Nature clicks #236 - Up on the prairie

 

We are lucky to live only about a mile away from a nice little patch of "goat prairie". Quote: Pohlman Prairie Preserve is a unique 23 acre site consisting of native bottomland forest and native prairie remnants on the high bluffs overlooking the Little Maquoketa River valley (source: mycountyparks.com).

Sunday evening Joan, our little dog Cooper, and I hiked the short switchback trail up to the top of the limestone bluffs. Any time, except of course during the winter, you can find there something that is botanically interesting. I’m not really into macro or flower photography but I like to chase the light and with plenty of wildflowers, berries, and insects there is always something to point the lens at. Nothing exciting, just some simple clicks from the prairie…

Wildflowers are out

 

Every spring I say to myself, there is no need to publish more photos of the wildflowers that we can find in the woods behind the house. I have done it many times before. But then, after four or five months with snow on the ground, it is tempting to go out and make some clicks of the little beauties between the dry leaves on the ground. I have to admit it is a great exercise for learning about light, background, and depth of field. Returning to a subject over and over again makes you a better photographer and there is nothing wrong with that.

Finally I was happy about that we used the wonderful weather last Saturday to spent time outside and enjoy the first wildflowers. The Sunday came with rain nonstop and this morning there was even some snow. I knew it was a mistake to hang the winter coat already in the closet... ;-)

Another piece of summer

 

I present you just a few Yellow Coneflowers from a patch of prairie grass today. It is so nice to see that wildflowers and prairie grass have been re-seeded along many roads and other places here in Iowa during the last few years. This photo was made in Mud Lake State Park along the Mississippi River.

We look forward to be at the wedding of our niece Jessica and her future husband Jens this weekend. Means no posts here in the blog for a few days. Wishing all my visitors here in the blog a wonderful weekend!

Easter with wildflowers

Yesterday I thought it was time for a different kind of adventure and location. The White Pine Hollow State Park near Luxemburg, Iowa is not very far from home and I haven't been there for a while. What I always liked about this rugged area is that you can't drive in. It bares a tranquility I haven't found in any other area around here. Gorgeous spring weather with fast moving clouds made for constantly changing light. It was the right time of season to revisit this wonderful area again because thousands of wildflowers were blooming. From the little parking lot on the East side of the park you can walk down to the river. The walls of the canyon and the fresh green of the surrounding trees were mirrored on the water. I put the tripod legs in the sand of the river and made this "artsy-fartsy" picture. I remembered that I had tried this before but never caught the light as today.

Spring Beauty

My lens of choice today was the Sigma 150/f2.8 with a 1.4x teleconverter attached. Why this combination? In the White Pine Hollow State Park is always a good chance to see some White-tailed Deer. I knew I would mainly focus on close-up pictures yesterday and the Sigma 150/f2.8 is a sharp lens for this kind of photography. With the teleconverter attached it still leaves the door open for a deer or other wildlife shot. I also love the shallow depth of field it can provide.

In the most parts of this forest are no trails but it is not difficult to move around. However, it was hard not to step on a wildflower. There were huge patches of Spring Beauty all over.

Many flowers, like Hepatica and Dutchmans Breeches, that are gone behind our house already, were still blooming here. Different kinds of violets and anemones were in full bloom on the forest floor.

Rue Anemone

Cooper, our little dog, was a patient companion when I laid on my stomach and tried to get a low angle for the picture. He probably thought, what a silly guy...

Habitat recovery and kudos for a dog

After a long day behind my desk I went for a walk to a little wetland area north of Dubuque along the Mississippi. I haven't been there this year because of the brutal impact that some construction work had last year in this area. It made me just sad and mad to see how a wildlife habitat can be legally treated so bad. Today I just wanted to find out what the situation is there. The good news is that some of the vegetation had recovered and at least some of the wildlife had returned. I saw quite a few birds, frogs, toads, and two young snapping turtles.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

I had packed light and carried just the camera with the 24-120 mounted. Not ideal for this picture of the tiny Snapping Turtle. I wished I had the Sigma 150/f2.8 and a flashlight with me. The background of this picture really sucks but I will not move an animal in order to get a better image. It is what it is in my wildlife photography. I shot a picture of a young snapping turtle almost at the same place several years ago. That was even worse and that's why the new one will replace the first shot in my Iowa Wildlife Gallery. It's ok for now, I will be back sometime.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

On the way back to the car I saw that the low sun created some wonderful light on these sunflowers. I couldn't resist to make the click.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

No, I will not become a "pet shooter"! But I want to give some kudos to Cooper, our little dog that made himself home on our porch last year, and who lives with us since. He was patiently sitting and waiting while I was taking pictures today. He likes the sun and the wonderful warm light was as good for him as it was for the flowers… Good boy Cooper!

