Black-capped Chickadee
My retrospects 2020 series isn’t so much about the best picture for each month but for the moments that put a smile in my face when I look at the image. In November, after the leaves are all on the ground but snow hasn’t touched the land around, the one thing that makes me taking the camera everywhere I go is the crisp light. Without the haze of the warmer months here in Iowa and the sun low above the horizon, the quality of light makes photography pure fun.
Red-bellied Woodpecker
I love these mornings with really crisp light and already a warm touch as we have them only in spring around here. The sun gets “filtered” by the still bare branches on our east side. It’s a good time to have the camera ready to shoot. Many birds are in mating mood and their feathers look at their best.
This male Red-bellied Woodpecker is a frequent visitor. It doesn’t happen very often that he uses one of the honeysuckle bushes as a landing spot. Most of the time the smaller birds perch in it before they carefully approach a bird bath or feeder. A couple days ago it all came together, I knew at the moment when I made the first click that I had a picture I would like.
Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, @ 600mm, f/6.3, 1/500s, ISO200,
This week flew by fast and I only have been out one evening with the camera. It was warm during the last few days and the snow, the “giant reflector”, melted down quite a bit. I still like to show another photo I made last Sunday in crisp winter light. This female Red-bellied Woodpecker is one of our regulars. She was born in 2016, at least I believe it is still the same bird we see here.
This was actually my favorite shot from last Sunday. Not just because of the great light but I also like the gesture of the woodpecker and the fact that you can see the orange-red belly, that obviously played a role when the Red-bellied woodpecker received its name. Most of the time we can’t see it in our pictures because the woodpeckers hang on to a tree trunk and the belly is hidden.
Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender, @600 mm, 1/640 s, f/6.3, ISO 200, image cropped
Down in our valley at the Little Maquoketa River is a lonely Sycamore tree (Platanus occidentalis) that has intrigued me many times before. It seemed in all the years I never found the right light to make a photo telling the story about this unique tree with its mottled and flaking bark, that makes the tree standing out from any other one around. Today, an hour before sunset, Joan and I went for a walk on the trail in the valley with our dog Cooper. I don’t remember a year without any snow on the ground in January but this abnormal weather situation suddenly delivered the photo opportunity I had somehow in mind. I exposed strictly for the highlights to make the almost white bark standing out. This would have not worked with a layer of snow on the ground. Although the sun was very low already, the light is not really warm and I was actually thinking of black & white when I took the picture. But I like how the crisp light strikes the scene and only the corn stalks in the foreground pick up a little bit of the warmer light.
Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR
