27TH FLOOR

Chicago downtown

An exhausting week lies behind me. The annual trade show of the printing industry, PRINT 17, is history but took all my attention, hence the lack of any blog posts this week. All what I can offer is a few views from the 27th floor of my hotel room in Chicago. I always ask for a high floor and was lucky again to have a room that allowed for shooting the skyline of Chicago. With Willis Tower (the former Sears Tower) on the left, Soldier Field stadium, and Navy Pier on the right, it doesn’t get any better. The only difficulty for a shot like this is the fact that several sheets of glass were between the lens and the subject. This really prevents a high quality image, but I was aware of this limitations and nevertheless not unhappy with the results.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, GITZO tripod GT2931 Basalt, KIRK BH-3 ball head, VELLO wired remote switch, @ 35 mm, 13 s, f/8, ISO100,

NATURE CLICKS #385 - EASTERN WOOD-PEWEE

It has been over two months since my last visit in the Green Island Wetlands, down south where the Maquoketa River meets the mighty Mississippi, but last weekend I finally was able to get back to this location, which is a favorite since a long time. This is not prime season for a wildlife photographer in this area. Duck hunting season has opened and the gravel road on top of a levee that goes through the actual wildlife refuge is closed, which itself is a good thing. However, all together it limits the chances to make a good click for those who hunt with the camera in hand. As you can imagine there wasn’t a single piece of waterfowl on the water but with a little patience and open eyes you still can find photo opportunities. Beside pelicans, eagles, egrets, herons, and swallows I saw at least two warblers and this Eastern Wood-Pewee. I cropped the image a little bit because there was a body of water between me and the bird and getting closer was not an option. Pretty soon this flycatcher will migrate to the northern part of South America.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 600 mm (DX mode), 1/80 s, f/6.3, ISO200

BREEDING PLUMAGE

American Goldfinch in breeding plumage, April 2017

It is quiet around here, except for the never ending sounds of the crickets and locusts. At least we see a few goldfinches every day at our feeders. They are one of the latest nesting birds. They start not much before July, when most other songbirds are finishing with breeding. Pretty soon the American Goldfinches will change from breeding plumage to winter plumage by a complete molt of their feathers. It is the only member of its family that has a molt in spring and fall. All other species have just one molt each year in the fall.

The males still have their yellow feathers at the moment but the plumage is not as bright and beautiful as it was back in spring, when this photo was taken.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender, @ 600 mm, 1/1000s, f/7.1, ISO200,

NATURE CLICKS #384 - GREEN CLEARWING

Green Clearwing, Mississippi River, Deere Dyke, Dubuque, Iowa

What do you do if you find a nice subject in great light that would require a macro lens and all what’s available is your widest lens? Some may say, enjoy the view and keep going. Well not me, I tried to get as close as possible with a 35 mm focal length, and I mean really close, only a few inches away. This still doesn’t do the trick, there is a reason that a true macro lens has at least a reproduction ratio of 1:1 and a longer focal length. I shot the beautiful Green Clearwing in a reasonable size but still way too much of its surrounding. To make this image work a pretty hefty crop was applied in post. Not my usual way to solve a problem. but hey, it’s a dragonfly in killer light… 😊

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, @ 35 mm, 1/320s, f/4, ISO200, B+W F-PRO Kaesemann High Transmission Circular Polarizer MRC filter

SOME STILL LOOK GOOD

We had a mild and lovely evening today and I was glad to have the camera with me during a walk with the dog down on the Heritage Trail in the Little Maquoketa River Valley. Most wildflowers have passed their prime around here as we are approaching fall but some still look good for a picture if the light hits them just right.

I’m testing a new polarizing filter (see info below) in anticipation of our vacation in October, which will hopefully lead to some good autumn photos. The B+W replaces an older 77mm Promaster filter that I never embraced 100% in regards of image quality and design. I have good experience with the 58mm B+W that I use since many years on the Carl Zeiss Distagon T*, 35mm / f2 ZF lens and I hope the 77 mm delivers the same good results.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4, B+W F-PRO Kaesemann High Transmission Circular Polarizer MRC filter,  @ 22mm, 1/250s, f/4, ISO100

GOING FOR THE DETAIL SHOTS

Shaft of light on a rock in the Volga River, Iowa -----

Yesterday’s photo here in the blog was all about the river, the season, and the mood of the landscape. But I always like to look for the lines and textures, and when the light or just color contrast make a subject pop I see another image. This was sometimes a challenge along the Volga River last weekend. The recent flash flood left a lot of clutter, like sticks and broken trees, along the shore and between the rocks. Keeping them out of the frame is not always possible and cleaning a few sticks up in post process is not a crime in my books.

