Indoors with 32-BIT High Dynamic Range (HDR)

 

I like to share another image that I created with the same technical means I have described yesterday here in the blog. Indoor pictures with great architecture can really benefit from HDR, with or without ton mapping, as you can see in this photograph I made inside the St. Vitus's Cathedral in Prague, Czech Republic. There is just no way that you can catch the details in the sculptures without blowing out the highlights in the stained glass windows with a single exposure. You sacrifice one part for the other if you only make one click. By blending a series of exposures (here I used 4) into one 32-BIT image I was able to expand the dynamic range and the result is much closer to what our eyes have really seen in this wonderful cathedral. This image is part of a special project I'm working on at the moment and that I will come out with hopefully soon. So please stay tuned...

Digging into history using 32-BIT HDR

 

The photo I show you today was made April 18, 2008. You can't make the same picture anymore, not even if you go to exactly the same place at Arches National Park in Utah. This was Wall Arch, one of the numerous arches that gave the park its name. Wall Arch collapsed 109 days after I made the image. So what you see here is history.

We had only two days in the National Park and not every photograph was made during a time with good quality light. Any time after 8:30AM we had to deal with high contrast scenes and harsh light. I shot many images with five different exposures in order to overcome the limitations of the dynamic range in the digital camera, at that time my Nikon D200. Back home it was a time consuming process to layer the pictures on top of each other and paint with layer masks to reveal only the parts of each photo that I wanted in the final image. I remember it took me at least three nights to do that, partly due to the fact that my Photoshop skills were still very limited. Needless to say that I was very proud about my accomplishment. High Dynamic Range (HDR) software was not available or at least was not known to me at that time. The photo below was the result.

Because of its historic value, that it has at least for me, I wanted to redo this image with today's software and better technology. This time I used a 32-BIT HDR method that I learned a little while ago in Matt Kloskowski's blog "Lightroom Killer Tips" (see the link for this blog in the side bar on the left hand side). Starting in Adobe Lightroom I merged my five original RAW files into HDR Pro in Photoshop. From there I just saved the picture as a 32-BIT tiff-file back into Lightroom. What you will find is that the range of the Exposure slider has changed from ±5 to ±10, giving you a much wider range to work with shadows and highlights in your picture. The 32-BIT tiff-file gives you a humongous dynamic range to work with in comparison to the usual 16-BIT or 8-BIT we have at our hands.

I prefer a very natural look in my images and this method, without any ton mapping, works very well for my style of photography. But here is the best, it only took me about five minutes to create the final image from my five bracketed shots and can still use the tonal range of all five shots together.

As you can see, I cropped the new picture slightly just because I like it now better this way. Can't really say anymore, "I will do it right in camera next time I'm there".... ;-)

Sigma 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM OS

 

No, I didn't buy a new lens but I had a chance to test the Sigma 50-500 F4.5-6.3 APO DG HSM OS with optical stabilization (OS). My photography friend Dave Updegraff owns this lens and yesterday we tried to replicate a problem that he had experienced several times before with this lens. The lens sometimes stopped working in very low temperatures, which is very annoying if you are out and like to shoot Bald Eagles or other birds in the winter. Well, we were not able to make this happen at our house even after leaving the lens outside in the cold for about twenty-five minutes. It worked flawless on my Nikon D300s and as well on his D3. Finding out that the lens was often stored in his car near the heat inlet made me believing that we see a problem (ok, we didn't see it yesterday :-)  ) created by heat, moisture and a following temperature shock that makes the lens freeze up. Time will tell, if by putting it to a different place in the car while driving the problem can be solved. I would be very happy to hear that from Dave. If not, well, I'm out of other ideas at the moment.

Dave had also asked me about my opinion regarding the sharpness of his Sigma 50-500. I took quite a few test shots using the same set up that I used during the last few weeks for my own bird photography. This gave me the chance to compare the performance of his lens directly with my previous results. Here are my impressions.

The Sigma 50-500 with the OS feature delivered the same good results if it was mounted on the tripod, using the gimbal head, and the optical stabilization turned off. I had the feeling (not sure) that the lens responded a tad faster to the autofocus than my older lens. Not every image was sharp because birds chew on seeds or move around fast and sometimes there is just not enough time for the autofocus to detect contrasty edges. This is not unusual and I call it pilot error (the pilot being me :-) ). The photo of the House Finch here may serve as a proof for my first statement.

We stepped outside and I made some more clicks, this time handhold, without the aid of a tripod, and the optical stabilization turned on. What a difference to my old lens! Without any preparation or "warm up" I was able to create some sharp images of the Eastern Gray Squirrel, who in great numbers occupy the bird feeders in our yard. Squirrels are not always easy to shoot because of the lack of contrast on their fur (unlike a woodpecker) and I was positively surprised how much the optical stabilization helped here to get the image sharp. To be honest, I wished I had waited a few months longer with my purchase until Sigma introduced the OS feature on the 50-500. I still think it is a great lens for those of us that have a limited budget.

