SUMMER CLOSE-UP

August 18, 2023

Of course, we can make all kinds of ”technical exercise” with our cameras, from focus stacking to multiple exposures, etc., etc., you name it. I like the simple shot that reveals beauty, may tell a story, but most important doesn’t need a lot of ”pixel bending” in post process to make the image work. The light came from the right but the white prickles make it almost look like the teasel was backlit. It’s certainly an invasive plant but there is no reason to think it doesn’t look gorgeous.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, @ 200mm, 1/1250s, f/5, ISO 400

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2023 #8 - SAGITTARIA LATIFOLIA

August 16, 2023

Broadleaf Arrowhead, Mississippi River, John Deere Marsh, Iowa

During my short walks with our dog Cooper during lunch time I almost always take the camera with me, although due to the time of the day the light is often not flattering. I’m glad I did yesterday. The Broadleaf Arrowheads, also known as common arrowheads, in the Mississippi River cover huge areas along the shore. Its blossoms stand out and look gorgeous against the lush green of the arrowhead shaped leaves. After going down on my knees it was an easy click at 200 mm focal length.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm, f/4, @ 200mm, 1/500s, f/5.6, ISO 100

BRENTON ARBORETUM, WITH AN EYE ON THE SKY

August 14, 2023

Summer sky over Brenton Arboretum, near Dallas Center, Iowa

We were introduced to an Iowa nature gem by good friends last weekend. The Brenton Arboretum near Dallas Center in Central Iowa is not just about trees, but also prairie, grasslands, ponds, and wetland areas. There were plenty of opportunities for macro photography, but as the avid reader of my blog already knows, I’m not so much into that field. Clouds were moving all around and I had my eye on them, hoping for some interesting light and maybe drama in the sky. Almost at the end of our short hike a picture unfolded, as the light hit the wildflowers in the prairie on this hillside, the clouds formed a pattern, and the sky took care for some color contrast.

Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S, @ 47mm, 1/1250 s, f/8, ISO 200

WATCHING THE COMPETITION

August 13, 2023

We were not home this weekend and a concern was if all of our Ruby-throated Hummingbirds would be still here after our return. We have a lot of wildflowers in the front yard at the moment but this is not enough and the hummers have consumed every day almost half a gallon of sugar water (about 1.75 liters) from the feeders that hang from the porch. When we returned today I was happy to see that at least five hummingbirds showed up after I filled the feeders again. Last week we still had about a dozen of them, but the birds we see might not be the same that grew up here, since they probably started migrating to the south already.

I spent one evening on the deck with the camera last week and tried to capture some birds in flight, hovering at flowers in the front yard. As so often in wildlife photography it didn’t work out, but a few pictures of a young male perching in a maple were shot. Even if they sit down for a moment, there is a constant battle with other birds about the best feeding places going on. The picture tells the story, the hummingbird is in for a rest but watches the other competitors constantly as they try to approach ”his” feeder or the flowers around.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light, Impact Quikbox Micro Softbox, @ 600 mm, 1/800 s, f/6.3, ISO 2000

LET’S USE THE CLOUDS

August 10, 2023

I shot this industrial structure in the historic Millwork District of Dubuque, Iowa four years ago already and it did draw my attention again during the Millwork Night Market about a month ago. This time we had more drama with some dynamic clouds that made me set the camera to Black & White mode. I wanted to replicate a retro look for this photo and mimicked a red filter in camera already for a high contrast look. It’s the time of the year with a lot of moisture in the air and with it come the clouds. Well, let’s just use them! It begs the question, what is the subject here, the metal structure or the clouds? You tell me…

DEALING WITH HIGH ISO SETTINGS

August 2, 2023

There were many ways to escape the summer heat during the weekend. Since we had the grandkids in town a visit in the National Mississippi River Museum and Aquarium was one of the options. We went there actually twice… It’s such an interesting place that has many things to offer for people of all ages and although we have been there often before, there is always something new to see and to learn.

I in particular enjoy all the big aquariums with displays of different habitats in the Mississippi River and about the marine life along the coast lines of North America. It’s always a challenge to shoot through the thick glass under low light conditions. Fish usually do not stand still and to freeze the action my ISO settings were between 1600 and even 10000. These high ISO values pump up the amount of digital noise in the photo to a level that just doesn’t look good anymore.

The Nikon Z6II handles digital noise much better than any DSLR camera I have ever owned, but in that range some noise removal needs to be applied in post process. Thanks to noise removal software that is powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI) we can enjoy some amazing results these days. Adobe Lightroom is the first software for most of my editing and it has a pretty good AI powered Denoise feature built in. However, I still prefer Topaz DeNoise AI, which has more choices about how the final noise removal is done.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikkor Z 24-70, f/4 S

NATURE CLICKS #566 - GREEN HERONS

July 27, 2023

Green Heron, Heritage Ponds, near Dubuque, Iowa; Hunting for tadpoles and frogs is often done very stealthy but sometimes a quick move to a different spot in the pond leads to success as well.

