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, Dubuque Regional Airport, Iowa, Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, @95 mm, 1/500 s, f/10, ISO100
After a busy day with no time to get behind the camera this evening I thought I can share another image from last week, when great clouds set the stage at the Dubuque Regional Airport. I love the line the winding road takes between the surrounding hills and I tried to incorporate it into the arrangement of elements in the photo. The road leads the eye to the puffy storm cloud in the back, but it doesn’t stop there and the view goes up to the clouds above. I saw this image in black and white in my mind when I framed it in the viewfinder. Some very bright traffic signs and a power line were removed in Photoshop. Oh yeah, “men made clutter” doesn’t help a picture like this one…
Observation point at Dubuque Regional Airport, view to the southeast, at 35 mm focal length, slight crop
I have been on the road the last couple days and have seen some remarkable cloud formations. Driving mostly on interstate and state highways I had to let pass many good opportunities to take out the camera. Finally, on the way home a stop was made at the observation point of the Dubuque Regional Airport this evening. I like this place for cloud photography for two reasons. You have a 360 degree view and no cables or wires obstruct the view. While not a friend of the humidity that comes with the hot temperatures of summer here in the Midwest, I love the clouds that often come with it. All three photos were made within five minutes and in each direction light and clouds were different.
View to the northeast, at 95 mm, slight crop
View to the southwest, at 32 mm, slight crop
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9, @16 mm, 1/200 s, f/10, ISO100
A couple weeks ago we had dear friends visiting us over the weekend and as part of the program we went to a popular overlook near Balltown, Iowa, not far from home. From there the eye goes across the Mississippi Valley and over to Wisconsin. It was a little hazy but the puffy clouds let the light shine through and made for some nice sun spots on the fields below. A 3-stop graduated ND filter was used to keep some of the details in the clouds and gives them also a little more drama.
Clouds over barn and pond, near Blanding Landing, Illinois
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9, @16 mm, 1/100 s, f/9, ISO100
Last week the Dubuque Camera Club had its first outing in a long time. Led by photography artist Henry Matthiessen III, owner of “Stoned Art Studio and Gallery” in Dubuque, Iowa, the group visited several locations in the Mississippi Valley, over in northwest Illinois. Fast moving clouds in the sky allowed for some good shooting around dusk. I have been at some of the locations before, but never at that time of the day. After seeing the results from some other photographers already on Facebook, I think it is very interesting how many different ways can be found to shoot basically the same subject, the landscapes and light that were present for all of us. Thank you again to Henry for introducing us to some new locations! Here is my take from that evening.
Barn in the woods, near Blanding Landing, Illinois
Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, @200 mm, 1/80 s, f/5.6, ISO100, slightly cropped
Tranquility, near Blanding Landing, Illinois
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9, @20 mm, 1/200 s, f/5.6, ISO100
Oak tree, Chestnut Mountain Resort, Illinois
Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, @116 mm, 1/125 s, f/8, ISO100, cropped
Mississippi backwaters at dusk, Blanding Landing, Illinois
Nikon D750, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9, @82 mm, 1/30 s, f/9, ISO100, slightly cropped
Evening in Badlands National Park, South Dakota
I think I had mentioned before that the focus in the Badlands was on wildlife photography this time. Well, a few landscape pictures were created anyway. The dusty Sage Creek Rim Road has plenty of good spots to stop the car, change lenses, and capture the essence of this sometimes moon-like, but beautiful and wild landscape. The elements in the frame were placed with black & white in mind already. A 2-stop or 3-stop graduated neutral density filter helps to give the sky a bit more emphasis.
Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35 mm f/4, Breakthrough GND filter 0.9, @16 mm, 1/200 s, f/10, ISO100
Green Island Preserve, Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, B+W F-PRO Kaesemann High Transmission Circular Polarizer MRC filter
At arrival in the Green Island Wetlands today I was greeted with some nice puffy clouds. Usually I approach the area with the long lens already attached to the camera, ready to use, but this was a good reason to get the wide angle lens and polarizer out of the bag. Last year’s vegetation is rotting away and pretty soon new growth will dominate the lakes, ponds, and marsh land in the Mississippi Valley.
