STILL LOVE THE RED FILTER

Approaching thunderstorm, Badlands National Park, South Dakota

If you camp out west in a small tent it is mandatory to have always an eye on the weather. This approaching thunderstorm turned out relatively harmless. It came with a little bit of lightning, not even close, and some rain for the night. Letting this opportunity to make a photo pass by was not an option. The question was, how to capture the drama in the sky?

Back in the days of black & white film a red filter in front of the lens was the way to go. We made the click and then waited for the results until the film was developed. Today with a mirrorless camera things are a lot easier. While shooting always in RAW format, all what it takes is to set the camera to B&W and include the settings for a red filter (or any other setting you may have in mind). In the viewfinder or on screen in the back of the camera we can then evaluate the results immediately and decide if it matches our vision for the final image. If not, we can always revert to the color data embedded in the RAW file and let our creativity go in a different direction.

The results for this photo match pretty much the settings I had used already in the camera. I like the drama a red filter can produce. Very little is tweaked in post process on the computer at home. The landscape doesn’t take the stage, just gets a hint of light, while the clouds are clearly the subject that tells the story of this evening ten days ago in the Badlands.

FOLLOWING A STORM CELL

Storm cell, near Belmont, Wisconsin

I talked about drama in the clouds in yesterday’s blog post and using black & white to tell the story. Today I came across another dramatic weather development and that took a different approach. I was on my way to a business meeting with a customer in Wisconsin this morning and watched a small thunderstorm cell ahead of me during the first forty-five minutes of driving. Sure enough I drove right into it and a short heavy rain and even some hail cleaned at least the car. The light on the cell looked very impressive but I had a hard time to find a spot to pull of the road for a picture. Finally I found an exit and luckily this smaller side road had a nice curve that could be used in the photo as a foreground element. The rain still poured on the east side while a clean blue sky followed the dramatic cloud.

Almost always when I go on a one-day business trip I take the camera with me. Most of the time I never get it out the bag because not much happens, nothing interesting is waiting to be photographed, or time pressure dictates the course of the day. Today finally the passion paid off… Great moment!

BRAVING THE THUNDERSTORM

Great Egret, Green Island Preserve, Mississippi Valley, Eastern Iowa

When I left home for the wetlands today I knew already that a thunderstorm would cross the area this afternoon. Later we had even a tornado warning but finally the thunderstorm and rain came with moderate wind and not much lightning. During the storm very few critters are visible but nothing seemed to bother the Great Egrets. Three of them perched on some trees above the water surface in one of the lakes of the Green Island Wildlife Area. If I wanted to tell a story about the bird, braving these weather conditions, the rain had to be visible. Usually this can be done by slowing down the exposure time and with a dark background, which highlights the falling rain. The wooded banks of the Mississippi Valley are perfect for such a backdrop. The rain came finally down so hard, it wasn’t really necessary to shoot with a slow shutter speed. This photo was made at 1/640 s, ISO 800, fast enough for a sharp image at 600 mm focal length and still rendering blurred rain across the image.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2022 #8 - STOP AT THE BEST MOMENT

Thunderstorm moving out, Mississippi River, Guttenberg, Iowa

My thank you goes out to our friend Mary, who drove the car while this beautiful scene with clouds was visible over in Wisconsin across the Mississippi River last weekend. She stopped safely without any hesitation, so I could get out of the car and make the photo. Some wet roads further south told us later that this thunderstorm had mad its impact also on the Iowa side of the river. This was taken just above lock & dam #10 in Guttenberg, Iowa, about 30 miles north of our home.

There is very little to do in post process since I import my monochrome settings right out of camera into Adobe Lightroom. As in this case, what I saw on the screen at the back of the camera after the click was pretty much what I wanted to see in the final image. Another great summer day we were able to share with friends. Thanks again Mary!

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2022 #7 - SUMMER CLOUDS

Clouds over the Mississippi River, Clayton, Iowa

We met with friends from northwest Iowa in Guttenberg today and took a little drive along the mighty Mississippi to the little river town of Clayton, Iowa. Following an excellent lunch at Clayton Lighthouse Restaurant and Bar we saw some great development of clouds over the river. What serious photographer would not take out the camera and try to tell a visual story about a summer day in August in the Upper Mississippi Valley? My choice was black & white and to see a preview of the final result right on camera screen, the Nikon Z 6II was set to monochrome picture mode. Since I shoot always in RAW the color information is still in the file and if I would ever change my mind about the picture intent, making it a color version, this is still possible. My monochrome settings include a red filter and that meets exactly what I would do in the old days of B&W film photography for a landscape with clouds as we saw today. Great day, good times!

