Blustery cold Sunday

 

The snow storm from yesterday was followed by a sunny day with blowing wind and very cold temperatures. It didn’t stop us from driving through the open country and looking for some wildlife. Joan and I went to the gravel road where I had seen the American Kestrel a few days ago but we didn’t have any luck today. Instead the fresh snow and some clouds made for a wide angle shot of this old farm house on the hill.

Joan wanted to see if we can see the Blue Birds again that I discovered last weekend in the valley. To my surprise we found three of them sitting in a tree above the creek at the same place. Despite the very cold temperatures the creek had open water. This and the fact that this location in the valley is a little protected from the icy wind draws probably the birds in. We also discovered a bunch of American Robins in a nearby tree. I guess spring can’t be that far away anymore… ;-)

Nature clicks #198 - White-breasted Nuthatch

 

Yes, this photo was made today! It snowed again last night and most of the day today and staying home was probably a wise decision because of the road conditions. My daughter told me today that the snow bells and crocus bloom already over in Germany. Well, ours here are still under a heavy layer of snow and ice… I admit, I’m a little jealous!

I haven’t posted an image of the White-breasted Nuthatch this season yet, although they are here all winter long. This one wasn’t moving much for several minutes, a sure sign that a hawk was nearby somewhere in the trees around. Every woodpecker or nuthatch tries to stay on the opposite site of a tree, away from the hawk, while the raptor is in the area. This gives me usually an idea where to look for the hawk. I hope I don’t bore you too much with another winterly photo but there wasn’t much else to shoot today, at least outside…

Enhancing the light with flash and soft box

Today we got reminded that we are still in the middle of winter. Lots of snow fell during the morning until noon. Well, I call it ideal weather for bird photography! The snow drives the birds to the feeders and water sources that we provide for our feathered friends. Snow flakes create always a nice dynamic in the photo and help to tell the story about survival in harsh weather conditions and this is why I like this kind of weather for shooting birds around the house.

The lack of light (strong overcast) was compensated by using the Nikon SB600 speed light and my self-made soft box. If you like to see how that light enhancer looks like, click on the link HERE , and one of my older posts will open in a new window. The softened light from the flash brings out the colors in the birds. While this works well you still don’t want too much reflection of the flash in the frame. I set the camera to manual mode (today I used most of the time 1/250s, f/8) and also reduce the output of the flash by -2/3. The shooting distance was about 3 meters (10 feet). After a few test shots it is not difficult to find the settings that you may like for your photo. I prefer to use the manual mode for this kind of shooting because it gives me consistent results over a period of time. If the light changes on a larger scale I change the settings of the flash light accordingly.

If you like to try something similar at your bird feeders but do not have a soft box, just take a white napkin and put it over your flash. This is not perfect (neither is my self-made soft box!) but it will give you some results you may like much better than just from the naked speed light. It is a starting point, give it a try!

Post processing for these images was very simple. I cloned out a few snow flakes that reflected the flash light a little too much. Other than that, just the usual tweaks in the basic menu of Adobe Lightroom, RAW sharpening, a little noise reduction, and finally some Highpass sharpening in Photoshop of the critical parts (eyes, maybe feet or some feathers). After three minutes the photo is ready to be saved as a jpeg file as you can see it here in the blog.

I hope my little description of today’s bird shooting may encourage you to try something similar at your own bird feeders, or even better out in the woods. Stay warm and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Nature clicks #140 - Northern Cardinal

 

We had a conclave of Northern Cardinals here all winter long but they usually show up very early in the morning and late after sunset when the light is not sufficient for bird photography. Today they changed their mind. A short but intensive snow shower hit our area today and covered everything with white for a couple hours. As many other birds the cardinals gave our feeders a try and I was actually able to make a few clicks in great light.

Critters dealing with new snow

 

Winter and its weather have never left us really since December last year and today we were reminded that any thought about spring is ridiculous right now. A winter storm came through today and left plenty of the white stuff on the ground. I could talk about birds that have been here all day long but I also took some images of the critters with four legs that came close to our house today. We have lots of Eastern Gray Squirrels here that try to get a good share of the bird food in the feeders. Most of them are really gray but we also have a few black morphs here in the neighborhood. There is one exception and this little guy has really some color in its fur. We wonder if some Red Squirrel was mixed into the equation. We have never seen a Red Squirrel here up on the ridge but we know there are a few down in the valley. The one I show you is definitely as big as a Gray Squirrel (Red Squirrels are much smaller) and we really wonder how this guy got its color.

Any time the ground is covered with snow there is a good chance that the White-tailed Deer will show up in our yard at dusk. Today we had our usual group of two does and two fawns here. I saw them too late to open the window before they arrived and had to shoot through the glass. It was still snowing and the falling snow messed a few times with the autofocus system in the camera. Daylight lasts much longer now already and this image was made at 1/60 of a second. I know, the books will tell you that you need at least 1/320 of a second if your focal length is 320 mm, as in this picture, but I try to shoot long exposure in order to keep the ISO settings as low as possible for best detail in my photo.

