DOESN'T ALWAYS NEED A GREAT VIEW...

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

I spent the week in Chicago. That sounds maybe promising to some of you, but during GraphExpo, the trade show our company always attends as an exhibitor at this time of the year, there is not much time to go out and look for interesting subjects to photograph. The least I try if we stay in one of the downtown hotels is to get a room on a high floor. The receptionist put me on the 16th floor, almost on top, but she said, we don’t have really great views from any of our rooms. My room faced to the west and especially in the early morning and again in the evening, when the sun disappeared behind the skyscraper across, I had some good opportunities that involved quality light

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The first shot was made shortly after sunrise, with the light coming across Lake Michigan, and the sun still below the clouds. The second photo was captured the evening before. I used f/22 in order to get the star shape for the sun but this wasn’t the only reason why I made the click. The dappled light on those walls actually not facing the sun, drew my attention. The glass facades of our hotel and other buildings around worked as giant reflectors and threw the light back towards the sun. The receptionist was indeed right, not a great view, but hey, she knew nothing about “killer light”…😉

NATURE CLICKS #295 - JUVENILE WOOD DUCKS

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, DX cropping mode, additional cropping

It is a busy time with work at the moment, hence the lack of new photos, but since I’m not in the ‘real news business’ I hope you still get a kick out of some nature observations that happened already more than a couple weeks ago, and that I like to share with you.

It puts a smile in my face if I see the offspring of any bird that breeds and spends the summer here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. These three juvenile Wood Ducks were not the only ones that enjoyed the life in the canals along the levees in the Green Island Wetlands, surrounded by plenty of duck weed. When they are that big already, they don’t stick together as much as during their first weeks in life. In July I took a couple pictures of 13 ducklings crossing one of the canals that divide the wetlands! Later in the season the number shrinks usually, because their life is full of danger. Foxes, eagles, coyotes, hawks, they all love to have duckling for dinner. With the hunting season ahead not very many may make it into the next year…

As you may have found out by following my blog, I get out into the great outdoors probably a little more than the average person. I meet all kinds of people out there and hear many different stories and the reasons why they like or even love nature. To be honest, it is shocking how little some of the people that out themselves as hunters know about the wildlife they like to kill. Yep, they use the words ‘necessary regulations’, but admit they have quite often absolutely no clue about what their shooting target is... 

ROMANCING THE LANDSCAPE

I’m not a big hunter for sunset photos but sometimes I come across of one that sets it apart and romances the landscape in a special way. In August we had a few days when the smoke of wildfires in the western US made the sun more hazy and gave the sunsets a different mood. The photo shows how the last light of the day touches the hills and ridges here in the eastern part of Iowa along the Mississippi River. The white farm buildings and plastic covers of hey bales reflect the light and even some fog seems to creep into the valleys. To get the color the way it is I underexposed by 2 stops and set the white balance to cloudy. No reason to fiddle in Lightroom or Photoshop, just simple settings in the camera.

NATURE CLICKS #294 - MONARCH

To be honest, I postponed writing a blog post about the Monarch butterfly for quite some time, hoping to get still more and better shots of it as the summer season progressed. I hope it was a good year for this species, at least I have seen a lot more of them than during the last 3 - 4 years. Millions of Monarchs from central and eastern North America migrate to the mountain forests of central Mexico each year to spend the winter there. If you use the internet you will find out why the Monarch butterfly is a candidate to be on the list of endangered species. It is a very complex thread, ranging from extensive logging operations in Mexico to the consequences of climate change, especially global warming. It is, as so often, not just one man-made event but the summary of several factors that have lead to a dramatic decline in the last years

Every website that talks about solutions to stop the decline recommends to plant and care for Milkweed (see the second image). This is the plant the Monarch caterpillars depend on. Hey friends here in North America, let this plant grow in your front and backyard!! Who needs “golf-course-look-alike” grass patches around the house? Only your ego! Your kids and grandkids will never ask in 2035, how did your grass look twenty years ago? It is a sad question if they will ask you, have you ever seen a Monarch butterfly?...!!!

NATURE CLICKS #293 - PICKEREL FROG

I do not like the very warm and humid weather we have this labor day weekend but this frog didn’t seem to mind it. I found this little guy on the bottom of a canyon in the White Pine Hollow State Preserve, near Luxembourg, Iowa. I’m not one hundred percent sure if this is a young Pickerel Frog because I only have this image from its side. In Iowa the Pickerel Frog is only found in the very eastern part along the Mississippi. There is a chance that this is its cousin, the more common Northern Leopard Frog, but it looks like this frog has a paired series of squarish blotches extending down the back between the dorsolateral folds. No other frog in Iowa has paired squarish blotches. (source: The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa, by J.L. Christansen and R.M. Bailey, Nov. 1991). I guess next time I pay a little more attention to the details while I see the critter … 😉

Both images: Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

The second photo shows the habitat, a slow running stream that runs between the rock walls of the canyon, and pools filled with crystal clear water. The reason I went to White Pine Hollow was because I wanted to try out a new photo technique that actually required fast running water. There wasn’t enough water coming down the creek this time and so this project had to be put on hold, but coming back with these photos was a nice reward for hiking into the canyon despite heat and humidity.