Immature Bald Eagle
While driving deeper into the wetlands I found a large congregation of Bald Eagles, more than 30 birds that were perched on trees or logs in the water. Seeing a few is always guaranteed but I couldn’t figure out why so many at this time of the year? Some were messing with each other but most just sat still on their perch, like this immature eagle. It had to do something with food. They mostly feed on fish and the fish population certainly didn’t grow in the wetlands since last week. So, why so many at the same place?
American Coots, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S
And maybe here lies the answer. Large shoals of American Coots, thousands of “marsh hens” occupied the lakes within the wetlands. They kept very close together while moving in the shallow water and feeding on plant materials, aquatic invertebrates, or worms. I have seen Bald Eagles sitting in a tree and feeding on dead coots at other times before and maybe the large numbers attract more eagles than we see usually in Green Island along the Mississippi.
Mesa Arch, Canyonland National Park, April 2008
Here is another photo I gave the treatment in post process with the new enhancement feature in Adobe Camera RAW that allows to quadruple the image size. This shot was made in April 2008 at Mesa Arch at Canyonland National Park in Utah. Yes, that is the spot where photographers sometimes pile up on top of each other early in the morning to get an iconic sunrise shot. Google it and you will know what I mean.
I like the company of other photographers but I’m still not a fan of crowded places. We spent the time before and around sunrise that day at the Courthouse Towers, a rock formation in nearby Arches National Park and had it all for ourselves. Joan and I moved on late morning and arrived at Mesa Arch about 1pm. Of course, not the best time for good light but a few clicks were made anyway just for the memories. I used a Nikon D200, which in 2008 was a very good 10MP DX camera. I believe the first digital Nikon full frame camera (FX) was the D3, that just had hit the market in 2007. With other words, most people used cameras with a half size sensor (DX) or smaller. The lens was a SIGMA 18-50, f/2.8. Not a bad lens but kinda soft in comparison to the glass that is now available. With 3872 pixels on the long side of the image I never felt it was worth the effort to work with the RAW file and try to extract more detail out of a relatively hazy scene.
The picture became now another candidate to try the new ‘Super Resolution Feature’ in Camera RAW. The enhanced original file has 7744 pixels at the long side and working with Vibrance, Dehaze, and other contrast enhancing sliders I was able to get some details in the photo I didn’t even know they were there. The photo can now be printed at a resolution of 300ppi almost 26 inch (~650 mm) long and with a lower resolution, like 240ppi, a 32” (~820 mm) wide picture will still look decent.
I just thought I share my new gained experience with the new software with you and give you another example what can be done with older and smaller pictures. I repeat what was said in yesterday’s blog post, I’m impressed about the outcome.
Mississippi River, Marina entrance at Mud Lake, Iowa
Two days ago I reported about the break up of the ice on the mighty Mississippi. Today I went back, and wow, the main channel of the river had completely open water, all the way to the Wisconsin side. The rocky bluffs in the background are 2 kilometers away from Mud Lake Park, where this photo was made. There is still some ice in the quiet backwaters that don’t have much current, or like here, in the entrance to the little marina at Mud Lake.
Our part of the river was already in the shade this evening when I started shooting, but with the setting sun in my back, there was still a photo that could be made. I tried to find an angle with some warm light in the big water puddle that contrasts nicely with the dark blue of the last ice. A few days ago people were still sitting on their buckets, trying to catch a fish through a hole in the ice. Very soon the first boats will leave the marina for their first trip of the season…
Nikon D750, Nikkor 70-200mm / f4, @70 mm, 1/320 s, f/8, ISO100
115 years old swing railroad bridge across the Mississippi between Sabula, Iowa and Savannah, Illinois
You may have seen photos of this old railroad bridge here in my blog before. No wonder, any time I head south along the big river to Sabula, Iowa’s only town on an island, I have to stop and take a look at this nice piece of engineering. This single track swing bridge between Iowa and Illinois was opened in 1906. It hasn’t lost any of its charm to me and is still one of my favorite men-made subjects for a photo along the Mississippi River.
Last weekend the ice started melting around the bridge and made for a more interesting foreground than at other times before. I put my only manual focus lens, the Zeiss 35/f2 on the camera and set the picture control of the D750 to Monochrome mode. I always shoot in RAW and if I would change my mind later, a color image can still be extracted from the recorded data of the RAW file. But setting the picture control to ‘Monochrome’ allows to view the results immediately in black and white on the screen of the camera.
