WITH A HINT OF FILL FLASH

Male Yellow-rumped Warbler

Every new bird species that arrives here after migration from the south is greeted with cheers. While this year some species have not arrived yet, or at least have not been seen, today a Yellow-rumped Warbler landed right here above the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa Valley this evening.

One of my goals this year is to improve my wildlife photography while using a speed light. I hardly ever use a flash light as the main light source. I’m a strong believer that the ambient, natural light should give a sense of the circumstances when and where the photo was made. And of course, there is always an exception from these wishful ideas if we want to tell our story with a photo.

When we sit on our porch in the evening at this time of the year, the setting sun shines right in our eyes and every bird in the front yard is backlit. To make a click, like the photo above, requires some kind of light from the front. This is when the flash from an off-camera speed light can be used to fill in the shadows and enhance the colors.

I admit, I’m not really good working with a flash light, but today I practiced a lot with the birds that are always here. When I just thought I figured it all out, this beautiful male Yellow-rumped Warbler, in full breeding plumage, landed right in front of me and gave me a minute to work with. As you can see, the warbler is backlit, the background is absolutely gorgeous, but the bird had too much shadow and did not stand out. Well, a little hint of fill-flash can make all the difference…

ICE UNDERGROUND

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head  @ 24mm, 6s, f/18, ISO 100

Here in the region of the Driftless Area we can enjoy deeply carved river valleys and a karst geology with spring-fed waterfalls, underground drainage systems, sinkholes, and a number of caves. Inspired by a recent post on Facebook from the Dubuque County Conservation about a cave with ice in it, Joan, dog Cooper, and I went on a hike into Whitewater Canyon Wildlife Area today. We were there actually already last week but hiked on a different trail. Today it didn’t take us very long to find the cave we were looking for, located in the Lost Canyon. It was still quite cold last week and we found these beautiful ice formations that look like stalagmites, built from the ground by dripping water. It will be much warmer this week and it may not take long before they are gone.

I had seen photos from that cave before and tried to prepare well for this little adventure. Good boots are a must for climbing up the slippery slope to the entrance at the canyon wall and for some grip on the icy floor. I made sure my speed light had fresh batteries before it went into the backpack and took also the small Gitzo GT2931 tripod on the hike.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head  @ 24mm, 2.5s, f/14, ISO 100

It was not really necessary to go deep into the cave. Both photos were made near the entrance. It is easy to break off one of the ice formations accidentally, but we were carefully and managed to leave the place as we found it. With the camera on tripod, about half a meter above the ground, I started shooting by using the flash light, which was connected by cable with the camera and allowed me to direct the light as wanted. Didn’t really like what I saw on the camera screen and continued to photograph with longer exposure and without the flash. We were at the cave in the very early afternoon. Some snow was still on the ground in the canyon and bright sunlight bounced nicely through the entrance and into the cave with the ice. The photos made with the use of flash from different angles were not really bad, but at the end natural light was the winner for this blog post.

AFTER THE SNOW STORM

Dark-eyed Junco

We had about a foot of fresh snow last night. While the snow storm slowed down this morning I made a few clicks of the birds that try to survive the winter here in eastern Iowa. Dark-eyed Juncos are present by the dozen and are among my favorite birds to photograph. 

The challenge is always to separate the dark eye from the rest of the upper part of the bird. Getting a little bit of light on the eye ring is key and it helps if the eye has a hint of catch light, even if it is the reflection of the flash that was used to bring out some colors. The flash also helps to tell the story about “Winter-wonder-land”. The background has to be dark if you want to see the falling snow. A slower shutter speed makes for nice snow trails but this morning I wanted to capture more of the calm that follows a snow storm. Without totally “freezing” the snow flakes in the background the desired balance was attained at 1/640 s for this image.

AT THE BARN SWALLOWS

I had again the pleasure to follow an invitation of my photography friend Kevin this evening for shooting at an old barn he owns at the edge of town. The main attraction is several pairs of Barn Swallows that have their nests under the ceiling and feed their offspring. I heard the young birds when parents arrived with food, but they were obviously still too little and we couldn’t see them. The barn doors are open and the building is surrounded by meadows, grassland, and some weed patches. With other words, there is an abundance of insects and enough food for the little birds.

This location requires a lot of thinking about the light. Shooting in the barn required a flash as the main light source. With the open doors light pours in also from the outside and the question is, how can we use flash and ambient light solely or in combination for telling a story about the swallows and their summer habitat?

The first photo was shot through the open barn door. The swallow sits on an old rusty gate and the only light source is the low sitting sun. The trees behind the meadow are far away and provide a lovely soft background.

This bird sits on another one of the open doors. The grass in the back is in full sunlight and makes for a good background as well. A hint of flash takes care for the dark side of the swallow inside the barn.

