The photo was made this evening in icy wind but with soft sunlight at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque, Iowa. I removed a couple small spots on the water, no crop, high-pass sharpening, done deal. I wished it would be always that simple… :-)
Nature clicks #201 - Great Blue Heron
Joan had the day off yesterday and asked me to go to one of the nature locations around here in the evening. She really tries hard to get more practice with her new camera. I have never been really late at the 16th Street Basin in Dubuque before but we gave it a try. I gave her the SIGMA 50-500 and let her shoot from the “mobile blind”, our car. The lens is heavy and supporting it by the car window makes sense. Many of my images were made this way.
I attached the SIGMA 150, f2.8 and the 1.4 Teleconverter to my Nikon D300s instead and positioned myself behind the car. Effective 315 mm focal length are not enough reach for the birds on the ice but I was hoping to catch an eagle or Great Blue Heron in flight. The eagles didn’t move at all in our direction but there were many herons that changed position quite often. We waited very patiently and let the birds come to us.
I saw this heron coming from the right. As soon it was over the little patch of open water, I laid the hammer down with six frames per second and panned by turning my upper body, following the heron with the lens. I guess I’m still far away from using proper panning technique but it takes a lot of practice.
The questions is, why did I not start firing when the heron was still over the ice to the right? The answer is, because background matters! The ice had changed color to an ugly gray since I was there last Sunday. The water was just the way you see it here and the shaft of light from the very low sun on the bird’s feathers made for a photo that works for me…
Thoughts about story telling
I’m thankful to my photography friend Dave Updegraff because he made me thinking about my opinion that the 16th Street detention basin in Dubuque is an awful place to shoot. I still think it’s noisy there, but it is a location that serves as a place for birds to feed and rest. I can see why people enjoy it, because it is just adjacent to downtown Dubuque. Joan and I spent some time there last Saturday, and again, just me almost four hours on Sunday. The south side is further away from Highway 151 (less noisy!) and there was a spot where the ice had melted already
Yes , the main actors were the Bald Eagles (at least for most people) but the Great Blue Herons made some nice appearances. The uninspired viewer of this image may say, it’s a bird with long legs near some water,and ok, it must like to eat fish… The more observant viewer can read a lot more of the story by looking at this photo… For example, the image was made at a body of water that had some man made structure (dam, wall, dock, lock??), it was windy (look at the waves…), the birds must visit this place regularly (white excrements on the concrete…), Great Blue Herons eat not just little fish…, and there is some ice in the lower right corner (telling you about the season when this image was made…). For me these are all information on the side, but hey are part of the story. I hope the photo screams… caught in killer light, great bird action, beautiful bird…. ;-)
River stories, part 5
My plan was actually to continue my "River stories" with some new pictures from the Sandhill Cranes at the Mississippi River. The cranes obviously didn't know about what I had in mind and decided to spend the night somewhere else... :-( I waited in my kayak for almost an hour during sunset time at the place where I had seen them before three times. After the sun had disappeared I heard their call somewhere in my back between the water lilies and reeds. At least it was good to know that they were somewhere around.
Before that I paddled down the backwater channel and enjoyed watching a Great Blue Heron hunting for fish. I worked for quite some time with this bird but despite real "killer light" my keeper rate was not very good today. I experimented with different ways to focus but obviously not all of them passed the test...
Back at the boat ramp and in the actual Mud Lake Park I saw three young Ospreys sitting on the tower, where they obviously still spend the night. Earlier I saw one of them sitting on a log with a big piece of fish. Unfortunately this picture didn't turn out sharp. I don't believe the bird had caught the fish itself. It is probably still depending on being fed. Hopefully this will change soon and the young Ospreys can support themselves before they migrate south.
