks ago we had the grandkids here and visiting the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa was fun and educating for everybody. The North American River Otter is my favorite critter in the museum. The otter sleeps most of the time but we were lucky to see the animal swimming and climbing over the rocks in its enclosure. There used to be two river otters but we learned that one of them had passed away. A few years ago we have seen an otter family in the Little Maquoketa River, down in the valley and a few miles upstream, but I never had a chance yet to make a picture of this beautiful critter in the wild. Well, I still keep my eyes open…