Same location as photo #2 but for a brief moment the sun was hidden by a cloud and I chose a much shorter exposure time for the ambient light. The flash doesn’t overpower the bird and with 1/800 s I was able to nail the gesture the Barn Swallow made at that moment.

Kevin had photographed in the barn earlier this week already and today he tried to make a picture of a Barn Swallow with open wings, approaching a resting place. That is quite a challenge! He pre-focussed on a particular spot and waited for his chance but the birds did not use this place as often as earlier this week.

My thanks goes to Kevin for inviting me! I had again a great time!

HUMMINGBIRDS

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

I spent three hours behind the camera in our front yard this evening and was only after one target: The Ruby-throated Hummingbirds who raise their offspring here during the summer. Inspired by a video famous wildlife photographer Moose Peterson had on his blog, I tried to push the envelope for my own hummingbird photography and tested new ways of lighting the subject. I used two flash lights with a mini soft box for boosting colors but I can tell you, I’m not there yet. These photos are a start.

Here is the idea for today’s shooting. Since the female and young Ruby-throated Hummingbirds do not offer too much color variety I tried to incorporate parts of the surrounding flowers into the background. I thought this works better for the storytelling than just a plain green. Wide open, at f/6.3 and 600 mm, the background is nicely blurred and flowers leave no doubt that the bird is in a perfect environment, with plenty of nectar from host plants, even if our feeders won’t be there.

SLOW SHUTTER SPEED, STILL GOOD FOR THE STORY

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

There are many ways to make a picture of a hummingbird. Some people may like to present every single feather to the viewer and ‘nuke’ the birds with tons of flash light in order to freeze the action or obtain depth of focus. This is perfectly fine if counting every feather is important for the story, like maybe in a bird guide book. With still photography it remains a challenge to tell the story of an extremely fast moving bird and even lots of video footage I have seen doesn’t always meet the expectations. For me it is natural to have at least the wings blurred in order to tell the story of the extremely high frequencies of their wing beats. When the hummingbirds hover for parts of a second in front of a flower or a feeder their body seems to stand still and this is the moment I use for my photos. The metadata of yesterday’s shooting in our front yard show that the exposure was between 1/50 s and 1/320 s. The photo above was shot with a shutter speed of 1/125 s. Sure, the rate of keepers versus misses is not the same as shooting your coin or stamp collection, but hey, the fun is at least ten times bigger… 😉

NATURE CLICKS #423 - HERMIT THRUSH

We are always happy to see birds that migrate through our woods here on top of the bluffs of the Little Maquoketa River Valley. For a couple days we saw this Hermit Thrush, whose breeding area is in the northern part of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and almost all over Canada. They are in the same family (Turdidae) as the widely known Bluebirds and American Robins. They forage on the ground and in vegetation.

Not as colorful as orioles or the Scarlet Tanagers, but with a little hint of flash I was able to reveal the color nuances in its plumage. My best photo of this rare guest so far and it will make into the bird gallery on this website.

YEAH, GESTURE, BUT THE LIGHT…?

Unpleasant weather, to say it mildly, this weekend. From rain and temperatures above freezing on Saturday to ice cold winds and snow drifts on Sunday. I shot a lot in the front and backyard studio again. This Downy Woodpecker was briefly resting in our maple tree and gave me a gesture I really like, but throwing even a little hint of flash towards a wet branch is not such a good idea. The water on the wood reflects the light source and this is not very desirable. The reflection on top of the branch reveals that the sun was kinda behind the bird, a little to the left, and without the flash, well, the picture would look probably “crappy-gray”. Not a photo for the record books but still a nice gesture of the woodpecker…

TRYING TO STEP UP A NOTCH

Juvenile male Ruby-throated Hummingbird, near Durango, Iowa, 1/125s, f/6.3, ISO400

One of the goals I wanted to accomplish this year was to step up a notch with my hummingbird photography. The time is just right, we have probably at least a dozen birds buzzing around the house and the new generation is as aggressive as the old “bullies” in their pursue to “own” one of the feeders we provide.

I mentioned in my last post already that I started using a new light modifier, a small soft box that attaches to the speed light. It still maintains the same purpose, just to bring out the colors in the bird’s feathers. The ambient light is still the main light source for the pictures. But it takes more than a new piece of gear to make better images. First I analyzed photos made during the last few years and realized that I had very few that caught the Ruby-throated Hummingbirds during a special gesture. To make it clear, there is nothing a hummingbird does slowly and even preening is done in short intervals that last maybe a second.

1/100s, f/6.3, ISO400

This juvenile male was my main subject today. He often returned to the same branch above one of our feeders and allowed me really to work with him between the “high-speed chases” that went on all afternoon and evening. Many clicks were made, but after the sun disappeared behind the trees on our ridge, there was a brief moment when a shaft of warm light hit the hummer just perfect, and this became my favorite shot of the day.

