Nature clicks #92 - American White Pelicans, I'm getting closer...

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

What a great day we had yesterday for being outside. I spent seven hours in the Green Island Wetlands. Light was a little harsh in the first half of the afternoon but nevertheless there were lots of good opportunities to watch all kinds of critters. The water level is higher than it was a week ago and some mud banks are flooded again. Looks much nicer. American Coots are in the wetlands in large numbers and with the arrival of Green-winged Teals I had another first sighting again.

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

If you think Bald Eagles are majestic, just watch the American White Pelicans soar high on thermals. It is very impressive to see them flying with their slow and deep wing beats but watching them soaring in big formations is stunning. Another great experience is to see a squadron of pelicans fishing together. The problem at Green Island is that you can't come even close if you rely on your car. I like shooting from my car because, as I have written before, it works like a blind and most birds don't see it as a thread and and they don't fly away. The pelicans need a different tactic. They prefer the lakes in the wetlands that aren't accessible by car. I made a little hike and a very slow approach to a lake shore across from the pelican's resting and fishing place. This was already very late in the afternoon and the light was wonderful.

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

The high contrast between their white and black feathers requires a good amount of exposure compensation in order not to blow out the white completely. I prefer a darker tonality for my style of photography, and dialing in negative values (in this matter -1.5EV) is common practice anyway. It lets the colors pop and I never have to touch the saturation slider in Lightroom or Photoshop.

More to come, stay tuned…

Can't leave out the good light...

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

If you have followed my blog since a while you know already that I can't resist to make a click if light has something to offer. It doesn't matter to me if it is even a critter I photographed already many many times before. We have plenty of opportunities to shoot Canada Geese here in Eastern Iowa so I don't think we have to shoot them in bad light. Today I made another visit to the John Deere Marsh because I was hopping the Northern Pintails would be a little closer to shore than last Sunday. More Blue-winged Teals had arrived and the pintails were just among them. They seem to prefer a particular spot in the lake that is unfortunately too far away for my 500mm focal length. However, the geese across the boat landing appeared in great light during dusk today and of course, I put the legs of my tripod into the mud and tried to capture the light again...

Nature clicks #91 - Northern Leopard Frog

Nikon D300s, Sigma 150mm / f2.8 APO EX DG HSM

Not far from our home is the John Deere Marsh. This marsh belongs to the National Wildlife & Fish Refuge on the Upper Mississippi River. As the name suggests, it is located right behind the big John Deere plant here in Dubuque. The Little Maquoketa River joins the Mississippi in this area and both rivers have shaped the marsh. Joan and I had a little hike there today and beside enjoying the extremely warm weather we were watching out for migrating birds. Beside the always present Mallards, we saw American Coots, Northern Shovelers, and Blue-winged Teals on the lake that is part of the marsh land. We also made our first encounter of a few Northern Pintails. None of the ducks was within shooting range and so it didn't bother me a bit that I left the 50-500 at home today.

Instead I had the Sigma 150mm/f2.8 on camera, simply because I wanted to make pictures of frogs. Mating season is in full swing and there are probably thousands of frogs having a great time at the moment. This Northern Leopard Frog was hiding between old leaves along the levee that surrounds part of the lake. Direction and quality of the late afternoon light was good. I just darkened background and foreground a little in order to make them less busy and less distracting.

Nature clicks #90 - Finally, a pair of Wood Ducks

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

Everything in nature is early this year due to the extremely warm weather we have here in Iowa. Last year I reported my first encounter of a Wood duck on April 11. I had a very obstructed view but was very happy to see this pretty duck for the first time. Click HERE if you like to see the older images and what I had to say about them. Since this first meeting with the Wood Ducks I envisioned an image with both, male and female, and of course in great light. Today luck was on my side. I saw this pair of ducks in one of the canals at the Green Island Wetlands. It took some efforts to get this shot. Wood Ducks are extremely shy and like to hide in the shadow of the trees. However, the birds were actually in backlight and the background was way too bright for my taste. I thought this image was worth the extra work and I used my software mix of Adobe Lightroom 4, Photoshop CS4, and NIK Color Efex Pro 4 to eliminate all distracting lights and "shiny spots" in foreground and background. Why did I use NIK Color Efex Pro? Take it for granted, I don't touch the colors of the animals in my wildlife photography. Period. But NIK's CEP has a filter called "Darken / Lighten Center". This is one of my favorite filters, that allows to darken or lighten the borders or the center of an image. You can set the point of center and also its size. Isn't that the same like applying a vignette to the photo? Kinda, but I think it is much more subtle and can be placed right at your subject within an image. I just can't get the same results by applying a vignette either in LR or PS. The above photo needed a little more than just this filter. The background was dull and blown out. The application of a graduated filter in LR may keep your eye on these wonderful Wood Ducks…

I hope you enjoy. Have a great Sunday!

Nature clicks #89 - Garter Snake, early appearance

I was able to spent some time in the Green Island Wetlands again. Didn't have much luck with birds today but saw lots of Painted Turtles that were out of the water and enjoyed the sun as much as I did. Unfortunately the water level in the wetlands is very low right now and if that persists we may not have the same good shooting opportunities for waterfowl as in the spring last year. We will see.