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S,   @ 45 mm, 1/1000s, f/8, ISO 100

MIDSUMMER RAINBOW

Mines of Spain State Recreation Area, Dubuque, Iowa

It is these brief moments that can make a walk in the evening very delightful. A couple days ago a thunderstorm moved just south of us and created this nice scene. Landscape photographers love rainbows, but it was the cloud that puts the ice on the cake for me.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, @1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO 100

CLOUDS AND FINDING A GOOD LOCATION TO SHOOT THEM

Storm clouds, near Five Points, Iowa

Joan and I went on a cloud chase by car as a line of thunderstorms went across the area yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately our garden didn’t receive a single drop of much needed rain and we never really found the BIG SKY, but a few clicks were made out in the countryside of the driftless area. This seems to be an easy task but after a while of driving around you realize, it becomes more and more difficult to find farm buildings that have some charm. I love old farm structures and they can make a nice middle ground for a photo with clouds. Many of the old barns have been replaced by metal buildings without any “soul”. This farm on a hill and the winding road to Five Points, Iowa had what I was hoping for. The clouds tell the story of the developing thunderstorm at the end of a typical hot and muggy day in July here in eastern Iowa.

A word about the post process of the image. There was no location along that gravel road without a number of power lines in the frame. Thanks to the content aware healing brush tool in Photoshop the removal was a breeze and took only a few minutes.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #14 - DYNAMIC IN THE SKY

Storm cloud over the Mississippi, Mud Lake, Iowa, June 2019

Here is another image from earlier this year. A thunderstorm had just passed our area and moved across the Mississippi River into Wisconsin and northwest Illinois. The storm was moving very fast and I made quite a few shots. The light and shape of the clouds in every photo looked quite different from the one before. I have photographed the Mississippi River at Mud Lake many times before and in every kind of weather. Rarely was I able to capture such a high dynamic in the sky.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #11 - LANSING, IOWA

Here is a little location tip, not just for photography. Coming back from a short business trip to LaCrosse, Wisconsin today, I stopped at one of my favorite photo locations along the Great River Road. Just south of the little river town Lansing, Iowa is the Driftless Area Education and Visitor Center. From there you have a great view upstream with Lansing and the Black Hawk Bridge in the background. The scene reflects really the character of the driftless area and the Mississippi Valley. As a bonus a small local thunderstorm developed quickly and provided drama and some great clouds and colors.

I used the wide angle lens to catch as much of the clouds as possible and walked down and across the street to keep the road out of the foreground. If you don’t have any clouds or if they are not important, you can shoot with a longer lens and still keep the road out of the frame. What about the railroad bridge? This old beam bridge has character and becomes part of the storytelling.

If photography is not the only thing you have in mind, the Mississippi river town of Lansing has a lot to offer. Founded in 1851, downtown still has some authentic period architecture and little antique shops, boutiques, and restaurants are behind the storefronts. If you like to learn more about this scenic town and the area around it, check this link out: https://www.lansingiowa.com

FOLLOWING THE CURVE (PART 2)

If this looks familiar you must have visited my blog a few days ago. Today I tried the same image as a black and white version. I had this in mind when I took the shot but later at home, in front of the computer screen, the play with the color contrast appealed to me as well. Now, with both versions on hand, I think the monochrome version supports the graphic impact of this photo better. The Z-shaped curve of the clouds and the edge of the field are better pronounced.

As much as I like the relativ new B&W presets in Adobe Lightroom Classic, for the finishing of this image I used the well trusted NIK Silver Efex Pro 2. In Lightroom I started with the same Camera RAW settings as for the color version, opened the photo as a Smart Object in Photoshop, and finally applied NIK Silver Efex Pro 2 as a filter. I still love the way how global and local adjustments interact with each other in any program of the NIK Suite. The final touch was made with a subtle dodging and burning layer in PS, mainly in the lower half of the photo.

