STITCHING A PANO TOGETHER

Click for larger image! --------

We had a dull, dreary, and rainy day and as a result no new pixels made it onto the memory card today. Not a big deal and it was a perfect time to browse through older images and clean up the photo library this evening.

During my recent visit at Mono Lake on the east side of the Sierra Nevada I made a few attempts to shoot some panorama images. As mentioned in an earlier post, it was extremely windy that day and so I shot handhold the whole time. I remember my first attempts to make a digital panorama, about 8 - 9 years ago, were a nightmare in post process. Thanks to the amazing software capabilities of Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop (I used Lightroom for this photo) it is really a breeze to stitch several photos together for a panorama these days.

So why even doing it? On a website, like this blog, a panorama looks most of the time tiny, depending how big your computer screen or mobile device is. It is the printing that makes all the difference. This picture was made from four photos. The content needs to overlap a little but at the end it led to an image with over 12,000 pixels on the long side. This allows to make a print 40 inch wide (~ 1 meter) or even larger without any loss of detail.

MONO LAKE

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4 ------    

My goal last weekend was to come back with some decent photos from Mono Lake, California with its tufa columns and formations. Due to the three hours drive from Reno, Nevada I knew I wouldn’t be there in the early morning hours. I also didn’t want to risk to get trapped in fresh snow that was expected for the following night and so I left the lake in the early afternoon. With just a small time window around midday my expectations were not very high regarding the light. However, a very windy but clear day made for good colors and little haze in the air. The geology of the lake basin is fascinating and if you like to learn about the basics, here is the link that gives you some insight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake

 

GOING OUT WEST

Rocky Mountains, Colorado -----------

Today I have nothing but a picture made with the camera in my phone through the window of a Boeing 737-800 on my way from Chicago to Las Vegas, Nevada. This was not my final destination and I’m writing these lines from a hotel in Reno, NV, where I will stay during a business trip over the next few days. I’m always excited to fly over the Rocky Mountains, especially since Joan and I have been at several locations in the mountains of Colorado during recent vacation trips. It seems always difficult to identify part of a landscape from high up in the air, even if you think you know the area. Shooting through the window of tinted plastic in an airplane may always lead to goofy looking colors, and processing the image on my 2008 notebook may not be the best recipe to produce a quality image. But some guy smarter than me said before, the best camera is always the one you have with you… My photo gear was safely stored up in the overhead compartment and it would have been a long story to explain why I didn’t even try to get it out of the bag…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #6 - WATER FOWL MIGRATION

Mississippi River, Mud Lake

I wrote that before, Mud Lake Park is never twice the same and it seems to be not difficult to come back with different impressions all the time. Today thousands of gulls had gathered on the last remains of ice and hundreds of ducks and mergansers were on the water. We saw Canada Geese, Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, Common Goldeneyes, Mallards, and dozens of Common Mergansers. Bird migration is in full swing since about two weeks already. The first Red-winged Blackbirds are here since a few days, a sure sign of spring. Birders on the IA-Bird Google Group reported about migrating Snow Geese and White-fronted Geese in five digit numbers. I have seen only a few thousand of them ten days ago at Cone Marsh in Iowa. Most of them left obviously in the morning, just before I arrived, but it was still quite impressive.

Weather was changing fast today and so was the scene on the river. Colder air moved in and as you can see in the background fog built up over the Mississippi very quickly. When the last shaft of sunlight hit the gulls on the ice I was ready to make the click for today’s photo. Usually I would clone away single birds in the sky that are the size of a little dot in my landscape pictures but today the ducks and geese flying over are part of the story in my image.

CERTAIN VALID MOMENT

Water tower, John Deere Works, Dubuque, Iowa

As I looked at the same scene today as already last Monday, a quote from Paul Strand (American photographer 1890-1976) came to mind, “There is a certain valid moment for every cloud”. Ansel Adams wrote in his book “Examples- The Making of 40 Photographs” that Strand said this to him during a meeting in 1930. I think it is a true and great quote and I was happy that I didn’t hesitate to go back to the Deere Marsh again when Joan asked me to go for a walk there this evening. I have been a believer since a long time that some improvement of photography skills can be achieved by shooting the same subject at different times with a critical analysis in between.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #5 - JOHN DEERE MARSH

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4 -----------

Two photos today that can’t be more different from each other, but made within less than ten minutes in between. Daylight is considerable longer than a month ago and today “walking the dog” took me out to the John Deere Marsh, a dammed up wetland area right behind the Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa.

