LOOKS FROM A FAIRY TALE

Everybody could have made this kind of a photo here in our region today. Most of the tree branches had a thick ice cover after the ice storm during the last couple days. To include the sunburst the aperture of the lens is closed down to f/18 - f/22 and you can zoom with your feet until you have the desired position for the sun in the viewfinder. I drove a bit around today, hoping to catch some of the beauty nature provided for us, but at the end the photos I liked the best came from right here on the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa Valley. Our oaks were still covered with ice this afternoon but these ”looks from a fairy tale” disappeared rapidly under a powerful sun and with the help of some wind.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 60mm, 1/500 s, f/22, ISO 100

ICE STORM (THE UPSIDE)

We are still dealing with the outcome of a big ice storm with freezing rain that hit us last night and today. I probably could host a bob sled race here in our drive way…😉  With all the negative impacts it brings for the people it also comes with a certain beauty. Nobody likes icy roads, electrical power lines down, or falling trees, but the glass-like look of tree branches bares some photo opportunities. A small adjustable LED light, set to 5000 Kelvin, was used to bring out some colors in the yew bushes that grow in front of the house.

The second photo was made on the balcony already last night when the ice cover was still growing. The power of two LED lights, that we use to illuminate the deck if necessary, comes from behind the camera. All the boards overhead that support a climbing vine plant  had this gallery of icicles. I shot this with ISO 10000, something I have never done before. The Nikon Z6II does a very good job for noise reduction in general, but of course at ISO 10000 there was noticeable noise in the picture. Since a few months I use Topaz DeNoise AI in my post-processing workflow whenever necessary for an image. The noise in this photo was most visible on the illuminated boards in the background. I’m amazed about the results, even at such a high ISO level, with no noise left and the icicles remained sharp and unaffected.

ICY, ICY…

Winter holds us in its claws but every day is a little different than the one before. Yesterday we had some icy rain and most of the oaks around here were still covered with a glass-like ice layer today. This afternoon I stepped outside for a couple minutes and exposed myself to the cold wind. The low sun made the branches shining like silver and this was of course my subject for this artsy-fartsy picture.

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR, @70mm, 1/100s, f/29, ISO100