The water in the pond disappears slowly but surely because we had no significant rain lately. It doesn’t look pretty at the moment but the pond provides food for other birds beside the family of Sandhill Cranes I wrote about in my last blog post. Green Herons are usually quite skittish and I have never watched more than one bird at any time.

Well, last week there were three herons hunting for food and it was a lot of fun watching them from the deck of an observation platform. The tadpoles in the water just became froglets and have developed front legs already. They still have their tail and they must be very tasty for the Green Herons because they were eating many of them.

Stretching the neck seems to guarantee better sight for the next catch in the muddy pond.

Shooting from an observation platform above water level is not an ideal location. The steep angle looking down doesn’t allow a great background. But hey, I’m not too choosy during this time of the year. I still think the pictures can tell the story.

Green Herons are considered fairly common but studies have shown that their population is in steep decline. (source: AllAboutBirds.org)

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

LEARNING HOW TO FEED

July 24, 2023

Juvenile and adult Sandhill Cranes, Heritage Ponds, Dubuque, Iowa

Despite spending some time with aviation photography during recent days I still had a chance to make some wildlife images as well. I saw a pair of Sandhill Cranes with their chick a month ago while riding my bicycle down in the valley. The best camera you have is always the one that is with you, and in this matter I just snapped a couple pictures with the camera in my phone. Last Friday I watched the cranes again and the juvenile on the left had grown quite a bit already. This time I was prepared and had the right gear in the car.

How do birds learn what to eat, where to find the food, and how to catch it? Although the young cranes begin to feed themselves during the second week, as you can see, this young bird was still not probing with its bill in the mud of the very shallow pond. It just watched one of the adults closely and waited patiently until mom or dad found something, like a tadpole or frog. The second photo shows the other adult, just briefly interrupting its intense search for food. The color of their heads tells the story about a hungry chick that still needs some support…

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

P-51 MUSTANGS

July 23, 2023

Tomorrow starts the big AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the pilots with their aircrafts that spent part of last week here at the Dubuque Regional Airport have left today. I was out a couple more times this weekend to watch starts and landings and of course, for photography. Today I like to share a few images of some gorgeous looking P-51 Mustang that trained here for the airshow. The P-51 Mustang is a long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts.

AIRSHOW PREPARATIONS

July 20, 2023

T-6 Texan, @600 mm, 1/250s, f/13, ISO100

The sound of propeller engines filled the air early in the morning during the last couple days, reminding us that the world’s largest airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin is coming up next week. As every year a number of historic airplanes are at the Dubuque Airport the week before, with the pilots training for the big event.

I went out in the afternoon and the weather conditions were just great for some aviation photography. Some big puffy clouds made for a nice background. As every year, there were a number T-6 Texans and some other airplanes parked but a few did still their practice at my arrival. The runway they used for starts and landing today is not far from the observation deck and I tried my luck with the planes coming in for landing out of the southeast.

There were two things I tried to accomplish. First it is nice to have a little bit of blue sky in the frame, not just the white and gray of the clouds. That of course was not always in my control. And second the props of the planes had to be blurred for a realistic sense of motion. To get there the shutter speed should be between 1/40s and 1/250s. The last was almost too fast for some pictures because the speed of the propeller plays also a role here. I can tell, my panning technique with the long lens was not superior today, I had a lot of misses. I definitely need more practice…

1966 BEECH V35 Bonanza, 1/250s, f/13, ISO100

NATURE CLICKS #565 - GREAT CRESTED FLYCATCHER

July 19, 2023

Great Crested Flycatcher, Upper Mississippi Valley, Green Island Wetlands, Iowa

Here is still a shot from our wildlife watching trip last weekend. This opportunity came up actually at the very end but it made me very happy. It’s not very often that we see a Great Crested Flycatcher. This bird is not difficult to identify due to its yellow belly.

Much of the landscape was already in the shade but the low sitting sun touched the bird just nicely. The Great Crested Flycatcher is the only eastern flycatcher that nests in cavities, like woodpecker holes. With most of the trees in the Green Island Wetlands disappearing and dying after years of high water levels I wonder what its future will be. I accidentally didn’t have the zoom lens extended to its maximum of 600 mm and decided finally to crop the photo a bit.

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, @ 490 mm, 1/1600 s, f/8, ISO 500

LIFE AT THE POND

July 16, 2023

Green Frog, Mississippi Valley, Bellevue State Park, Iowa

We made a trip to different nature locations this afternoon. One of them was the butterfly garden in Bellevue State Park, a place we haven’t visited in a while. It wasn’t really a surprise that we saw very few butterflies, a trend that we see also around the house this year. But there are of course other things to look for. Joan has always an eye on the botanical side and found several flowers and plants she didn’t have in her picture library previously.

