GREAT LIGHT FOR QUICK SHOT WITH MANUAL FOCUS

Despite a busy life at the moment I try to take a few minutes for photography whenever I can. Spring is early this year and reveals beautiful things in nature and all what it takes is to have an eye on the light. I think it is important to have a vision for what would make a good subject already ahead of time, but wait until the light finally makes the difference between just a documentary shot and a photo that may please our senses.

I made this picture with my old macro lens, the SIGMA 150 f/2.8G. I haven’t used this piece of glass since quite a while, although the sharpness of this lens has always impressed. Since eye sight is not getting better with age I rely most of the time on the autofocus system of my NIKON Z6II camera. Older lenses that do not have their own autofocus motor, like the SIGMA 150, can only be used in manual focus mode on Nikon’s mirrorless cameras. The sharpness and rendering of this lens is still great but it takes a little bit longer, especially in an awkward position while lying on the ground. Sure, we can employ a low tripod for this kind of a shot. We can do focus stacking and all kinds of macro-voodoo these days, but I’m always afraid the great light is gone before the camera is even mounted on the tripod…😉

WAITING FOR SPRING

Black-capped Chickadee

It is the time of the year when we start to hear the ”fee-bee” calls of the Black-capped Chickadees more frequently. The snow bells are out in the front yard and also a couple small crocus flowers. While driving to town this morning I saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes flying across the road. All sure signs that spring is right around the corner or at least not far away anymore.

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

A SEASON IN PROGRESS

The water level in the Mississippi River drops since more than a week but is still not below flood stage. I could show you pictures of areas that are still flooded and are interesting for some people but I always approach even the documentary scenes with an eye on the light and colors that may not take center stage in a news paper story.

A little bit of rain during the last days took some of the blossoms down from the blooming trees. This carpet of freshly fallen petals drew my attention while going on a walk at the John Deere Marsh north of Dubuque, Iowa. Although not attached to a tree anymore, they still give us a sense of beauty and definitely tell the story that summer is just around the corner.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 70mm, 1/400 s, f/5.6, ISO 200

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2023 #5 - ABOVE FLOOD STAGE

The good news first, the water level in the river fell slightly today.

While I was out of town last week the water level in the Mississippi River kept rising and was at its peak yesterday. The gauge is located at the Lock & Dam #11 in Dubuque, Iowa and some of the numbers from there are quite impressive. The flow from yesterday was 263730 cubic foot per second, which is equal to 7.4 million liters of water that pass through per second! The gauge was at ~23 ft (7 m), which is about 13 ft (~4 m) above historic normal stage. The river reached its flood stage of 16 ft in Dubuque on April 20.

Riverwalk, Dubuque, IA, Not much space underneath the old Railroad Bridge was left.

They had a lot of snow up north in Minnesota this winter and floods are a normal occurrence during spring time. All flood gates in Dubuque were closed but several areas north and south of town (i.e. Mud Lake Park or Finley’s Landing) are under water.

How can the story about all this be told with our photos? I decided to include at least some green in the picture. It’s easy to document the flooding and the high water level, but I thought it was also important that the colors in the trees say ”spring”, even if they are on the other side of the river.

Mud Lake Park, 4/24/2023, Campground, parking lot, boat ramp, and playground were already flooded a week ago.

RETURN OF THE COLORS

Many of the wildlife photos we create in the wetlands along the Mississippi River can help to tell the story about the arrival of spring in the valley. A lot of birds are in their breeding plumage and some species are seen only during spring migration, when they use the Mississippi Valley on their route up to the arctic tundra. Snow Geese are a good example. But how about the vegetation? Well, the dried-up reeds and grasses from last year still dominate the landscape and frankly spoken neither look very photogenic, nor do they help to say, look spring is here. But we can turn around and look at the slopes below the rocky bluffs that mark the edge oft the valley. The fresh green in the trees wasn’t there a week ago and the bottom below the trees is covered with thousands of wildflowers. People that live in warmer areas year around and do not have such long and often gray winters may not fully understand why we long so much for those signs of spring. Yes, I love winter too, but it’s a great time when the colors return to the valley!

AFTER THREE YEARS

Hauptmarkt (main market) in front of city hall, Bautzen, Saxony, Germany,

It has been three years that I visited my home country Germany and met family and friends, and I guess no explanation is necessary why it took so long to go across the Atlantic Ocean. Half of the trip was for education and training on the business side. The print and finishing industry is undergoing rapid changes, and Europe is leading the game in automation and robotic solutions for the post process in the printing industry (my part of the business). Mind blowing solutions were demonstrated to me and my American colleagues, a trip worthwhile!

The second half of the journey was dedicated to visits with family and friends. My wife Joan joined me in Dresden for this part of the trip. It was a very emotional visit (three years is a long time) and I’m absolutely grateful to have friends and family that offer hospitality way beyond anybody’s expectations. We really like to thank my kids, their families, and our friends who helped in an unforeseen situation during the last week. Anke, Tarja, Seraphine, André, Ramona, and our hosts in Bautzen, Gabriela and Claus!!! You are the best, and we hope to see you soon, maybe in the United States of America!!!

