OPPORTUNITY FOR PRACTICE

Of course, I had to go back to the Dubuque Regional Airport. The weather conditions were good, a little hazy but nice puffy clouds made for a more interesting background. This year I found a new spot where the airplanes came by pretty close when they taxied back to their parking area in front of the hangars. I took a little stepping stool to stand on, so the fence that surrounds the airfield was not always in the picture. The runway wasn’t too far away either but a little crop was applied for the photos of the T6’s that show starts or landings because 600 mm focal length wasn’t enough to fill the frame.

I shot the whole time in shutter priority mode with 1/125 s and set the camera to Auto ISO. To get a full circle of the prop it needs about 1/60 s but this was beyond my current handholding capabilities due to the lack of practice.

There are two reasons why going back to the airport almost every year in July is important to me. First, I enjoy watching historic prop airplanes and when they train the weekend before the AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin for the airshows, it’s a great opportunity to see so many of them. And second, I use it as a practice for my wildlife photography, and in particular for birds in flight. Panning with a heavy long lens is not an easy task, but doing it right is the only way to get a sharp image when a slow shutter speed is required.

I hope you enjoy the little selection in the blog today. As always, a click on the photo delivers a larger image, at least if you read this on a computer screen…😊

PANNING PRACTICE WITH GREAT BLACK-BACKED GULLS

Immature Great Black-backed Gull, Mississippi River, lock & dam #14, Le Claire, Iowa

Here are a couple more photos from my trip last weekend to lock & dam #14, down in Le Claire, Iowa. The goal was to practice panning with the Nikon Z6II and Sigma 150-600 lens attached. There is always a number of gulls around this area, mostly Ring-billed Gulls, but this time I found only three birds and they all seemed to be Great Black-backed Gulls. This is an uncommon species for this part of the country but I have photographed them before at this location and some other, more experienced birders than me, have documented their presence as well.

Gulls are a great subject for practice with the long lens. They fly often in circles and return over and over again during their hunt for fish, giving the photographer multiple chances to try different settings for the autofocus system and to find out what works best for a fast flying subject. It doesn’t matter how good the autofocus system on a new camera is, proper panning and handholding is still essential for a high keeper rate of sharp images. I could tell that I’m well out of shape. The keeper rate wasn’t bad but there is a lot room for improvement. The Mississippi was still covered with ice here in the Dubuque area yesterday. Once the ice breaks, which will be soon with the warm weather we have since a few days, the birds will move in and I hope my panning skills can improve with more practice down at the river…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

1. photo   @ 600 mm, 1/2500 s, f/6.3, ISO 200

2. photo   @ 600 mm, 1/1600 s, f/6.3, ISO 200

PASSING BY

Greater White-fronted Geese

Not a full moon but pretty close. I made this picture yesterday at 600 mm focal length. Most of the Greater White-fronted Geese managed to fly around but finally I found a few that would pass in front of the moon. The trick is to predict the path the geese would take and track them by panning with the lens. If you pre-focus on the moon and just wait until a bird flies by, the geese would be most likely just blurry. The warm light on the birds creates a nice color contrast to the cool background and leaves no doubt about when this shot was taken.

BACK IN THE GREEN ISLAND WETLANDS

I had a little break from writing here in the blog during the last two weeks. Some other projects had priority this time.

My records show that I haven’t been in the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi for almost three months. Some gravel roads in the wetlands are closed during the duck hunting season and I avoid the area during this time anyway. Well, today it was time to go back and see what’s out there. I was greeted by these two Trumpeter Swans, who flew across the water. They possibly joined another large group of swans that I saw later in a remote part of the area. It was too far away to count them exactly but 50 is probably not exaggerated. I hope we can see them sometime this winter at a closer distance.

The photo is not tack sharp. The Trumpeter Swans approached suddenly and very fast and I wasn’t able to get out of the car so quickly. The picture was taken from the car window and that makes it difficult to perform proper panning technique with the long SIGMA 150-600 S lens on camera.

