NICE WHEN THEY MOVE AWAY

We had a big thunderstorm with very heavy rain and strong winds a couple nights ago, leaving us without electrical power for a day and hundreds of broken trees and branches on the ground in our area. Today’s photo of a developing storm cell was made already last weekend after our paddle tour in the Green Island Wetlands. This kind of weather is not unusual here in July but not every cloud is as beautiful as this one. And yes, it is always nice to see them moving away from us…😉

I had only the long lens with me but it can deliver some good results for landscape photography. Zoomed out to its minimum focal length of 150 mm I had enough to leave most of the not so pretty lake surface out and still have my subject, the nice anvil cloud, in its entirety in the viewfinder.

1/640 s, f/8, ISO 100, @150 mm, Nikon D750, Sigma 150-600mm / f5-6.3 DG OS HSM S,

WORKFLOW FOR LANDSCAPES

Mississippi River, Dubuque, Iowa --------    

It was quiet here in the blog for a week. We had good friends from Germany visiting and although the camera was always with me while we showed them Dubuque and the Mississippi Valley, there was no time to write a new blog post.

Thursday evening we went for a cruise on the Mississippi River, followed by some beer and food on the deck of “Catfish Charlie’s”, a popular restaurant at the river. I could not stay in my seat when the setting sun put some magic on the clouds and boats in the marina… 😊

For this photo my usual landscape post process workflow was applied to the RAW file. I start in Adobe Lightroom for small corrections of the shadows and highlights if necessary. Many landscape photos benefit from the use of the Dehaze slider and sharpening and noise reduction are of course mandatory. If necessary “spot removal” is applied to get rid of any spots from sensor dust in the camera. I than open the file in Photoshop as a Smart Object, a layer that has the RAW data embedded. This allows me to make changes at a later time in case I change my mind about any previous adjustments. The NIK Color Efex Pro 4 plug-in is still my best friend when it comes to romance the image. Most of the time I enhance the tonal contrast, color contrast, and darken the edges of an image slightly. There are tons of filters in CEP but I only use what benefits the photo. It is easy to overdue things. 

Google, who owns NIK, has recently announced that they will not longer support this product. With other words it may stop working when a new operating system comes out or Adobe makes changes to their software. This is the reason that I currently test Macphun’s software Luminar. I use it the same way as the NIK collection, I apply it as a filter to my smart object. This is a non-destructive way to work with the photo and if I want to make changes at a later time, I can always revert to the original file and settings. Many other photographers write good things about it and have already replaced the NIK plug-ins with Luminar.

The last step in my workflow is “border police”, the removal of anything around the edges that distracts from the subject, like a small branch sticking in from the side or a piece of paper that is just an eyesore in the photo. This all sounds like a lot of work for anybody who is new to post processing but usually I do not work longer than 5 - 10 minutes on one of my landscape pictures. The trick is to work with presets that I have created or copied from other photographers. I use them in Lightroom, Photoshop, and with the NIK software. Luminar is new to me. It comes with a number of presets but finding the right settings for my own photography may take a little time...

EASTERN IOWA AT IT'S BEST

June has been a “lean period” in regards of my photography endeavors so far. Not my fault, work has been in the way one more time. That has changed this evening when I finally went to the Green Island Wetlands again, and as you already know, this is one of my favorite areas for wildlife photography here in the Upper Mississippi Valley. At this time of the year, early mornings or evenings are the times when birds and critters come out of their hiding places. In addition the light is a lot more “workable” as during the times in between (of course, I’m not talking about the night… ;-) . I had some exciting moments today, but let me start with a view across the wetlands during some quick changes in the weather pattern. 

Especially friends in Germany have asked before, how is this area laid out? This photo, taken from one of the levees that I call “snake alley”, (more about this in a later blog post) gives you an idea how this part of the Mississippi backwaters has been dammed up. The river doesn’t flow through anymore and the water level and flow is managed according to environmental and other requirements.