OK, it’s a photography blog, let’s talk a little about the image. I grew up in the over 1000 years old city of Bautzen, in the State of Saxony, and even after three years of absence still had the feeling, I have seen everything before. These blooming trees in front of the Rathaus (city hall) have not been there in my childhood. Many changes were made in this town during the last 32 years, after the wall came down in Germany, which divided east and west of the country for political reasons. Years ago I would have never made an image from that perspective on a day with overcast. With the blossoms in color contrast to the Rathaus and the mood of this gray day the click had to be made. It’s actually pretty busy during the week in downtown Bautzen, but I waited patiently until nobody was in the frame…

BACK IN THE BADLANDS

American Bison, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

My first visit in Badlands National Park, South Dakota was in September 2005. We have revisited the Badlands several times since and always during fall season. Since almost sixteen years I thought it would be nice to go back there again during spring time. Well, it took me a while, but this year the long entertained thought became finally reality. I pitched the tent for three days in the Sage Creek area, at a primitive campground without water and electricity. We know this place very well. It is quiet, remote, with very little light pollution at night, and most importantly it is one of the best places in the Badlands for wildlife watching and photography.

Let me start a little series of blog posts with one of the most iconic animals of the prairie, the American Bison. When you see one of the massive bull bison standing on a ridge during sunset time, you can’t help and just point the camera at it and make the click. All problems of life that might rush through your mind become suddenly irrelevant in such great moments…

ANOTHER SIGN OF SPRING

If there is anything I don’t like about March here in eastern Iowa, it’s the fact that we have so many gray days without any sun. Today was another one of those. The photo of the crocuses is from yesterday, when a little more light was available and no extra efforts were necessary to make the colors pop. For this picture I employed the Nikkor 16-35, f/4 and closed down to f/10 for more depth of field than in the photo of the Hepatica from yesterday’s blog post. As I always stress, I’m not a flower photographer, but with all the gray and brown from last winter on the ground a few colors don’t hurt and keep the spirit up on a day like this.

SERIOUS SIGN OF SPRING

Hepatica americana

No, the photo wasn’t taken in our woods this time but during a little hike that Joan, dog Cooper, and I took in the Mines of Spain State Recreation Area this evening. Hepatica Americana is the first wild flower that usually shows up and we found it below some rock bluffs in a more remote part in this park south of Dubuque, Iowa.

I wanted this kind of shot with a low depth of field. At 200 mm and f/5 only a couple blossoms are in focus, but it keeps the eye away from the dried clutter around the plant and that’s the way I like it.

SUGAR MAPLE FLOWERS

As predicted, the snow from last Saturday melted away yesterday very rapidly. Despite some frost during the night, it looks like all plants, shrubs, and trees survived the drop in temperature without much damage. The flowers of our Maple Tree in front of the house looked beautiful this evening and when the setting sun created some magic light, I had to get the camera out and capture it. Over the years I took many photos of maple leaves in gorgeous light during autumn, but I don’t think I ever told a story about this maple tree in spring.

So what were the choices in order to make this click? I could have had every maple flower in focus, or at least nearly sharp, by closing the aperture down and have more depth of focus. The price to pay would have been the increase to a very high ISO value and as a result the introduction of a lot of noise in the picture. Instead I chose to shoot wide open (f/4 @ 1/640 s, ISO 400, and 200 mm focal length). Only a few maple flowers are sharp but capturing the mood of this scene and separating the subject from the background was in my humble opinion the better choice.

SPRING PICTURES??

I was traveling the whole week and came back full of hope for a nice and warm weekend. Right now all the leaves come out and end of April is usually the arrival time for many migrating birds here in our woods. But it came totally different today. It rained and snowed all day long and as I’m writing this we still have some snow cover.

Chipping Sparrow

But there is always a story to tell in weather like this and that’s what I tried to do when I went out with the camera in hand. The combination of fresh green and flowers with the wet snow made for a good target. Three Chipping Sparrows were the only birds beside our American Robins that were present this evening. The male House Wrens arrived this week but except for the early morning they kept hidden during the day.

Tomorrow it is supposed to be warmer again and I’m sure the layer of snow on the ground will be history soon.

SPRING WITH SMALL STEPS

It seems like spring is arriving here only with small steps. Today it was lovely, it was warm and the sun was shining, and finally all of our crocuses had a chance to appear in all their beauty. We really enjoy it but I believe it is the third week in a row that I have to write here that snow is in the forecast for part of the weekend again. As I said, small steps…

PREDICTING THE OUTCOME

Mississippi River, Finley's Landing , Iowa

This is what you get at this time of the season when you go down to the Mississippi River and find a spot that has all the supporting elements for a photo. Exposing strictly for the highlights and predicting how they will effect the composition of the image is key for the outcome. Colors don’t play a big role in this picture, green and yellow dominate, but all the different tones of the lush vegetation tell the story about the transition from spring to summer.

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...