NATURE CLICKS #511 - CEDAR WAXWING

Cedar Waxwing, Nikon Z6II, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, FTZ adapter,  @ 600mm, 1/800s, f/6.3, ISO800, DX crop

I shot this photo yesterday morning, just before I went on my hopefully last business trip for this year. There is only one big reason why a few Cedar Waxwings show up at our heated bird baths during this time of the year. We must have a good crop of juniper berries on the red cedar trees here on top of the bluffs above the Little Maquoketa River Valley. Most of the time the waxwings are in company with a number of American Robins. Both bird species love to eat the berries and between feeding frenzies they drink a lot of water. Last winter we haven’t seen a single Cedar Waxwing here, because there was obviously not enough juniper berries available. It is so good to see this beautiful bird back again!

I’m very impressed how good the new Nikon Z6II deals with luminance noise from shooting with higher ISO settings. With my older cameras I would not stretch the ISO settings up to 800 in my bird photography. I always found the necessary noise reduction in post process would remove way too much detail in the bird’s feathers. With the Z6II it becomes a totally different game. It allows shooting in low light, as we had yesterday morning, and a sharp image with all details still intact becomes more likely under these conditions. Another reason I wanted the Z6II. 😊

COMPROMISE

Moonrise over Green Island Wetlands, Iowa, Nikon Z6II, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, FTZ adapter,  @ 340mm, 1/1000s, f/8, ISO1600, 4 images merged in Adobe Photoshop

Last Saturday the moonrise was less than half an hour before sunset. While I was out in the Green Island Preserve, hoping to get a glimpse on some Short-eared Owls during dusk, the almost full moon illuminated the landscape, with a little bit of light left from the sun that had just disappeared behind the horizon line minutes ago. Unfortunately no owl showed up this time. An ISO setting of 1600 would still have allowed to freeze some owl action at about 1/1000s but some luminance noise in the picture was inevitable. The trick was to shoot 4-5 subsequent pictures while handholding the long lens. Later at home, in front of the computer, the 4 pictures were merged (stacked) in Adobe Photoshop into one image. Since luminance noise is randomly distributed in each picture, it would disappear in the final photo. I liked how the vertical lines of the tree trunks at the bottom were emphasized, but overall the impression of a dreamy landscape was still left. Shooting this from a tripod is probably the better way to do, but how would I have caught a Short-eared Owl in case I had seen one? Photography is often about compromise…