Photo Blog - Niebrugge Images

The road through Zion National Park, Utah.

Our eyes have the amazing ability to see details in the shadows of a scene, and the details in the highlights at the same time.  Our cameras can’t begin to capture what our eyes can see.  Photographers have been trying to replicate what our eyes can see with a camera for years - these techniques are usually referred as High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.  Fancy words for a simple concept - makes us sound smart. :)  (more…)

Horseback riders this past fall in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming.

If you followed the link in yesterday’s post on saturation masks, you will realize Tony also offers actions for something called luminosity masks as well.  This is another subtle, but powerful tool that frankly I haven’t mastered and rarely utilize, but I plan to spend more time trying to master them over the next month as we begin to adjust our autumn photos. 

So why discuss it if I don’t use them yet?  Well, I have recently discovered another use for these masks that make them much more valuable, but I will save that for the next post.  Again, this is a relativly advanced topic that won’t interest everyone. (more…)

I recently discovered a wonderful new Photoshop tool - the use of saturation masks.  This is somewhat of an advanced tool - if you don’t use layers and masks in Photoshop (you should), this won’t make much sense, but I do believe many subscribers here may find it useful. (more…)

I have received a number of emails lately asking for more of the details behind each photo.  It is a good suggestion, and I have promised to do just that on occasion.  What I thought might be interesting would be to share my detailed thought process behind a single image.  I decided to do that with this photo from our spring trip.  I think some people might be surprised all that goes into just one photo. (more…)

Yesterday I wrote about finding aurora borealis, today how to actually photograph them.  (more…)

I thought I would share some tips for photographing the aurora borealis, also known as northern lights.  The hardest part of photographing the auroras is finding them - so today I thought I would write about finding them, tomorrow actually photographing them.  (more…)

In my last post I wrote about using graduated neutral density filters to overcome scenes with extreme dynamic range.  If there isn’t a nice straight division, filters aren’t much help.  In these situations, I have started using a process referred to as high dynamic range photography, often called HDR photography.  This is the process I used to capture this image of the Barber Forest Service Cabin at Lower Russian Lake, Alaska.

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This is how I saw Pedersen Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.  But with out a graduated neutral density filter or a similar tool, my camera would have not been able to capture the photo.

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Winter is a wonderful time for photography.  I thought I would provide a few tips to make shooting in the cold more successful.

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Ever get back from a vacation and been frustrated with your pictures?  It is a common complaint.  Here are some general tips that I think can help many people take better pictures:

1.  Use a tripod.  I know, they are a pain - it is so much easier to just hand hold the camera.  But not only does using a tripod give you better picture quality by stabilizing the camera - it also forces you to slow down which is the next tip.

2.  Slow Down.  Take your time and really think about your picture, the composition and all the elements.  Instead of rattling off 5 mediocre pictures, spend the time to take one good picture.  This is where a tripod can come in helpful.  (more…)