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, Impact Quikbox Micro Softbox

CHARMING SWALLOWS

Barn Swallow

My photography friend Kevin invited me for a late morning shooting in his barn on the south side of Dubuque, Iowa today. The barn is actually the home of a couple horses but it also gives shelter to several Barn Swallows. While we watched one of them still sitting on the nest, others were feeding their offspring already. There was a lot going on and we had plenty of opportunities to experiment with our camera and flash settings in order to get some good shots. We both had a great time to work with the birds.

The barn has a few windows and the upper half of the doors were open, allowing some day light to enter the room. The challenge was to incorporate the ambient light while our speed lights were used to freeze the action without making the flash too dominant. I wanted to preserve the warm feeling and colors that we found inside the building and pair it with the charming gestures these beautiful Barn Swallows have shown to us. The current warm weather provides plenty of insects and it never took very long until the adults returned with a bill full of food for their nestlings. What a fun morning! Thank you again Kevin for this great opportunity!

OWL IN THE CAVE

Great Horned Owl, Dubuque, Iowa ------------------ 

Are you tired of seeing photos here in my blog taken in the wetlands along the Mississippi River lately? Well, today I have something different for you. Friends who follow my blog since several years know that at this time of the year I have reported about the breeding efforts of a pair Great Horned Owls down at the Mississippi not very far from home.

The bad news is, it isn’t happen this year. Great Horned Owls don’t really build their own nest but take possession of an old nest instead and maybe move a few sticks around. In this matter it was the nest of a Bald Eagle that the owl used for five years in a row. Well, rain, snow, and in particular wind have finally succeeded and the nest had fallen apart after the last breeding season. There are still a few branches and sticks up in the tree but it isn’t big enough to be the place for another generation of Great Horned Owls.

And here comes the good news. Thanks to a couple photography friends I learned about two other locations around Dubuque, Iowa with an active nest site. One is in a small cave and it isn’t easy to see mother owl back on the nest. I used the flash to throw some light into the hole but this wasn’t enough to make a difference, at least from what I saw on the display of the camera back. The solution for this photo was to expose all the way to the right of the histogram, but still making sure the surrounding rocks were not blown out. It is amazing how much dynamic range today’s cameras are able to capture and the RAW files can hold. Later at home in Adobe Lightroom I lowered the exposure of the rocks and lifted the shadows of the cave locally. And this revealed some detail inside the cave. I don’t know if there is an owlet deeper in the nest but will hopefully find out as time progresses.

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, 1/80s, f/6.3, ISO 400,

 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #8 - PELICANS

American White Pelicans, Mississippi River, Lock & dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa ------    

Earlier this week I noticed a squadron of American White Pelicans near the dam on the Mississippi in Dubuque, Iowa. I found them today at the same place, next to the down stream gate of the lock. This is a location with good photo opportunities and I have been there many times before during other years. The pelicans prefer this place for their fishing and feeding. The best time is mostly the late afternoon, when the sun is still above the rocky bluffs but already low enough for some awesome warm light. At my arrival at the river we still had some overcast and I used a hint of flash to bring out the orange of the pelican’s bills. Later the sun came out and other than that, it’s all about gesture and making sure the concrete wall of the lock on the left hand side is not in the frame…

This was the moment of “game over” for the pelicans. The gate had opened and a barge was moved out of the lock. The guy on the left seems to say, we need another plan…! 😉

JEWEL CAVE

As a visitor of the Black Hills you have several options to visit a cave. We decided to see at least one and our choice was Jewel Cave, which is also a National Monument. There are books and websites out there that will tell you every geological and historical fact about this cave. We really enjoyed this visit and all the information we got from a very passionate ranger during our tour in the cave. Don’t miss it if you ever go to the Black Hills!

Within a few minutes being in the cave I figured out that it is impossible to catch the magnificence in just one “signature photo”. Instead I approached it with just composition and color in mind. I did not want to make just documentary shots. When the ranger asked who would volunteer to be the last person of the tour, to make sure nobody is left behind, my arm went up immediately. I may have missed some of the ranger talk, but being the last one leaving any part of the cave gave me a little more time for the extra shot without being pushed by another person.

The first image was made with the help of a speed light, which was used to throw some light into the foreground by pointing it towards the ceiling. Everybody who has a phone in their pocket can be a photographer these days, and I really believe this is a very good thing. As you can see in the lower right corner, I have not been the only one who was impressed by this cave and tried to capture the moment.

No flash light here, and by exposing strictly for the highlights, the black space around separates the viewer from this side track of the cave. Shapes and colors are talking.

This geological formation is called the “cave bacon”, and if you have ever watched how a piece of bacon changes its color if heated up in a pan, you know why… Oh boy, my good friend Anja will love the “meaty part” of this blog post…😉