FOLLOWING THE CURVE

Farm on a hill with clouds, near Sherrill, Iowa

A couple days ago I mentioned I would share another photo from the “cloud chasing” tour that evening. Quite some time ago I made a mental note about this old farm on a ridge not very far from our home here in eastern Iowa. I have driven by several times over the years and always thought this would make a nice foreground or middle ground for a photo with a dramatic looking sky. Well, this week I had my chance. The lush vegetation makes for a nice color contrast to the clouds in the sky. The curved edge of the field leads the eye to the farm structures and from there the curve continues in the sky. Now I’m thinking about a black and white version of the image…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2019 #03 - CLOUD CHASING

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa

The disadvantage of living in the woods is that we are the last ones that know when some interesting clouds are around. Yesterday evening some nearby thunder and a few rain drops made me grab the dog, jump in the car, and drive to a ridge in the countryside. Some quick photos were made of an old farm (I may show them another day) but the way the clouds were moving I expected that down at the Mississippi River some drama would develop in the sky. I just hit it right. The last rays of the setting sun over the banks of the river painted the landscape with some killer light. 

A minute later I was attacked by a bear, whose shadow you see at the bottom of the picture. Alright, I’m just kidding. The big shadow beside mine belongs to our little dog Cooper, who patiently followed me again, although he hates thunderstorms…

The time stamp in the metadata of both photos reveal that the second picture was made just two minutes later. The sun was gone, the thunderstorm moved along the river, and on the Wisconsin side of the Mississippi parts of a rainbow developed.

These are the moments when I employ the Schneider Graduated Neutral Density filter 0.9, which darkens the upper part of the photo by 3 stops of light. Both Photos were made with the Nikon AF-S Nikkor 16-35 f/4 at 16 mm focal length. The ring of the Schneider ND filter creates a little bit of corner vignetting with the lens zoomed out to 16 mm, but this is easy to fix in Lightroom or Photoshop.

NATURE CLICKS #411 - YELLOW-BILLED CUCOO (A FIRST, FINALLY!!)

Yellow-bellied Cuckoo, near Durango, Iowa

We hear its distinctive , rattling call almost every day during the summer, very seldom we see the bird, and I have never had a chance to aim my glass at a Yellow-billed Cuckoo. Until today! This cuckoo spends its time high up in the canopy of the trees and it is very difficult to spot it, even if you know where the bird might be, because of the unique call. This morning, after walking with our little dog Cooper, I heard the bird again and finally saw it sitting high up in a tree above our driveway. Well, against all common sense rules, I shot against a gray sky, but I wanted at least a documentary shot of this bird so badly that I gave a damn about rules. Of course, this is not a quality image. I cropped this picture to death, but still think it is an honest shot because I had no chance to get any closer. Last night we had thunderstorms with much needed rain passing through, for more than 12 hours. It looks like the cuckoo tried to use the first hint of sun to dry its feathers.

CHASE THE LIGHT (AND THE CLOUDS)

While friends and family in Germany suffer under a heat wave since a while, we enjoy moderate temperatures, and even more important, relative low humidity here in Iowa. Nevertheless, small thunderstorms cross the country, with very little effect, but still with great clouds. Last night I went out to chase the light that comes with thunderheads and dark clouds and I didn’t have to go very far. Here in the Driftless Area of the Midwest, where the landscape was never glaciated, we have to drive out of the valleys and find a spot in the hills that allows an unobstructed view for such a photo. One of my favorite places is Hantelman Road, a gravel road near the town of Sherrill, Iowa. The state of Iowa has power lines that can spoil an image everywhere, but knowing the location I knew exactly where to go. Why do I call it a chase? Well, it happened before, the magic light and clouds might be gone before the photographer arrives on location. This time it worked out just right… 😊

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR

THUNDERSTORM, BUT PEACEFUL VIEW

A line of thunderstorms made it through the northwest of Iowa in the evening of the Fourth of July holiday and the camera was rattling while the storm moved out. I have photographed this farm on the hill across from the family farm of my wife before, but never with so much drama in the sky. The storm was violent, trees were down in the nearby city of Remsen, Iowa, and some branches hit the ground on the farm as well, but the grazing cattle in the foreground make it look very peaceful.

Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4G ED VR