STATE OF THE SEASON

Great Blue Heron

Todays photos are not so much about the birds, even if they are still the subject of the image, but more about the ‘environmental’ part, the part that tells the actual story in both photos. The Great Blue Heron and the Great Egret, just “do their thing”, standing or wading in the water, and looking for fish that could be the next meal. So what’s the story?

Great Egret

We can see the humongous size of the water lily leaves, that normally float on the water surface. We may notice the muddy slope behind the Great Blue Heron and all the duck weed that covers the water. And these little details tell the actual story, the story about life in the wetlands during late summer, after a period of time without rain, with low water levels, and after every plant has surpassed the peak of their beauty... No groundbreaking news, just an invitation to go out and find the beauty of mother nature during this labor day weekend, even if it is hot and muggy... ;-)

NATURE CLICKS #292 - DIFFERENTIAL GRASHOPPER

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

Grashoppers, crickets, and katydids dominate the sound spectrum almost everywhere where nature has a chance to unfold in Iowa during the month of August. Especially at night it is a never ending “wall of sound” produced by these insects.

I mentioned it before, I’m not into macro photography but when Joan discovered this full grown Differential Grashopper last weekend in the Devonian Fossil Gorge, located below the emergency spillway of Coralville Lake, I had to make a few clicks. I could swear this grasshopper was at least 60 mm long (~2 1/2”) but my books say they are only 45 mm (1 3/4”). However, it was bloody big!!

The Nikkor 24-120 mm, f/4 isn’t a macro lens, but I had it on camera and any piece of my other gear was tucked away in the car. Well, this is as good as it gets under these circumstances… ;-)

CHANGING TACTIC

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

This weekend Joan and I explored Lake Macbride, which is located between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City. Heavy rain delayed our departure Friday night but we set up our campsite and launched the lake with our kayaks finally Saturday afternoon. This is an 812-acre lake and the park is with 2,180 acres Iowa’s largest state park.

We had some really good bird encounters in the forest and on the lake, for instance a Caspian Tern, Bald Eagle, Wild Turkeys, Pileated Woodpecker, Kingfisher, Green Heron, to name only a few. Of course, not everything leads to a photo and as I have written here before, the keeper rate by shooting from a kayak is ‘a little’ lower than by using a tripod on solid ground.

Approaching a Great Blue Heron with the boat is a tricky task. Most of the time they took off with a croaking call before we even got close enough to make a picture. This guy had escaped already twice. They just fly away and land at a different spot a few hundred yards down the shore. This shot was made after we changed our tactic. We paddled around the bird in a safe distance and approached it finally with the wind in the back. We drifted slowly towards the bird, without using any paddle strokes. The heron liked that obviously a lot better and allowed us to get into shooting range. I made the movements with the camera very slow and carefully. Fill flash was again essential to bring out the color of the feathers. This didn’t bother the bird a bit and I made quite a few clicks during this 12-minute approach.

GAELIC STORM AT THE IRISH HOOLEY

I’m on a business trip in Denver, CO this week and my posts are a little bit behind ”actual”… I talked about an eventful weekend in my last post, and yes, we had some really good time last Saturday at the ‘Irish Hooley’ outside of the old Star Brewery in Dubuque, Iowa. Our friends Jeanne and Dave had invited us and we enjoyed the concert of Gaelic Storm, a chart-topping, multi-national Celtic band, as they call themselves on their website. We have seen them before and they did a great performance again.

I admit, photography was not a priority this evening. We just enjoyed the company of our friends, perfect weather, great music, and some good beer and food. Live was good… Thank you Jeanne and Dave!

10 OF SOUL, THE REAL DEAL!

Nina Little (vocals)

It was an eventful weekend, starting Friday night with “Dubuque… and All That Jazz” concert in downtown Dubuque, Iowa. 10 of Soul, a great band from the Quad Cities, took the stage and it was again what I call “the real deal”. Go to their website, read some of their bios, and you will get an idea why this band is so darn good.