Fern, Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve, Iowa

On our way home we briefly checked out another area, Brush Creek Canyon State Preserve, near Arlington, Iowa. The preserve contains a rugged forested gorge along the Silurian Escarpment, a prominent ridge located on the western edge of the Paleozoic Plateau landform region in northeast Iowa. We didn’t have the right boots to hike down into the canyon but want to come back better prepared another time. However, a few images were made. The fern growing out of 435 million years old Silurian dolomite didn’t have a shaft of light on it, like the rock in the first image, but the color contrast makes this photo work for me.

PADDLING ON THE VOLGA RIVER, IOWA

Volga River upstream from Albany Bridge ------

Joan and I had a wonderful weekend. Together with our dog Cooper we paddled the Volga River again. Someone was funny and asked on Joan’s Facebook page if we were in Russia! No folks, this river is right here in northeast Iowa! It is a gorgeous river valley that reminds me a lot of the Sächsische Schweiz (Saxonian Suizerland), back in Germany near my home town, a mountain area with sandstone bluffs, rocks, and steep valleys.

It was a different challenge this time. The water level was a bit lower than some weeks ago and we had to incorporate “a few” short portages into our kayak tour. Joan counted over 30, oh well, it was a great way to exercise getting in and out of the boat on this almost 14 km (8.5 miles) trip…

The photo above was made this morning about a mile upstream from our campsite. The water of the Volga River was very clear and some yellow leaves on the rocks tell already the story about fall will knock at the door very soon. 

Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4, @ 38mm, 1/6s, f/18, ISO100,

‘ROMANCING’ A RAILROAD BRIDGE

Mississippi River, Swivel-Railroad bridge, Dubuque, Iowa -----

Some of my favorite subjects for architecture photography are the bridges across the Mississippi River. Unless it is a totally new subject that I haven’t shot before, there has to be a certain quality of light before I consider to take the camera out of the bag. This happened one evening earlier this month at the swivel railroad bridge in Dubuque. I had never made any close photos at the north side of the bridge and discovered just recently the access for this shooting location.

By the way, these bridges are a great subject to become familiar with new gear, like cameras, lenses, or teleconverters. Learning about depth of field, light fall off, sharpness, etc. in a controlled environment, but still with an interesting subject in front of the lens, is priceless (beats test shots in the backyard by far 😊).

This photo is another try to ‘romance’ my landscape photos with Macphun’s Luminar software. I still have a tear in my eye because the good old NIK collection is on it’s way out, but any time I gain more experience with Luminar I love it a little more. It is intuitiv for someone who has worked with Adobe Lightroom and NIK before, but I can see why it might be a little overwhelming in the beginning for someone who is new in post processing their images. There are a lot decisions that can be made how to process an image and I will be the first one to admit, overdoing it is very easy…

NATURE CLICKS #383 - ORANGE SULPHUR

An Orange Sulphur on a blooming Alfalfa plant is something pretty common here in Iowa. In order to make the picture stand out composition and background can’t be neglected. Color contrast helps to make the subject pop but sharpness has to be on the spot, no matter what.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM, @ 1/4000s, f/4, ISO200

ALL GONE NOW

It was an exciting time during the last couple days watching the young House Wrens finally leaving their nest. I tried to document as much as time allowed, hoping to catch one of the juveniles out of the nest. Read the full story:

Sunday 10:00 AM

All three young birds were still in the nest. The parents brought in food very frequently. As you can see, sometimes two insects were carried at once. I doubt that this little guy shared them with its siblings…

Sunday 1:30 PM

The parents had started calling the kids out of the box. They sat sometimes for a few minutes with food in their bill in the dead cedar tree across from the box and tried to lure them away from the nest.

Sunday 7:40 PM

At about 7:00 PM the first little wren had left the nest and flew directly into the trees of the woods. No picture was taken, it just happened too fast. The parents called the other two birds intensely but they decided to stay another night in the safety of the nest box. They received the last meal at 7:40 PM. There wasn’t enough light anymore and I used flash as my main light source, not just to fill in shadows or boost colors as usual.