Beside all the lens and camera talk Joan and I have enjoyed the conversation beyond photography with Dave. It was time well spent and now I just hope that we found the cause for the freeze up of the lens.

That giant reflector

 

It was really cold here during the last couple days but we got this giant reflector out again, called snow. This is ideal for bird photography or any critter. The sun light bounces off the snow and gives that extra little bit of light from underneath that makes a huge difference most of the time for your image.

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... ;-)

Wintry mood on Stevens Lake

 

I had a business meeting last Friday in Northern Wisconsin and decided to spent the weekend in the Northwoods for some more ice fishing with my friend Bryan. Mostly blue sky made for fantastic weather to be on the ice on Saturday and this time we even caught some fish :-). We went to Stevens Lake where the ice was covered with a layer of fresh snow. The cold temperatures since our first trip two weeks ago doubled the thickness of the ice (~20" = 50cm) and we were able to drive onto the lake. The camera stayed in the bag until late afternoon when big cloud formations moved in that created some nice patterns and light. Nothing spectacular but I like how the peaceful and wintry mood is pictured in the photo.

2012 - Looking back, part 11

 

I'm still not done with sorting through my 2012 archive. The Rocky Mountain Elks were one of the reasons that we really wanted to visit Rocky Mountain National Park last year. We had plenty of encounters of these wonderful animals and have enjoyed watching them very much. The best time to see them is quite often during the evenings, which at the other hand can be quite a challenge with exposure. Using a tripod is highly recommended for managing the low light situations.

Through the glass

 

I looked at my oldest pictures of a White-breasted Nuthatch that I made in 2007 today. I was happy about them at that time, even if the bird was not more than a gray dot hanging on a bird feeder. It was still my first year of serious digital photography and I believed that wildlife photography was the result of just being there and good luck. More than five years later I know that it is all about biological knowledge, good preparation for a shot, sometimes endless patience, and yes, still a little bit of luck.

The cold temperatures we got here in Iowa at the moment draw a lot of birds to the house because we provide food and water for them. A heated bird bath is necessary and many birds we have here during the winter use it frequently for drinking. I also built some perches for the birds to rest on before they approach the water and feeders. This is not just a benefit to the birds but also part of my preparation for bird photography in any weather.

At the moment it is too cold to leave the doors or windows open for an extended period of time but who says we can't make the click through a clean window? All images I show you today were made through the glass of a door and with just natural light. A nice side effect is that you don't have to deal with fogging of the lens or camera and you also have no problems with heat shimmer from warm air that escapes the house. Am I getting lazy and want to stay home all the time? No, I don't think so, but this set up and preparation allows me to do some bird photography even if my time budget is very limited because I need to get some other things done in my home office and can't go anywhere. If you like to have success you still need to move very carefully and slowly behind the window. A wrong or fast move may spook our feathered friends away for some time and you have to start all over again.

Nature clicks #136 - Ring billed Gull

 

I went "on patrol" today to many of my favorite shooting spots along the Mississippi River. Green Island IA, Sabula IA, Savannah IL, and finally to lock and dam #14 near LeClaire, Iowa. It was way to warm for this time of the year (11ºC = 52ºF) and my suspicion got completely confirmed. There were very few Bald Eagles present at the places that are usually a 100% bet. Two dozen photographers were lined up at lock #14 with their million dollar gear but not a single eagle was sitting in the trees. It was after 3PM when I arrived at the scene and the low sun delivered "killer light" (I borrow this term by famous photographer Moose Peterson. I have not found a better English word that describes a warm and crispy light, that gives photographs almost a 3rd dimension, better than this ;-)  ). I talked briefly to another photographer from Ohio and I bet it was disappointing for him and his friends to make an eight hour drive to Iowa and not getting the shots they were hoping for.

I didn't want to stand around with the camera and do nothing and part of today's goals was to test my Sigma 50-500 a little more after it came back from repair. I saw only one eagle within shooting range today at lock #14 but there were plenty of Ring-billed Gulls flying around. All pictures were made handhold. I had many keepers and was very pleased how the lens delivered today. It is supposed to get very, very cold here in the next few days. The Mississippi will freeze over again and hopefully the Bald Eagles will be back again.

Tail up!

 

Butt shots are rude, this is a general rule that applies in wildlife photography too. But as always in life there are exceptions from the rule. I have quite a few pictures of White-tailed Deer on my hard drive but what I didn't have until now is the shot of a White-tailed Deer with its signature element, its white tail, up in the air.

Last weekend, deep in the woods of Northern Wisconsin, a group of deer came very close to the cabin of my buddy Bryan. I stayed close to a corner of the building in order to blend in and the deer, only a few yards away, didn't seem to mind my presence for some time. Finally something spooked them and they ran away. Usually that would have bothered me but this time I just pressed the shutter and let the camera rattle with six frames per second. It was already after 4PM, the light was worse than just mediocre, and the autofocus was at its limits. I know there is room for improvement but the motion blur tells the story about a deer on the run. To be honest, I like the second image the best despite its flaws because of its story telling. Got back into the warmth of the cabin with a big smile on my face...