Dave Abdo (bass)

As the avid reader of my blog knows, I hardly leave the tracks of wildlife, landscape, and nature photography, but I tried to capture the passion and fun the musicians obviously have. It was a great performance and it wasn’t just me who enjoyed it. Not all pictures turned out the way I was hoping for, and unfortunately I don’t have a photo of all eleven band members. Thank you to the band for respecting my close presence with the camera at the stage!

Christina Boyer (vocals)

Rusty Ruggles (reeds) and Mike Mc Mann (trombone, arranger)

Dwayne Hodges (vocals)

Tyler "Booter" Robertson (guitar)

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2015 #8

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4

Joan, I, and the dog went out this evening for a nice long walk into the Deere Marsh, a wetland area between the Mississippi River and the big John Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa. We had a fresh and clear day with a few puffy clouds in the sky, but unfortunately they all had disappeared before the evening.

Joan likes to shoot wildflowers and plants and this area had still plenty to offer for her. I just brought my favorite “walk around” lens, the Nikkor 24 - 120 / f4, and was hoping to chase some good light.

We had what I call a “dirty sunset”, a little hazy and not too pretty, nothing really special about it. But after the sun disappeared behind the ridge of the Mississippi Valley things started to unfold. Hundreds of Red-winged Blackbirds were flying above us towards a grove with tall trees, located on a small island in the river. They obviously spend the night there after feeding on insects and seeds during the day between the water lilies and arrow heads that grow in the backwaters of the river. I would not have made any picture of the sunset because I didn’t have a middle-ground with an interesting silhouette, but the blackbirds took care for that and became the story telling element in this photo.

“SLOW” TELLS A BETTER STORY

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

@500 mm, 1/40 s, f/8, ISO 500

We never had so many Ruby-throated Hummingbirds visit the yard like this year. Especially now, with the juveniles buzzing around, it is very busy at the hummingbird feeders that hang from our porch. Every second day we mix a 1.75 liter bottle of sugar water to keep up with the high demand. We never ever have even been close to this amount. 

After a number of hot and humid days we finally got some much needed rain yesterday and today and the temperatures dropped quite a bit. This is probably another reason that we saw the hummers even more frequently today. With nothing but gray clouds in the sky I decided to stay home after work and aim for some new photos of the smallest bird we have here during the summer.

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM, tripod, gimbal head, SB 800 speed light

@420 mm, 1/80 s, f/8 ISO 500

I was asked today if I shoot my hummingbird pictures with a high speed setup. The answer is no, I don’t. Remember, my goal is story telling and that means in most cases I like to show a hint of the environment, even if it is just blurred because of a shallow depth of field, like with these two images from today. The light and the green and yellow color in the background suggest a lush environment, typical for a day in August, and typical for just how it is around here at the moment. On a rainy day there isn’t much light available and using the flash is essential to bring out some colors of the birds. No matter how hard I would try with a high shutter speed of, lets say 1/500 s or even faster, the background would always be pitch-black. And with that there is no story telling…

Another part of the story telling in both photos is the dynamic of the wing beats. You see the wings multiple times and this is how you see the birds when they buzz around. They don’t look frozen. However, there has to be one thing that needs to be sharp to make the image work, and that is the eye of the critter. If the eye is blurry, and believe me that happens more than I like, the image ends up in the trash can of the computer…

TO BLUR OR NOT TO BLUR

Nikon D750, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

Ok, if you are tired of wildlife photography, here is something different for you. While paddling again on the Mississippi River I saw this airplane flying by twice. The pilot of this 1938 Luscombe 8A enjoyed probably the nice weather as much as we did. 

During his second fly-by the light on the fuselage was just great. This is finally my favorite shot, with the Luscombe, the clouds in the background, and the light coming all together nicely. The pictures are tack-sharp, at least on the much larger originals I’m able to count every rivet in the airplane.

There was only one big flaw. The propeller was sharp too and it looks like it came to a stand still. Not good at all, but this is due to a fast shutter speed of 1/3200 s. I shoot 99% in aperture priority mode in order to control depth of field and the camera selects the shutter speed for each picture on its own. In order to get the propeller blurred it needs something slower than 1/125 s and the camera must be set to shutter priority or manual mode. I have done this before. It works well, but it requires a good panning technique while following the airplane with the long lens. Well, there was just no way that I could do this on a windy day while shooting from a kayak…

So how did the prop finally got blurred? Photoshop came to my help and I used a filter called Spin Blur. It took me a few minutes to figure out the best settings but it isn’t difficult.

Looking at this airplane we expect the movement of the propeller, because that’s the way we see it flying. Otherwise it looks like the plane is parked in front of a museum and the stick that holds it was removed in Photoshop. Well, that’s not the story I like to tell with an image like this…