60 Nebraskaland • July 2026
Deer in
the Dark
By Justin Haag
The Last Stop
Having started my career using 35mm film, I have a lot
of appreciation for the conveniences of digital photography.
Some photographers get nostalgic about film, but this
dunce still has frightful memories about returning from an
event and toiling in the darkroom to learn every photo was
shot with the wrong settings. Or, even worse, accidentally
opening the back of the camera and ruining a whole roll. At
least once, I didn't even have film in the camera.
Along with those situations being largely remedied with
digital, the greatest advancement in my career has been
a camera's capabilities for capturing scenes in low light —
surely evident by the flood of images that comes to social
media whenever the Northern Lights make an appearance
this far south.
This photo of some pretty whitetails isn't going to win any
awards, but I'm amazed I was able to capture it.
When shooting for my college's newspaper in the 1990s,
film with 3,200 ISO was the most sensitive we could get.
It was expensive, and the result was grainy. The standard
was 400.
This image, captured as the deer caught a whiff of me
while approaching my blind about 15 minutes before sunrise,
was shot at 25,600 ISO. That's eight times greater than what
we had in the '90s. In the past, I wouldn't have wasted the
effort of pushing the button. Yes, this image has some noise
— formerly known as grain — but it's usable … especially if
placed on black-and-white newsprint as my first published
photos were, and certainly if using the advanced denoise
capabilities of Photoshop as we've done here. In fact, this
photo is probably better than anything I shot in the "glory
days" of film.
Makes me wonder where technology will lead us. Before
long, we may be shooting wildlife photos, sans f lash,
at midnight.