Woodpeckers in the queue

 

The winter came back with full force to Eastern Iowa. We had about ten inches of snow and as a result I have never seen so many birds around our feeders as today. Between work duties and snow shoveling I made a few clicks through the glass door of the balcony. This doesn't take a lot of efforts because the camera is always mounted on a tripod and ready for action.

This little Downy Woodpecker was waiting in line to get to one of the suet feeders where obviously one of its siblings took its time feeding. There is an order at these feeders that is clearly dictated by size and strength. First come the Red-bellied Woodpeckers. Nobody would mess with their long and sharp beak. Next in line are the Hairy Woodpeckers. They look very similar to the Downys but they are bigger and have a longer beak as well. Finally the members of the big family of Downy Woodpeckers compete against each other. We have at least six of them here (2012 was a good year for their reproduction) and they all need to eat a lot in this kind of weather.

It is rare that the woodpeckers share a feeder but we have very cold temperatures coming in the next few hours and their metabolism is probably much higher than usual. I know, feeder images are not the gems of wildlife photography. But hey, I don't try to win a contest here, I just tell today's story about the Iowa winter here in the woods... ;-)

Nature clicks #133 - Fox Sparrow

 

I interrupt my 2012 "Looking back" series one more time for an actual picture of another "first time" shot. The blizzard that came through last Thursday left us with about a foot of snow on the ground and this brings a lot of birds into our yard here in the woods. A heated bird bath and different bird feeders all around the house are obviously well received by the birdies. Two Fox Sparrows were among them today, a bird species that I have seen only ones before here. At that time I didn't pay much attention and thought they were young robins. Todays photo shoot made it clear, no American Robins, no Hermit Thrushs (looks also very similar) but some nice looking Fox Sparrows were feeing on the ground. This sparrow is larger and almost chubby in comparison to other sparrows and that's why I made my mistake. They spend the summer up in Canada and in the western part of the United States. Here in Iowa they are usually seen only during migration and I wonder if we will have them all winter long here. Except for the last couple nights it has not been really cold and maybe that makes them stay here (beside the good food and drinks ;-)  ).

2012 - Looking back, part 1

The year comes rapidly to an end. Time to browse through this year's photo library in order to clean up, learn from all the mistakes made, and maybe to discover still some images that are worth to be shown in public. Photos are memories and it is always nice to remember the good and great moments in life. For me this is very often the time I spend behind the camera and in the great outdoors. I invite you to follow me through the year again and share some good photography moments.

The last winter was the mildest one I have seen here in Iowa yet. This picture of a Hairy Woodpecker in a snowstorm was made January 20, 2012, and was really not typical for this year. For a photo like this we don't have to go very far. The birds come in big numbers to the feeders we have placed around the house. Exposure times between 1/90s and 1/30s make the dynamic of the drifting snow visible and the white stuff on the ground works like a giant reflector and throws some light from underneath.

The Dark-eyed Juncos are not always easy to photograph. Their eyes often blend into their dark heads and in a high contrast scene you hardly can see them. This was no problem in the low light situation of this snowstorm.

More to come, stay tuned...

Nature clicks #75 - Northern Cardinal

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM

I have written here before about "having a plan" or "setting goals" for your photography. I still believe it is important to do that if someone wants to see improvements from a technical as well from the artistic point of view. My friend Dave Updegraff, who is like me an amateur photographer here in the Dubuque area, was looking some time ago for new goals and decided to focus on photographing old barns out in the countryside. I follow his blog and can tell that his approach to the subject became better and better any time he publishes new barn photos.

I try to do the same with my wildlife photography. I have this gallery about wildlife in Iowa at pbase.com. (Click HERE for a glimpse). One of my goals is to replace images from the early days of my digital photography with photos that are taken from a closer distance, and of course, that are technically and artistically better than my first shot of a particular animal.

I was very proud about my first photo of a Northern Cardinal, taken 2007 from quite a bit away, and finally cropped to death in post. Even if I don't want to look at the old picture anymore for many reasons, mainly image quality, but making the photo was as much fun as last week during the snow storm. For the first time I got a picture of a male cardinal that fills the frame. Little steps, and some take time, but the better image makes me feeling good again…

Nature clicks #74 - Dark-eyed Junco, late arrival

Nikon D300s, Sigma 50-500mm / f4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM @ 420 mm (630 mm FX), 1/60s, f/6.3, -1.5 EV, ISO 100

I went to Indianapolis, Indiana today and had actually planned to try the Bald Eagles at Mississippi dam #14 down in Le Claire, Iowa. I was hoping to show some eagle pictures in today's post but winter weather conditions, fog, and gray sky didn't allow any photo that would have made sense. Nevertheless, I stopped briefly at the dam and at least saw a Bald Eagle high up in the trees beside the parking lot.

Instead, here is another image from shooting two days ago in the snow storm. The Dark-eyed Junco is not easy to photograph in low light. It's one of the birds hard to focus on, because there is hardly any contrast between the eye and it's head. They are always moving and quite often gone before focus is obtained. This one isn't even exactly sharp but I like the bird's pose on this branch. The Juncos are usually here during the winter in big numbers. This season was a little different. They just came down south together with the arrival of the first snow, probably due to the warm temperatures we had here in December and early January. No eagle, but still a nice looking bird. I hope you enjoy.