Monday 9:46 AM

Early in the morning the two little House Wrens were still in the box and called for food. A quarter to ten I interrupted my work and stepped out on the porch to check out what’s going on and saw that the second bird had just left the nest box. The little guy was chirping and hopping around between our flower pots on the deck. It finally climbed up the espalier on the side of the porch where this photo was taken. Later, at about 1 PM during the eclipse of the sun, the last wren was not in the nest anymore. Here in the Durango area the sun was covered by the moon about 88.5 %. During the peak time I didn’t hear a single bird, even the hummingbirds were quiet and didn’t show up.

The wrens are still around somewhere nearby. I still heard their chatter in the woods this evening. I hope they all will make it, become mature birds, and some will return for another good summer here in Iowa. It is always a sure sign of spring when the males show up here in late April or early May and work on their reproduction again.

IT’S A PROCESS, NOT A TENET

Ruby-throated Hummingbird -------   

My photography friend Kevin stopped in this evening and we had a good time aiming our lenses at hummingbirds and the House Wrens. But most importantly we exchanged thoughts and stories about recent trips and what we learned in the process. Kevin had some questions about my workflow in post process and I showed him how I process my wildlife photography images. I used a photo from last evening, the one of a Ruby-throated Hummingbird shown above, to walk him through the process how things are done in my tiny world of photography.

And here is the thing, for me a published result is not necessarily the end of the story. When I showed Kevin my processing steps I did not crop the original image. There was a little more background on each side of the picture and because of the way the subject is laid out, I played the card of negative space over detail in the subject. Later this evening, back at the computer screen, I zoomed in slightly closer (sounds better than “I cropped the picture”…😉) and actually liked it better this way.

The truth is, this photo is actually about gesture, the way the hummingbird opens its bill and makes noise in order to make its presence known to friends and foes. At the end I felt the story telling gesture comes better to life in the photo as shown above. As always, its a process, not a tenet.

CARING HOUSE WRENS

The young House Wrens in our nest box start peeking out of the hole in expectation to be fed by their parents. I have seen at least two young birds but it sounds like there might be three or even four in the nest. You never know for sure but they make a lot of noise. The parents bring insects, grasshoppers, caterpillars, and spiders a lot more frequently than a week ago, a sure sign that the little guys will leave the nest shortly, possibly during the next two or three days. This is the second successful brood this summer for the wrens. We had more than just this one couple around here. The males are fierce competitors for nest holes and don’t like other birds near their chosen nest site. We found a destroyed and abandoned nest of the Northern Cardinals in a shrub between our two nest boxes earlier this summer, most likely the work of a House Wren.

This male with the spider in its bill gave me a few seconds before it flew to the nest. The sun was hidden most of the time but the clouds opened up suddenly for a brief moment and changed the light pattern. Adjusting the exposure compensation quickly for the ambient light was key for this photo. Because of the overcast I had the flash above the lens in order to bring out the colors. It also helped when the sun came out to lower the contrast by filling in the shadows, like on the chest of the bird. Flash compensation was set to -4 (-2 in camera, -2 at the flash light). This low amount delivers just the extra hint of light without creating a second shadow.

Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, MAGMOD MagBeam flash extender

BUNNY VS. COOPER

Eastern Cottontail ------    

An Eastern Cottontail is a good critter to practice wildlife photography and to study how different light effects the fur of an animal. Even if they sit relatively still, it remains a challenge to get a sharp image of the face because they chew grass and other plants and their muscles are constantly in motion. I approached the bunny step by step, moving forward with the tripod very slowly, stop, shoot, move, stop, shoot… This was fun to do last weekend on the farm and ended only abruptly when the terrier instincts in our little dog Cooper made the cottontail run for the bushes. Cooper is a fast dog but against the bunny he had not a chance at all…

TOAD WITH HITCHHIKER

American Toad, garden pond on farm near Remsen, Iowa --------  

Nothing seems to be exciting or spectacular if a full grown American Toad climbs out off the small garden pond on a farm, unless you really try to appreciate its colors and texture against the dull background, and as a bonus recognize that an insect is hitchhiking on its back.

STORY OF TRANSITION

There are not very many farms left here in the Midwest where the old buildings and farm structures are preserved. Unfortunately beautifully crafted wooden barns, stables, and farm houses have been or will be replaced by simple metal structures, concrete, and plastic siding. This is somehow understandable because the economy of farming dictates many of these changes, but the historic charm will be gone forever.

The farm in this picture has a mixture of old and new buildings and the photographer can still tell the story of transition with his image. Including the bright clouds gives the photo some visual depth. The eye will most likely go to the brightest part of the picture first, but from there it will move through the frame.

Photo: Nikon D750, Nikkor 24-120mm / f4, @46 mm, 1/640 s, f/8, ISO100