My wife Joan may tell you I’m crazy showing you a landscape picture after coming back with a memory card full of exciting wildlife moments. I like to get it settled and will post about critters and birds here shortly. So, please stay tuned…

PREDICTING THE OUTCOME

Mississippi River, Finley's Landing , Iowa

This is what you get at this time of the season when you go down to the Mississippi River and find a spot that has all the supporting elements for a photo. Exposing strictly for the highlights and predicting how they will effect the composition of the image is key for the outcome. Colors don’t play a big role in this picture, green and yellow dominate, but all the different tones of the lush vegetation tell the story about the transition from spring to summer.

STITCHING A PANO TOGETHER

Click for larger image! --------

We had a dull, dreary, and rainy day and as a result no new pixels made it onto the memory card today. Not a big deal and it was a perfect time to browse through older images and clean up the photo library this evening.

During my recent visit at Mono Lake on the east side of the Sierra Nevada I made a few attempts to shoot some panorama images. As mentioned in an earlier post, it was extremely windy that day and so I shot handhold the whole time. I remember my first attempts to make a digital panorama, about 8 - 9 years ago, were a nightmare in post process. Thanks to the amazing software capabilities of Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop (I used Lightroom for this photo) it is really a breeze to stitch several photos together for a panorama these days.

So why even doing it? On a website, like this blog, a panorama looks most of the time tiny, depending how big your computer screen or mobile device is. It is the printing that makes all the difference. This picture was made from four photos. The content needs to overlap a little but at the end it led to an image with over 12,000 pixels on the long side. This allows to make a print 40 inch wide (~ 1 meter) or even larger without any loss of detail.

MONO LAKE

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4 ------    

My goal last weekend was to come back with some decent photos from Mono Lake, California with its tufa columns and formations. Due to the three hours drive from Reno, Nevada I knew I wouldn’t be there in the early morning hours. I also didn’t want to risk to get trapped in fresh snow that was expected for the following night and so I left the lake in the early afternoon. With just a small time window around midday my expectations were not very high regarding the light. However, a very windy but clear day made for good colors and little haze in the air. The geology of the lake basin is fascinating and if you like to learn about the basics, here is the link that gives you some insight: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mono_Lake

 

GOING OUT WEST

Rocky Mountains, Colorado -----------

Today I have nothing but a picture made with the camera in my phone through the window of a Boeing 737-800 on my way from Chicago to Las Vegas, Nevada. This was not my final destination and I’m writing these lines from a hotel in Reno, NV, where I will stay during a business trip over the next few days. I’m always excited to fly over the Rocky Mountains, especially since Joan and I have been at several locations in the mountains of Colorado during recent vacation trips. It seems always difficult to identify part of a landscape from high up in the air, even if you think you know the area. Shooting through the window of tinted plastic in an airplane may always lead to goofy looking colors, and processing the image on my 2008 notebook may not be the best recipe to produce a quality image. But some guy smarter than me said before, the best camera is always the one you have with you… My photo gear was safely stored up in the overhead compartment and it would have been a long story to explain why I didn’t even try to get it out of the bag…

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #6 - WATER FOWL MIGRATION

Mississippi River, Mud Lake

I wrote that before, Mud Lake Park is never twice the same and it seems to be not difficult to come back with different impressions all the time. Today thousands of gulls had gathered on the last remains of ice and hundreds of ducks and mergansers were on the water. We saw Canada Geese, Buffleheads, Canvasbacks, Common Goldeneyes, Mallards, and dozens of Common Mergansers. Bird migration is in full swing since about two weeks already. The first Red-winged Blackbirds are here since a few days, a sure sign of spring. Birders on the IA-Bird Google Group reported about migrating Snow Geese and White-fronted Geese in five digit numbers. I have seen only a few thousand of them ten days ago at Cone Marsh in Iowa. Most of them left obviously in the morning, just before I arrived, but it was still quite impressive.

Weather was changing fast today and so was the scene on the river. Colder air moved in and as you can see in the background fog built up over the Mississippi very quickly. When the last shaft of sunlight hit the gulls on the ice I was ready to make the click for today’s photo. Usually I would clone away single birds in the sky that are the size of a little dot in my landscape pictures but today the ducks and geese flying over are part of the story in my image.