Nikon D750, Zeiss Distagon T* 2/35 ZF, 1/160 s, f/11, ISO100
Yes, in 2021 I will continue with my visual Mississippi River stories that can be told with a photograph. Today the ice was finally in motion and big floes drifted slowly down the stream. I’m always amazed how high it can pile up if anything is in its path. I have photographed this marker near the end of the dike at John Deere Marsh several times before, and I knew it would help to tell the story about the break up of the ice on the Mississippi River. The SIGMA 150-600 is not my typical lens for landscape photography but I love the effect you can get for a picture like this.
Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 330 mm, 1/1000 s, f/8, ISO100
Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa
The railroad bridge in Dubuque across the Mississippi River has been my subject many times before over the years. Usually I like to get a little closer to the bridge and have a more compressed effect, but the fast moving clouds and constantly changing light made me aim for a different kind of image last Sunday. Joan pointed out the long shadows of the arches on the ice and I reframed what I saw in the viewfinder to have them all in the photo. Snow and ice are melting rapidly at the moment and I’m almost sure the same picture can’t be made for a while…
The long shadows give you an idea when this photo was taken today. The snow is melting rapidly and I went out into the countryside around here, hoping to find some light, colors, or gesture that may tell the story about this time of the season. I came to a stop on a muddy and slippery gravel road that leads through one of the local vineyards.
Despite the hard winters we often experience, eastern Iowa is home of a growing number of wineries. It shouldn’t be a real surprise, we are on the same latitude as parts of Spain or Italy, both big wine producing countries. Well, I have friends in South Africa that read my blog and hey, I just want assure you, the Iowa wine is OK, but the fine wine from your part of the world is hard to beat!
Why does this image has a meaning to me? Iowa is all about big farming, corn or soybeans, not much else, monoculture at its best. It is one of the states where automation will change farming technology quickly and as a result will change local infrastructures. Wine growing is most likely not a solution for the rest of the state, but here, between the ridges, valleys, and hills of the drift-less area, it may have a place to allow some local entrepreneurs to make a living.
Let’s talk photography. A photo of a vineyard means probably nothing in California or Washington State (gosh, love their wines!) Here in Iowa it isn’t the most common thing and making the click of grapevine, growing out of snow covered ground, well, is even special to me…
Apple Canyon Lake Falls, Illinois
Yesterday’s shooting below the dam of Apple Canyon Lake over in Illinois was one of the most enjoyable recently. Yesterday was also Ansel Adams 119th birthday, and with that in mind I thought to feed my desire to aim maybe for some new black & white images. Well, there is some potential in some of the over 100 pictures I shot yesterday but I usually like to sleep over them a few times.
To be honest, I’m happy how the color versions of some of the photos turned out. As mentioned in yesterday’s blog post, I never took the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 off the camera and the two pictures I show today were made at the long end of the lens. I wonder how this waterfall looks at the rest of the year, but the frosty appearance was definitely worth to make the trip over to Apple Canyon Lake in Illinois. Thank you again Kevin for the tip!
Waterfall at Apple Canyon Lake, Illinois
Today’s photo was made thanks to a call from my photography friend Kevin this morning. This waterfall is the overflow from Apple Canyon Lake in northwest Illinois. Kevin made me aware of some ice built-ups at the fall and he sent me a nice photo that was made yesterday. We expect much warmer weather for the next days and I knew the ice would not last too long. That’s why I didn’t hesitate to make the one hour trip across the Mississippi into the neighbor state this afternoon.
The photography was pretty straight forward. You shoot from a road bridge and decide how far left or right to move the tripod. The question is only about the focal length or how tight you like to frame the waterfall or its details. I started with the Nikkor 70-200, f/4 and never changed lens for the next 85 minutes. I like the water a little silky but not so much that it looks like it runs straight out of a milk cow. The BREAKTHROUGH X4 ND filter 1.8 (6-stops) was the tool that got me the desired results. Most photos were exposed between 4 and 8 seconds.
A thin layer of clouds made for very balanced shooting conditions. Just as I had shouldered my photo bag and was about to walk back to the car, the sun peeked through the clouds and changed the whole appearance of the waterfall. The colors looked nice, I started shooting again, but at the end I still liked my shots with the softener, called clouds, better. I guess this is personal taste and I’m just not a fan of the “postcard look”…