A shot on the side
The masters and great teachers of landscape and wildlife photography tell you in their books and blog posts, look to your side or to your back while shooting, sometimes the best opportunities may develop right beside or behind you. This happened yesterday while I was concentrating on the pelicans and how they caught the fish out of the river. This Great Blue Heron was actually sitting on a reeling at the lock for the boats that bypass the dam, not far from where the pelicans had their meal. Suddenly it was gone and while I still had my eye on the viewfinder of the camera the heron landed only a few yards away from me on this stone. The water level is still a little high and the stone is usually not in the water. The challenge for this image was to keep a big boat and the bridge over to Wisconsin out of the frame. The heron did what herons do, it stood almost motionless and stared at the water looking for fish. I made a few clicks but was still waiting for more. I hoped the bird would start preening or fluffing at least its feathers. And finally, after waiting for what seemed to be an eternity, it did me the favor! It is nice to see when everything comes together for a shot. The pelicans were still there and I continued watching their action. And yes, I looked to the sides, as I often do, you never know what comes next right beside you... ;-)
Nature clicks #172 - Black-crowned Night-Heron
I realized today again that I still have a lot to discover and to learn about the wildlife here in Eastern Iowa where we live now since almost nine years. It wasn't until tonight that I found out that I made an image of a Black-crowned Night-Heron last Sunday in the Green Island Wetlands. For some reason I thought it was a different heron that I had seen before but this one was really a first sighting for me. It was actually a couple of them. Didn't see the second bird, which was hidden behind a tree stump, until something disturbed them and they flew away to a different location behind the trees in the background. They are primarily nocturnal but some may feed during the day as well. They are seen often standing still in the water for long periods of time and hunting for fish that swim by too close. I have to keep my eyes open. I like to see the Black-crowned Night-Heron again and maybe get a closer look at this wonderful bird.
Nature clicks # 57 - Heron in low light
- Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/50s, f/8, ISO 100
As I mentioned yesterday we did some bird watching last weekend in Governor Dodge State Park. The park has two lakes and we saw several species around the lakes and in the forest. One that made for good exercise of long lens technique was this Great Blue Heron. It was slowly moving in the shallow water, which was almost completely covered with Duckweed. The low light that we had on Saturday required long shutter speeds. Actually way too long for my abilities to keep the lens steady even on the tripod. I wrote here many times that I don't increase the ISO beyond 200 because of the limited noise reduction capabilities of my Nikon D200. I do some noise reduction in post but too much of it lets you loose detail. And this is something I don't like in my wildlife pictures.
I shot lots of pictures of this heron. Sometimes it stood up and didn't move at all. This is a good chance for a sharp shot but I wanted a picture showing the bird in hunting position, with its head down and the neck not cut by the waterline in the background. Even if this particular image was made with single-area autofocus on, it seemed that I had a better keeper rate with manual focus.
If you like to see this image in larger size please feel free to click HERE.
Nature clicks #38 - Both sides of the road
- Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/320s, f/8, -1 EV, ISO 100
Yesterday I closed my post by mentioning another new bird I saw for the first time. While I worked with these Canada Geese and their young ones at one side of the road I had a look over my shoulder and saw a little heron on a tree above the water on the other side of the gravel road. I knew the geese wouldn't run away, turned the camera immediately, focused, and fired a burst. It was a Green Heron in a nice pose and it gave me only a few seconds before flying away. I have never been disappointed yet by visiting the Green Island Wetlands along the Mississippi…
- Nikon D200, Sigma 50-500 mm f/4.0-6.3, 500 mm (750 mm FX), 1/125s, f/8, -1 EV, ISO 100
Nature clicks #24 - Great Blue Heron
- Nikon D200, SIGMA 50-500 @ 500mm, 1/500s, f/6.3, -1/2 EV, ISO 200
Yesterday I spent almost eight hours in the Green Island Wetlands near the Mississippi River again. The day didn't actually start too good. Uniform grey clouds covered the sky, a "no, no" for taking pictures of birds on the water or in flight. But my worries were without avail. The weather became better with every hour I spent in the wetlands. I met my friend Dave Updegraff briefly, who was on a photo tour with his wife and some friends. They told me about some Sandhill Cranes they had seen earlier and that I had missed. No wonder, eight eyes see more than two ;-) .
I went back and first I saw only four cranes. They later joined another group of ten birds further in the distance. I made a few clicks but they were out of reach for a good image. However, it was once more exiting to watch the Sandhill Cranes and to hear their calls. Dave actually posted a picture of me looking at the cranes in his blog. Thank you Dave! :-)
- Nikon D200, SIGMA 50-500 @ 500mm, 1/160s, f/6.3, -1/2 EV, ISO 100
Despite the sun was still not out from behind the clouds I put the lens on a Great Blue Heron that was looking out for prey. Suddenly it caught a fish. It took the heron quite some time to gobble the big catch. I had the focus set on manual this time again. I really get better results, means more keepers, if I use the Sigma 50-500 at maximum focal length.
Joan had to work this weekend and couldn't join me this time. When I come back from a photo trip she asks me quite often, "Did you see anything new?". Oh yes, I did! So please stay tuned for more to come…