Time of transition

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

I did not really have a plan for my photography last weekend in Dodge State Park. I just thought I look for the light that the transition between summer and fall provides. The leaves haven't changed color yet, only slightly. Green and the yellow of the wildflowers were dominating and I tried to capture this late summer mood in my pictures.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

I treated each of these three images a little different to make the important elements stand out. The Woodland Sunflowers (at least that's what we believe they are) have just some darkening around the edges applied. I used a very subtle 'Glamour Glow', one of my favorite filters in NIK's Color Efex Pro, for the back-light maple leaves. This gives it an almost ethereal touch.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 24-120 mm f/4G ED VR

This meadow of Golden Rod was very beautiful and in order to get some depth of field I dialed in f/9.5. This left at the other hand too many distracting details in the background. The application of a neutral graduated filter in post suppressed most of them and separates the flowers from the background nicely.

These are all little things that don't take much time but they helped me to create the images as I want them to be seen.

Nature clicks #36 - Wildflowers with speedlight and softbox

I like to continue my little series about the wildflowers the we can find in the timber behind our house here in Eastern Iowa.

Nikon D200, Sigma 150 mm f/2.8, SB600, Softbox, 1/60s, f/8, +0.5 EV, ISO 100

The most remarkable we found today belongs to the orchid family. A nice Showy Orchis (Galearis spectabilis) was hidden under a fallen tree trunk on the slope the goes down to the Little Maquoketa River. I used my Nikon SB600 speedlight with the softbox that I built last winter. I wrote about this DIY project in January. Click HERE for the link to this post. I just laid the softbox on the ground below the trunk, so that the light filled the dark spot.

Nikon D200, Sigma 150 mm f/2.8, SB600, Softbox, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 100

Another, much more common flower we find here everywhere is the Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum). The camera was on the tripod for all pictures. Here I focussed manually because it was a little windy in the woods. The camera was in commander mode and I used the flash of the D200 as a master flash in order to trigger the external flash with the attached softbox. I just stand beside the flowers and directed the flash unit.

Nikon D200, Sigma 150 mm f/2.8, SB600, Softbox, 1/160s, f/4.8, ISO 100

Jack-In-The-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) can be found here at several locations on the rocky slope. They are in full bloom at the moment and easy to identify.

If you like to read the older entries, just click on the "Wildflowers" tag at the bottom of this post.

Nature clicks #29 - Dutchman's breeches

Nikon D200, SIGMA 150 mm f/2.8, 1/500s, f/5.6, -1 EV, ISO 100

In my blog post "Nature clicks- #26" I talked about another wildflower we can find in the woods behind our house. It is the Dutchman's Breeches (Dicentra cucullaria), a perennial herbaceous plant. These pictures were already taken ten days ago but we still can find many of them here on the wooded slopes of the Little Maquoketa Valley.

I use a tripod for most of my images but messing with the sticks on a steep slope takes a lot of time. By the time you have the camera in a stabile place, a good light situation may have passed already. I learned this lesson during the last three years in my backyard and this time I just handheld the camera.

Nikon D200, SIGMA 150 mm f/2.8, 1/160s, f/8, -1EV, ISO 100

Wind is always an issue at this time of the year, and quite often I use "the peak of action" as in wildlife photography, the brief moment when nothing is moving. "Peak of action" is something I learned from famous wildlife photographer Moose Peterson. You can read about it on his blog or in his wonderful book 'Captured'. A book, I can't rave enough about! In the matter of wildflowers I just had to use all my attention to sense when the wind will stop for a second or two.

I wish all my friends and visitors of my blog a wonderful Easter weekend.

Nature clicks #26 - Update on wildflowers

Nikon D200, SIGMA 150 mm f/2.8, 1/400s, f/4, -1/2 EV, ISO 100

I like to give you a quick update on the wildflowers in the woods behind our house. Two weeks ago I reported about the first hepatica sticking their heads out (click for my older post here). There are many patches of them now and their colors vary from almost white to deep purple.

Nikon D200, SIGMA 150 mm f/2.8, 1/350s, f/5.6, -1/2 EV, ISO 100

Another early flower we are blessed to have here is the Bloodroot. We never have seen so many before as of this year. It seems to pay back now that Joan and I pull out any Garlic Mustard plant, whenever we can grab one. Garlic Mustard is an invasive species in North America and it spreads everywhere in the the woods here. It seems to be an endless battle because one plant can produce hundreds of seeds and they can germinate up to five years after being produced. This patch of Bloodroot is the largest one I have seen so far and we are very happy about it. And there is another wildflower blooming already, but this for another post. So, please stop by again!

Nature clicks #21 - Spring indicators

150 mm, 1/60s, f4, -1EV

For me spring has really arrived when the first wildflowers stick their heads out from underneath the old leaves. We are blessed to have each year several species in the woods behind our house. The first ones are always the Round-lobed Hepatica. The dry rocky ground on top of a big limestone bluff is the ideal ground for these little spring flowers.

Joan discovered the first one today. After I finished work I mounted my favorite macro lens on the D200, the SIGMA 150 mm, f2.8, and went out in the woods. The sun was already very low and it was slightly windy. However, I wanted this shot, got down flat on the ground, and dialed in 1/60s, f4, and -1EV. We usually have quite a few hepatica here and I hope during the next days we will see many more.

Did I say yet "Spring is here!" ? ;-)