I have to admit , this was a tricky shot. I knew when I made the click the range of light would exceed 5 f-stops, more than what a camera like the NIKON D750 can lift. Strictly exposing for the highlights, there was still enough information available in my RAW file to romance this image without any loss within the circle of the sun. The shadows had still enough information at he bottom of the image to make it work and the fresh fallen snow in the lower right corner, tells the story of the season.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

The Mississippi River has still ice for the most part , but where the current of the river is strong, the water has some open spots. There is a levee at the John Deere Marsh, reaching far into the main channel of the big river. To give you a perspective, the part of the river, north of J. Deere Marsh that you look at in this photo, is almost 3 km wide (~1.8 miles).

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #4 - WARM WEEK AT THE RIVER

I have two photos for you today. The one above is from earlier this week, taken at lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa. It seems it becomes more and more common that some pelicans stay here during the winter. In Le Claire, about 90 miles south from Dubuque, the main channel of the river is open and they can find apparently enough food.

Dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa

It was a gray and foggy day today here in Dubuque and not very inviting for any bird photography, but the temperatures were way above freezing. In the second photo you can see that the snow is almost gone around here. The ice was jammed above the dam, hence the fog in the background. What you don’t see is any Bald Eagles. Today was the annual “Bald Eagle Watch” but I felt bad for the visitors at lock & dam #11. I saw only two eagles on the ice and they were far away. The US Army Corps of Engineers had Brent, one of their Natural Resource Specialists, on site and he was answering questions and helped people with spotting scopes that were provided to watch the birds.

He told me that there was more going on in the Grand River Center in Dubuque and so I went there next. Natural resource agencies and organizations had educational displays and information and there were also some activities for kids.

At one of the vendor’s tables I met with Ty Smedes, a well known nature photographer here in Iowa. I have seen him on TV and read some of his articles in the IOWA Outdoors Magazine before. We had a good conversation about many aspects of nature and photography. If you like to check out his work, here is a link to his website http://www.smedesphoto.com . I bought one of his excellent books and Ty was so nice to sign it.

WEEKEND IN THE NORTHWOODS

It became a tradition in January that I meet with some friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for an ice fishing weekend. Well, our fishing success was modest this year but the fun we had can’t be measured in numbers. Cold temperatures and more than a foot of fresh powder snow created a winter wonderland. The best time to get the camera out of the bag is usually around sunset but I tried a few other things this time as well…

2016 RETROSPECT / 7

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa, August 2016

Going down to the Mississippi River near our home is never twice the same. The light and mood of the landscape seems different any time I stand at the mighty river. Sometimes I don’t bother taking the camera out of the car, although I always have it with me. You never know what comes next, how the light may develop, even in almost hopeless bad weather. Missing a shot just because the camera or a particular lens is not within reach is not an option.

2016 RETROSPECT / 3

Cloud over corn crib, Northwest Iowa, March 2016

Clouds are one of my favorite subjects in landscape photography. I like it when they are in some context with the rest of the image. Here the corn crib on one side and the barn on the other side frame the bright part of the cloud. The eye can actually wander in a triangle between the bright spots in the picture, the cloud, the trailer in the foreground, and not so obvious, the illuminated barn in the background. It doesn’t matter where you start exploring this photo, the eye will come back to the cloud and how it unfolds in the background.

SUPERIOR’S WATERFALLS

High Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada ------------

Nothing really new today. I have been on the road almost all week and the camera has been used only for business purposes. The good thing is that I still have a lot of photos from previous shootings on my hard drive that have not seen the eye of the public yet.

Lake Superior is considered the world’s largest freshwater lake by surface area and the third-largest by volume. The lake is fed by over 200 rivers and as you can image there are numerous waterfalls that are accessible for visitors.

Middle Silver Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada

Probably almost all landscape photographers are attracted by waterfalls and I’m no exception. They are a good subject to hone the technical skills and it is just fun to find a good composition and to manage exposure and sharpness. All three images were made near the town of Wawa, Ontario.

Middle Silver Falls, Magpie River, Ontario, Canada

LAKE SUPERIOR - THE WILD SIDE

Lake Superior, Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, Upper Peninsula Michigan ------

Most of the time during our trip around Lake Superior the weather was relative calm or at least moderate. This is nice for camping, kayaking, and a lot of activities, but it just sucks when you are eager to make photos with some dynamic. Towards the end of our tour, at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, we found what I was hoping for…