CLOUDS ARE THE HELPER

Great Egret, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

It can be a little tricky if a Great Egret poses between the lush green of the wetlands in full sunlight. To blow out the highlights and end up wit absolutely no detail in its plumage is very easy. The white feathers of this member in the heron family do not have a lot of texture, but it is nice if the little bit of structure we can see remains intact. If a cloud moves in front of the sun the contrast in the scene can be managed much better and both, the egret and the background, receive the exposure they deserve. Watching the sky, I waited for this moment.

From a fallen tree in the water the Great Egret looks out for prey or walks slowly between reeds, arrow heads, and water lilies. At this time of the year all surrounded by duckweed. In the Green Island Wetlands their diet consists probably mainly aquatic insects, fish, or frogs.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG     @800 mm, 1/1250 s, f/9, ISO 800, aperture priority, dialed in -0.3 EV

TODAY’S THOUGHTS, AND A BLUEBIRD…

Eastern Bluebird ♀️, Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

Before I come to the point of today’s photo I like to include a few thoughts, I hear/read a lot complains about the limitations this unique situation puts on all of us. I get it, and we all try to deal with it, but for nature photographers the doors have been still wide open, at least, if you try to do the best in your local environment. Sure, I miss traveling and miss shooting together with other photographers, like Kevin, friends that did never hesitate to call or send a text message if they found something interesting in the Great Outdoors. Safety comes first, and hey, we will be back and make up for lost opportunities!

Our dog Cooper needs his daily exercise and lately I took him a few times down to the Mississippi River during my lunch break. And here is the deal, Cooper enjoys the open area at Mud Lake Park, rolls on his back, and is just a happy dog. Me? Everybody knows the light around noon time during the summer sucks, but I take the camera anyway with me. Two days in a row this female Eastern Blue Bird left the nest box, posed in a nearby tree, and tried to pull my attention away from the nest location. Well done little lady, well done! A tree is much better than the roof of a men-made nest box…

TONTO NATURAL BRIDGE

Tonto Natural Bridge, Arizona

There is one photo I still like to show you from my trip to Arizona three weeks ago. Not because it is overly pretty, but it took a few extra thoughts and efforts in the making. On my way back from Petrified Forest National Park to the airport in Phoenix I took a little side trip and visited Tonto Natural Bridge State Park. The bridge is located a few miles north of Payson in the mountains of Central Arizona. It is believed to be the largest natural travertine bridge in the world.

With very limited time on hand (never a good thing) and being there around 2PM, with the sun high in the sky, made me wonder if there was even a decent photo opportunity as I was driving down into the deep valley to the state park area. Another bummer, the access to the observation deck below the bridge was closed due to some high water damage. I had to make the best out of the circumstances at this visit for getting a photo but at least I wanted to see it.

The only way to manage the very high contrast scene was to bracket each image with five handheld shots (-2,-1,0,1,2EV). I’m really not a big fan of HDR but it is amazing how the technology inside of Adobe’s software has improved during the last years. Within a minute the five shots were lined up and merged into a DNG file in Lightroom. It still took some dodging and burning to balance the exposure locally.

I wanted a picture that made it clear that this was a natural bridge, with a little light from the other side, and showing some of the travertine structures. The cactus in the foreground and the pines, or their shadows in the canyon, give a better idea about this place. First I was tempted to remove the safety reeling on top of the bridge but than I realized that it gives this geologic wonder a sense of scale.

PAINTED DESERT (6) - COMMON RAVEN

Common Raven, Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona

How about the wildlife in the desert? Well, it’s winter and some species, like snakes and lizards are in hibernation. I saw a group of Mule Deer, but no signs of pronghorns or coyotes. Most birds are still further south, with other words, I wasn’t expecting much and didn’t pack the SIGMA 150-600 for this trip. The second day the sound of Horned Larks filled the cold morning air. They sat on rocks and enjoyed the warm sun probably as much as I did. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get close enough with just 200 mm focal length at hand.

My best photo opportunity came with several Common Ravens, a bird we don’t see in Iowa. This raven seems to greet me like an old friend, but he was actually just working on its feathers with his toes.

I tried to balance the exposure in this high contrast scene to get a little detail in some of its black feathers. Most pictures show the raven just sitting and watching but it is the great gesture with the foot in the air that makes this one my favorite.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, @200 mm, 1/500s, f/5, ISO200, +0.33EV

LESS IS MORE

Lake Michigan, Door Peninsula, Wisconsin ------

Today’s cameras have a lot of dynamic range, about 2-3 stops of light more than the good old film cameras. This is for some people still not enough and they employ HDR  (high dynamic range) software to get even more than just a black dot out of a mouse hole in the ground (Am I too sarcastic? 😉). There is actually nothing wrong with that, it just may not benefit every kind of photo, it's overdone quite often. For me there is usual enough information stored in the RAW files that may become eventually a photo, printed or published here on the website. Romancing a landscape image does not require to see every tiny branch or making the inside of a crack in a rock visible. Less is more. Sure, in a high contrast environment the shadows can be lifted and quite often the highlights are lowered a little bit. For this photo it was all about balancing the contrast a tad to make the lines (sun spots, waves, clouds) generate some magic.

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CANYON

White Pine Hollow State Preserve, Iowa -----

After a week in Chicago I was longing for a real nature experience, away from urban areas, and I don’t know any better place around here than White Pine Hollow State Preserve near Luxemburg, Iowa. This is rugged terrain and getting down to the bottom of this canyon took some hiking efforts and requires solid boots and an outfit that can withstand thorns and stinging nettles. If you make it, you will be rewarded by solitude and a beautiful nature. The recent flash flood has changed the canyon, rocks have been moved and some of the gullies are a lot deeper. The leaves have started falling off the trees, although we don’t have really fall colors here yet.

Contrast becomes very high if the sun is out and exposure can be a problem. Starting the hike in the afternoon, when the light became softer but still reached the bottom of the canyon, was the way to go today.

CHIPMUNK-OUT-OF-THE-DEN-DAY

Eastern Chipmunk - first appearance this spring

Oh, you never have heard about a ‘Chipmunk-out-of-the den-day’? Ok, it is my invention… 😊 For me spring does not really start until we have seen the Eastern Chipmunk around the house. During the winter, the chipmunk may enter long periods of torpor, but does not truly hibernate. We see the chipmunk very seldom during the winter. Despite we had a mild one this last season we didn’t see this critter at all until today.

With no leaves out yet the light is crispy and clear, even here in the woods, when the sun comes out in April. Yes, we finally saw the sun today! The challenge is the high contrast, even during the last hour before sunset. You got to watch the highlights and make sure they are not blown out in your photo. It is a good time to learn and practice exposure compensation...

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #5 - JOHN DEERE MARSH

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4 -----------

Two photos today that can’t be more different from each other, but made within less than ten minutes in between. Daylight is considerable longer than a month ago and today “walking the dog” took me out to the John Deere Marsh, a dammed up wetland area right behind the Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa.

I have to admit , this was a tricky shot. I knew when I made the click the range of light would exceed 5 f-stops, more than what a camera like the NIKON D750 can lift. Strictly exposing for the highlights, there was still enough information available in my RAW file to romance this image without any loss within the circle of the sun. The shadows had still enough information at he bottom of the image to make it work and the fresh fallen snow in the lower right corner, tells the story of the season.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

The Mississippi River has still ice for the most part , but where the current of the river is strong, the water has some open spots. There is a levee at the John Deere Marsh, reaching far into the main channel of the big river. To give you a perspective, the part of the river, north of J. Deere Marsh that you look at in this photo, is almost 3 km wide (~1.8 miles).