I focussed on a small pond that is surrounded by the butterfly garden. It is the only place in Iowa I found Green Frogs (Rama clanitans) in the past so far and luckily there was still a number of this species in the pond. They are easy to identify with their small irregular brown spots on the back and side. In Iowa Green Frogs are often brown when fully grown according to the DNR brochure (The Salamanders and Frogs of Iowa, by J.L. Christiansen and R.M. Bailey). Green Frogs can be found in the eastern half of the state in scattered populations and the pond in Bellevue State Park seems to be one of them.

The water was a little low and the short banks of the pond are kinda steep. With other words, I had to shoot from slightly above and not from a very low angle as it is sometimes possible, for instance from a kayak.

Frogs were not the only animals that life in or near this habitat. I saw different species of dragonflies and damselflies but only the smallest of them, the beautiful Northern Bluet Damselfly, perched on a stem of grass once in a while and posed for a photo.

All images: Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm

TIME WITH HUMMINGBIRDS

July 15, 2023

It’s this time of the year when we have to refill each of our three hummingbird feeders twice a day. The young Ruby-throated Hummingbirds compete heavily over the food sources with the adults. Yes, we have many flowers in our yard but this wouldn’t be enough to keep them all happy. The male adults often perch near a feeder in small trees or bushes and defend ”their” feeder vigorously against any intruder. However, they are outnumbered by the juveniles and females and so every bird has finally a chance to drink and boost their energy.

The best time to shoot the birds perched in a little maple in front of our porch is early or midmorning. No flash was required to reveal the brilliant colors of the hummingbird’s feathers.

Juvenile male buzzing and hovering near a feeder

The second photo was made the night before, when the sun was already low and behind the trees. This time I had a speed-light mounted to the camera but softened its output with a small on-camera softbox. The Nikon Nikkor 70-200, f/4 lens was used at 200 mm in order to move quickly and follow the action of the hummingbirds while they hover near the feeders. I love the buzz of their wings and for me that has to be part of the story I try to tell with a photo of a hummingbird in flight. It is possible to freeze the action of the wings with a faster flash output and a shutter speed of about 1/1600s or faster, but hummingbirds are constantly in motion and I prefer to shoot with 1/200s for the motion blur of the wings. This is maybe a little more difficult and not every click may lead to a good result.

BUSY BLUEBIRDS

July 10, 2023

There was some hope a few weeks ago that we may have a pair of Eastern Bluebirds building a nest in a special nest box I provided for them. They tried, but we have a number of House Wrens here in the woods and the males are pretty aggressive and kick any other bird out of a cavity if it is within their claimed territory. So, no bluebird nest again this year in our backyard. I never mind seeing the wrens raising their offspring but it would be nice having young bluebirds as well. Luckily my photography friend Kevin has a pair of bluebirds again this year in one of the nest boxes he installed near his house and he invited me for a shooting session while the parents fed the offspring in the nest last weekend.

Male bluebird, checking the surroundings before entering the nest box

There were some interesting observations to be made. During the whole time, more than an hour, the female didn’t feed the young birds at all. She had food available and in its bill and seemed to act as a backup. The male flew in and kept feeding the brood from time to time. I saw the female swallowing a caterpillar and coming back quickly with another one, but she never entered the nest box. I’m not sure if she gave some of her catch to the male, but he was the only bird feeding their offspring.

Kevin and I had plenty of opportunities making a photo of the female bird while she posed nicely on a branch near the nest box. The males are a lot more colorful but the busy bird flew most of the time directly to the wooden box, checked the surrounding area for any possible danger, and quickly went into the entrance hole. Good times as always, and my thanks go out to Kevin for giving me the opportunity for this photo shoot!

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head

UNDER THE CANOPY

July 7, 2023

Female American Goldfinch, Walnut Woods State Park, Iowa

This is a late post from last weekend. We spent a relaxing holiday weekend in and around Des Moines, Iowa with friends. Not much photography this time but I had a chance to explore briefly Walnut Woods State Park, a nice wooded area along the Raccoon River in West Des Moines. There was a blind for watching birds but I placed my tripod outside of the building and practiced for a while shooting under the canopy of the trees, challenged by constantly changing light conditions.

Gray Catbird, Walnut Woods State Park, Iowa

To maintain some consistence I employed the Nikon SB800 speed light with a little dome diffuser to pull out some shadows and get better results for the colors of the birds feathers. As always, the speed light was mounted with a flash bracket above the long lens, which allows for better direction of the light and prevents unwanted reflections in a bird’s eye.

We saw mostly the same bird species that we have here in our woods and so I looked just for the best ”posers” among them. Nothing spectacular, just pure shooting fun!

Nikon Z6II, Nikon FTZ adapter, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S, Sigma APO Teleconverter 1.4x EX DG, Induro GIT 404XL tripod, Induro GHB2 gimbal head, Nikon SB 800 speed light,