This photo was a lot easier to make. The pair of Canada Geese posed nicely in the soft light of this afternoon. I waited patiently until the geese were very close together but did not overlap with their heads or necks. Canada Geese usually mate for life but they are gregarious and during the winter they gather and feed often in large flocks. There were larger numbers on the fields and grassland that borders the wetland on the west side. This part is actually a bird refuge and sometimes I wonder if the birds can actually read the signs…😉

All images: Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2016 - #6

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, 1/2500s, f/8, ISO200, @ 150 mm

When I was recently in Germany several friends were asking me to show more photos about the area where we live. Well, the recurrent readers of my blog know that I’m not a fan of the “postcard views”, the pictures that are taken just because the camera owner (sometimes referred as the photographer 😉) was at a location and had to make the click, no matter what time of the day it was and how the light effected the scene.

The subject in the photo above can be photographed several times every day during the summer here at lock & dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa. The tugboats that move up to fifteen barges up or down the Mississippi River are a great subject for photography. The photo was made at 6:23 PM, and parts of the river had been already in the shade.

Exposing strictly for the highlights makes this image work for me. Exposure compensation had to be dialed in at -1EV. If the shutter speed is still at 1/2500 s, nothing can go wrong. You don’t even need to pan really with your camera to make this shot. The flying pelican was shot at 1/1250 s, still a fast shutter speed, but without panning this would have been a blurry mess.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM Sports Lens, tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, 1/1250s, f/8, ISO200, @ 600 mm

While in California last week a conversation with one of my customers came up about the Mississippi River. We both agreed that the river looks always muddy, no matter what time of the year. It is no secret that the top soil of the former prairie erodes away, left and right of the river’s path to the south. If you zoom in closely at my first image, you can see the real color of the water at the back of the vessel, stirred up by the ship’s propellor. At the other hand, the surface of the river has an almost intriguing blue color. We all know it is just the reflection of the sky. Knowing about our light source, direction, reflection, and what ever else may influence our image can make the difference between just wasting time or come back with the photo we have in mind.

TO BLUR OR NOT TO BLUR

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Ok, if you are tired of wildlife photography, here is something different for you. While paddling again on the Mississippi River I saw this airplane flying by twice. The pilot of this 1938 Luscombe 8A enjoyed probably the nice weather as much as we did. 

During his second fly-by the light on the fuselage was just great. This is finally my favorite shot, with the Luscombe, the clouds in the background, and the light coming all together nicely. The pictures are tack-sharp, at least on the much larger originals I’m able to count every rivet in the airplane.

There was only one big flaw. The propeller was sharp too and it looks like it came to a stand still. Not good at all, but this is due to a fast shutter speed of 1/3200 s. I shoot 99% in aperture priority mode in order to control depth of field and the camera selects the shutter speed for each picture on its own. In order to get the propeller blurred it needs something slower than 1/125 s and the camera must be set to shutter priority or manual mode. I have done this before. It works well, but it requires a good panning technique while following the airplane with the long lens. Well, there was just no way that I could do this on a windy day while shooting from a kayak…

So how did the prop finally got blurred? Photoshop came to my help and I used a filter called Spin Blur. It took me a few minutes to figure out the best settings but it isn’t difficult.

Looking at this airplane we expect the movement of the propeller, because that’s the way we see it flying. Otherwise it looks like the plane is parked in front of a museum and the stick that holds it was removed in Photoshop. Well, that’s not the story I like to tell with an image like this…

PANNING WITH THE MERGANSERS

Just a short post today. Here is another photo from my tour along the Mississippi. These Common Mergansers were in food competition with the pelicans at lock & dam #14 (see my last post). They were on a constant move about the best positions and fishing grounds. I prefer to handhold my camera and long lens while watching out for Bald Eagles and it works for the mergansers as well. It allows me to pan with the lens even at a short distance and panning is the only way to get the head of the bird sharp. The image was made at 500 mm, 1/350s, f/8, ISO 200.