CERTAIN VALID MOMENT

Water tower, John Deere Works, Dubuque, Iowa

As I looked at the same scene today as already last Monday, a quote from Paul Strand (American photographer 1890-1976) came to mind, “There is a certain valid moment for every cloud”. Ansel Adams wrote in his book “Examples- The Making of 40 Photographs” that Strand said this to him during a meeting in 1930. I think it is a true and great quote and I was happy that I didn’t hesitate to go back to the Deere Marsh again when Joan asked me to go for a walk there this evening. I have been a believer since a long time that some improvement of photography skills can be achieved by shooting the same subject at different times with a critical analysis in between.

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #5 - JOHN DEERE MARSH

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4 -----------

Two photos today that can’t be more different from each other, but made within less than ten minutes in between. Daylight is considerable longer than a month ago and today “walking the dog” took me out to the John Deere Marsh, a dammed up wetland area right behind the Deere factory north of Dubuque, Iowa.

I have to admit , this was a tricky shot. I knew when I made the click the range of light would exceed 5 f-stops, more than what a camera like the NIKON D750 can lift. Strictly exposing for the highlights, there was still enough information available in my RAW file to romance this image without any loss within the circle of the sun. The shadows had still enough information at he bottom of the image to make it work and the fresh fallen snow in the lower right corner, tells the story of the season.

Nikon D750, Nikkor 16-35mm / f4

The Mississippi River has still ice for the most part , but where the current of the river is strong, the water has some open spots. There is a levee at the John Deere Marsh, reaching far into the main channel of the big river. To give you a perspective, the part of the river, north of J. Deere Marsh that you look at in this photo, is almost 3 km wide (~1.8 miles).

MISSISSIPPI RIVER STORIES 2017 #4 - WARM WEEK AT THE RIVER

I have two photos for you today. The one above is from earlier this week, taken at lock & dam #14 in Le Claire, Iowa. It seems it becomes more and more common that some pelicans stay here during the winter. In Le Claire, about 90 miles south from Dubuque, the main channel of the river is open and they can find apparently enough food.

Dam #11, Dubuque, Iowa

It was a gray and foggy day today here in Dubuque and not very inviting for any bird photography, but the temperatures were way above freezing. In the second photo you can see that the snow is almost gone around here. The ice was jammed above the dam, hence the fog in the background. What you don’t see is any Bald Eagles. Today was the annual “Bald Eagle Watch” but I felt bad for the visitors at lock & dam #11. I saw only two eagles on the ice and they were far away. The US Army Corps of Engineers had Brent, one of their Natural Resource Specialists, on site and he was answering questions and helped people with spotting scopes that were provided to watch the birds.

He told me that there was more going on in the Grand River Center in Dubuque and so I went there next. Natural resource agencies and organizations had educational displays and information and there were also some activities for kids.

At one of the vendor’s tables I met with Ty Smedes, a well known nature photographer here in Iowa. I have seen him on TV and read some of his articles in the IOWA Outdoors Magazine before. We had a good conversation about many aspects of nature and photography. If you like to check out his work, here is a link to his website http://www.smedesphoto.com . I bought one of his excellent books and Ty was so nice to sign it.

WEEKEND IN THE NORTHWOODS

It became a tradition in January that I meet with some friends up in the Northwoods of Wisconsin for an ice fishing weekend. Well, our fishing success was modest this year but the fun we had can’t be measured in numbers. Cold temperatures and more than a foot of fresh powder snow created a winter wonderland. The best time to get the camera out of the bag is usually around sunset but I tried a few other things this time as well…

2016 RETROSPECT / 7

Mississippi River, Mud Lake, Iowa, August 2016

Going down to the Mississippi River near our home is never twice the same. The light and mood of the landscape seems different any time I stand at the mighty river. Sometimes I don’t bother taking the camera out of the car, although I always have it with me. You never know what comes next, how the light may develop, even in almost hopeless bad weather. Missing a shot just because the camera or a particular lens is not within reach is not an option.