MINNESOTA NORTHWOODS - #3

The light tells the story, Lake Shumway, Savanna Portage State Park, Minnesota

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,    @ 56 mm, 1/50 s, f/22, ISO 1600

If you had an interest in my photography before you know already that I’m not looking much for the ”postcard view” in my landscape work. But when the light unfolds in front of me, the smallest detail of a landscape will draw my interest immediately.

I walked on a trail along Lake Shumway in Savanna Portage State Park, Minnesota late in the day and watched the light the low sun created in the woods along the lake. Closing down the aperture to f/22 creates the star burst around the setting sun between the woods. That part was easy and would have made a picture somehow. But as a bonus the lake right behind me bounced back some of the light onto the leaves in the foreground, and that made me push the shutter release. Lovely light, lovely light…! 😊

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

SUN IS OUT, FINALLY

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

A very chilly morning today after a relative warm Christmas but for the first time this weekend the sun came out and the sky cleared. We are in Cherokee in northwest Iowa and spent the weekend with our family. A daily habit is a walk around Spring Lake, located in a nice park of the city. 

The Nikkor 16-35, f/4 was on camera and choosing f/16 created the sunburst effect and depth of field throughout the whole image. The photo doesn’t have a clear subject but the long shadows of the trees on the ice triggered my desire to make this picture.