This Garter Snake crossed my way today. It stopped and gave me the time to get out of the car, to go on the ground, and to make some clicks. Back home I checked my photo library, just to find confirmation that March 16th is the earliest I have ever seen a Garter Snake in spring during the last eight years I lived in Iowa.

Nature clicks #88 - Killdeer, but just good for my own documentation

I wrote about that I didn't like any of my Killdeer shots from last Saturday and about what the problem was. A friend of mine asked me, are they really that bad? Ok, here is one of them (and believe me, it's one of the better ones). It shows you how bad a background can become if you shoot into the mud from above. In addition there is some glare on the mud that isn't helpful either. Yes, it is acceptable as a documentary shot for my own library about Iowa wildlife but it will definitely not make it into my portfolio. ;-)  I know I still have some work to do with the wonderful Killdeer…

New portfolio - Landscape photography

Even if I do not have the chance to go out shooting because life dictates something different, I still try to work every night on my images or maintain my photo library. The recent update of Adobe's Lightroom software (we are now at LR 4) made me digging out some photos and redo the whole post process. Thanks to shooting always in Raw I can start from scratch with any file in my library. Adobe has done some great refinements in the Develop Module of LR4. In combination with NIK's Color Efex Pro 4 I have now some tools in my hands that have never been so powerful and at the same time subtle before.

It was time to think over my landscape portfolio. I kicked out some images, reworked some others, and added some new photos. If you like to have a look at the results, feel free to click at the left hand side on the PORTFOLIO bar or just right HERE.

Bird migration - new arrivals

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

This photo gives you maybe an idea what problems the photographer had to face in the Green Island Wetlands today. First, the wind was blowing very strong and even shooting from a car wasn't easy. The wind was shaking the car quite hefty and my keeper rate for sharp images dropped below average. Second, there was always some dust in the air and changing lenses was not really the smartest thing to do. I left my 50-500 on camera all day long. And third, the birds kept a good distance to the levees where I was shooting from.

Here comes the good news. Migration is in full swing and many birds that will spend the summer here in Eastern Iowa have already arrived. I had a blast watching the White Pelicans furiously fishing, even if it was quite a bit away. I saw from a distance a group of Northern Shovelers. Too far for a picture but this will change soon. The image below is from last year.

I worked for an hour along a mud bank with a season of Killdeer. Many clicks, some of them sharp, but I still don't really like any of them. Mud is not the best background and today it reflected the blue sky in a way I didn't like. It was way too harsh. Shooting from the car on top of the levee means you always shoot from slightly above. I was not able to eliminate the reflections by changing my shooting angle. Leaving the car is not really an option. The birds tolerate the car, but as soon you get out they will fly away.

Last not least, I made a first sighting today. It was a small group of Greater White-fronted Geese. I didn't know that until I had a closer look at the pelican photos on my screen at home. The photo above shows three of them on the left hand side. There were actually three more outside of the frame. The original files have enough resolution to zoom in and to identify the birds. They are probably a subspecies, flavirostris, the "Greenland" White-fronted Goose. This subspecies is darker and have an orange bill instead of pink.

On my way home I stopped briefly at the Mill Creek Ponds, west of Bellevue, Iowa. A pair of Trumpeter Swans made it home again, as already during the last two years, and it looks like I can continue my reports about them at this location. I really wonder if this is the same pair (probably) and if their young one made it through the winter? I also saw two male and a female Hooded Merganser in one of the ponds. Looks like new photo adventures are just waiting for us…

Sunday morning with the Downy Woodpecker

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

Circumstances were not in my favor this weekend and except for a few clicks around the house Sunday morning I got nothing done. Nature's best reflector, the snow on the ground, was out again and made for some pretty good light. I counted five Downy Woodpeckers here today, which means they all made it through the winter so far. Good news, but not really surprising because of the mild weather we had during the last few months. The image was made from the tripod with my KIRK ball head and INDURO GHBA gimbal head attached. This combination has served me very well in the past and is a good solution for an amateur with limited budget like me. I tried something different today and mounted the gimbal head to the left hand side of the lens. It is a little more difficult to rest the left hand on the lens barrel while shooting but for some reason my keeper rate was very high today. It may have been just the good light which made focussing easy but maybe it is a way that works better in general for me. I will try more and find out about it. I made many, many pictures of the "Downy" before but I always enjoy working the smallest woodpecker that we have here. They hardly sit still but are not as skittish as, for example, the Red-bellied Woodpecker, and make therefor for a good subject to practice long lens shooting technique.

Nature clicks #87 - Sandhill Cranes, first sighting this year

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

Let me tell you, I saved the best from last weekend for the last. I watched the first pair of Sandhill Cranes in the Green Island Wetlands last Sunday. It was so nice to hear their unmistakable calls and to see them searching for food in the wet fields and marches. They maintained a pretty good distance between me and them. There is a water filled canal on each side of the dam I was shooting from that can't be crossed and it is up to the cranes to move closer. It didn't happen, although I spent quite some time there.

One of my photography friends wrote me in an email that he hopes the spring shooting season will start soon. For me it has started with the arrival of the cranes, it doesn't need more than this...