OZARK MOUNTAINS (4)

Grasses in the river bed, Haw Creek Falls, Ozark Mountains, Arkansas

Today I have something for the more art-minded viewers. In my first blog post about the Ozark Mountains about a week ago I mentioned the challenge to find interesting details in the landscape. Deep in the woods of the Ozarks we checked out a campground at Haw Creek Falls. The summer was dry, not just in this part of the country, and many creeks and rivers have still low water levels and the waterfalls of Haw Creek were not very impressive  to say it mildly. But a hike with the camera on the exposed rocks in the river bed seemed to be promising. Harsh light can be your friend sometimes and these grasses in the river bed, that obviously had not seen a flash flood this summer, stood out against the dark background of the river nicely. The curves of the rocks gives us an idea how the water has carved out this valley over a long period of time.

And here is one of the aspects I like about the Nikon Z 6II, the first mirrorless camera that I use since exactly a year now. I really love the ability to set the camera into a particular picture mode and see a preview of the photo right in the viewfinder before I even make the click. In this matter I set it to monochrome. My presets in camera include a red filter applied to the image and relatively high contrast and sharpening. I still shoot in RAW mode, and if I don’t like the final result, it allows me to go back to color because all color information is still stored in the RAW file. In this case, with “Grasses in the river bed”, it was exactly what I had envisioned and saw in the viewfinder when the click was made, except for the fact that I cropped the final picture slightly.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head  @ 200mm, 1/400s, f/4, ISO 100

FIRST FIELD DAY WITH NIKON Z6II

The Eastern Bluebirds will hopefully stay here all winter long.

Today I had my first real field day with the new mirrorless Nikon Z6II camera. It started in our front yard this morning with three Eastern Bluebirds taking advantage of the water in our bird baths. But the real challenge was a trip to the Green Island Preserve, the wetlands along the Mississippi River south from here. It isn’t the season when wildlife is present in abundance but a few raptors, a bunch of American Coots, and a few sparrows gave me some good opportunities to practice with the camera and to develop some muscle memory for the shooting workflow that comes with an Electronic Viewfinder. I do not like shooting with my glasses but the EVF allows me to shoot without them. The new challenge is to keep my eye at the viewfinder after a click and evaluate the results or make changes in the settings menu just right in the viewfinder. As soon I move my head away from the eye piece and look for the brilliant screen in the back of the camera, well, I need my glasses again. It may take some time to memorize not to look at the screen, at least during wildlife photography.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, FTZ adapter

American Coots busy feeding on aquatic plants in the Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Beside Bald Eagles and a pair of Northern Harriers, the Red-tailed Hawk is another raptor that finds food in the wetlands during winter time.

ON THE LEARNING CURVE

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S lens  @ 66mm, 1/10s, f/8, ISO 1000, handheld

When I work on pictures like the one above there is usually one out of two reasons behind it. It is either testing a new piece of gear that made it into the camera bag or I try to learn about a new post-processing technique or software feature. At this time it was for both reasons.

Let me start with the gear. I finally made the step into the mirrorless camera world with the purchase of a Nikon Z6II camera with the fantastic Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S lens. In addition the Nikon FTZ adapter allows to use all my older F-mount lenses on the new Z-mount of the mirrorless camera. Circumstances of the purchase were in my favor (I traded some older lenses in) and so it is an early Christmas gift that gives me now the chance to test and learn about the new equipment ahead of the holiday.

On the software side, Adobe had introduced new masking features to Lightroom and Camera RAW in their latest update. I’m familiar with masking techniques in Photoshop but having some of them now available in the RAW editor (like Lightroom) makes it for many photographers less time consuming and easier to do selective editing in their images. So far I like it a lot and trying it out with photos from a new camera doubles the fun.

I provide quite often operator training on machines in the print & finishing industry and I know from experience many people do not like to read manuals. As a result, some will never get to the full potential the equipment has to offer. I try to be not that person and work my way through the manual with a new camera. Even if many things are the same or at least similar on a Nikon camera, I think it is about mastering the new features that come with improved technology. New focus modes, higher shooting speed, better high ISO handling, and an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) are only a few of the new features that got me excited about the new Z6II and I hope I can adapt my workflow quickly and don’t have to think about it anymore during shooting after a while.

A German Rolling Stone magazine with the title image of the late Charlie Watts was on the table. I poured a glass of port wine in a tasting glass as my subject and lined it up with the elements on the carpet in the background. Just playing with autofocus response and higher ISO values. In Lightroom I darkened the foreground, brightened Charlie’s face, and worked with the shadows on the glass, all on separate masking layers. On the turntable played a record of the Rolling Stones… Reading the manual doesn’t have to be boring!

Nikon Z6II, FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,  @ 600mm, 1/800s, F/8, ISO 400, cropped to DX dimensions

The FTZ adapter arrived a few days later and I was really excited about how the Z6II would perform with the long Sigma lens. Last weekend I spent some time on the front porch, watching woodpeckers and other birds. There is no verdict possible in such a short time but I was impressed about sharpness and focus tracking on a fast moving bird. More testing has to be done…

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S lens,  @ 70mm, 1/320s, f/4, ISO 100

The woods here in the driftless area along the Mississippi River are not always attractive at this time of the year without snow on the ground. But the low “winter light” can still make a difference. This image was made during a short hike in the Swiss Valley Nature Preserve last Sunday. I found a spot with almost no dead wood and branches on the ground and as the sun came briefly through the clouds, well I had a photo that tells a story about the quality of that “winter light”…