Ice Patterns

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 18 Comments

Ice Patterns, Seward, Alaska.

Ice Patterns, Seward, Alaska.

These ice patterns were on the side window of my pickup yesterday.  With the heat off, I carefully drove into position so that the sunset would back-light the patterns.  Nature can sure create some wonderful designs!

Seasons Greetings!

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Photos, Travel 9 Comments

Seward, Alaska.

From a recent morning in Seward, Alaska.

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings everyone!

The next week will probably be a bit slow here on the blog thanks to the holidays.

How do I use Bokeh?

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Ask Ron, Chugach, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Least Sandpiper, Seward, Alaska.

Least Sandpiper, Seward, Alaska.

Megan from Costa Rica had an ask Ron question about bokeh.  Here it is:

Hi Ron, I had a quick question for your Ask Ron series.  I was wondering about your opinion of bokeh.  I have a basic understanding of the concept from online research, but it seems that some professional photographers absolutely love it, while others barely use it at all.  Also seems that subject matter doesn’t necessarily determine who likes it or not; in other words, I see some landscape artists use it all the time, and others never.  I’m contemplating buying my first fixed focal lens for my Nikon D60, and am curious what your take is, when and how you decide to “go for bokeh” (ha), etc.

Thanks!

Megan in Costa Rica

For those that aren’t familiar with the term, here is the Wikipedia definition for bokeh: In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light.

For me, I often use it for wildlife portraits, and close-up work like flowers – it allows me to isolate the subject from the rest of the scene and effectively “remove” distracting elements.  I think the bird portrait above is a good example.  Here I am actually laying in the cold water with the front of the lens and camera just barely out of the water in order to throw the background out of focus.  If I was just a foot higher off the ground, I could be warm and dry, but the background of mud would come into focus and could be a distraction.

The background is often ignored, but can often make or break an image.  As I’m setting up on birds like this, I’m not just watching the birds movement and the direction of the light, but I am constantly evaluating the background.  A bright spot, even if it is out of focus will draw your eye right away from the subject and to the background bright spot.

Now I don’t always try to throw the background out of focus, there are times that it can enhance an image, and provide the viewer with a feeling for the habitat and surrounding environment.  This photo of a desert bighorn near Moab, Utah is one example that comes to mind.

Now you mention landscape photography, and myself, I chose to maximize depth of field and keep everything in focus.  I know some photographers utilize limited depth of field as a personal style, it seems to have gained in popularity in recent years.  I encourage you to experiment.  A prime lens with a large aperture can be a lot of fun creatively.

Thanks for the question – you live in a beautiful country!

How do I capture so much depth of field?

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Ask Ron, How to, Kenai Fjords, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Pedersen Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Pedersen Glacier, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

It has been awhile since I have answered any Ask Ron questions.  As a reminder, I will answer any photography question as best I can.

A couple of weeks ago I received this question:

I love how you capture a foreground, middle ground background with such great depth.
Do you typically try to accomplish this with a 24 T/S or the 24 1.4L?
Thanks, Ray

To answer your question, yes I do use Canon’s tilt shift lenses a fair amount.  By tilting the plane of focus I am better able to position the depth of field from near to far without sacrificing a lot of shutter speed.  I go into more detail in this post on tilt with Canon’s tilt shift lenses.  These lenses are especially valuable when you have something really close, say within a couple of feet, and still want to keep distant objects in focus.

But, I don’t use those lenses as much as I should.  It is so much easier, faster and lighter to carry one 24-105 then three tilt shift lenses.  In these circumstances, I use a small aperture to maximize depth of field – usually around f/16.  I then focus about 1/4 to 1/3 of the way into the scene.  I also almost always will use a tripod, mirror lock up and the 2 second self timer to minimize any movement as much as possible.  This is about as good as it gets without tilt.  If something still has to be a bit out of focus I would rather it be distant objects – I believe prominent foreground elements have to be sharp – distant objects like mountains can be more forgiving.

Tomorrow I will answer another recent question on depth of field – this one regarding bokeh.

Receive My Photo Blog on your Kindle

Ron Niebrugge Colorado, Photos, Rocky Mountain N. P., Travel 16 Comments

Janine at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Janine at Bear Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

I was very surprised to see my name and blog  being mentioned by Amazon on Twitter last week, I clicked on the link and saw that for $1 per month, you can have my blog sent directly to your Kindle Wireless Reading Device – now that is pretty cool!  Check it out:   Photo blog – Niebrugge Images on Amazon

I then remembered submitting my blog to Amazon about a year ago and having to wait for approval.    If they emailed back, I missed it, and completely forgot about it.  I don’t remember the details, but I get some percentage of that dollar, probably not enough to retire on.  🙂  It wasn’t about the money, I viewed it as another nice new way to subscribe to the blog.

This summer we sat next to a nice lady on one of our flights who showed us her Kindle, those things are really cool – and very easy on the eyes, nothing like a computer screen  Now admittedly, my blog relies far more on colorful photos then words, and I don’t know how those will translate to the black and white screen.  But, they do offer a free 14 day trial so there is nothing to lose.  If you do get a Kindle for Christmas, check it out, and let me know how it works!

Private Photo Tours and Workshops

Ron Niebrugge Colorado, Photos, Rocky Mountain N. P., Travel 7 Comments

Alberta Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Alberta Falls, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

I haven’t mention it here before, but along with a handful of Alaska photo tours, I am now also offering private one-on-one workshops and tours.  With a private tour the instruction will be tailored specifically towards your needs and interests.  It can be anything from working on composition and exposures in the field, to using Photoshop in the office, or maybe a combination of topics.  I will travel anywhere for these workshops, they can be here in Seward, your town, or at a favorite destination.  Click on the link above for details.

I didn’t even think of promoting this option on my recent post of Christmas ideas for Photographers, but fortunately others are way ahead of me on that idea.  In just the last couple of days we have sold 5 days of private tours for next summer as Christmas gifts.  So if you still haven’t come up with that last minute gift…

Alpenglow

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 18 Comments

Alpenglow on Resurrection Peaks, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

Alpenglow on Resurrection Peaks, Chugach National Forest, near Seward, Alaska.

This is looking North, directly away from one of the most amazing sunrises I have ever seen in Seward – the same morning of my recent post on sunrise over Resurrection Bay.  This has to be the most dramatic, colorful alpenglow I have ever seen.

I must confess, I have often mis-used the word alpenglow.  Thanks to blog reader Aaron for setting me straight on my welcome home post.  As Aaron pointed out, and further research confirmed, alpengow is the pink glow you see while the sun is still below the horizon.  There can not be a direct path of light from the sun to the mountain.  So that red / orange light shinning on snow caped peaks at the beginning or end of the day isn’t really alpenglow – I have been mis-identifying it for years.  I don’t know what it is called – sweet mountain light I guess.

This is pretty much straight out of the camera.  I added a little contrast to the mid-tones, but I didn’t add any color or saturation.

Orcas, Kenai Fjords National Park

Ron Niebrugge Alaska, Kenai Fjords, Photos, Travel 12 Comments

Orcas work thier way along the outer coast, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

Orcas work their way along the outer coast, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska.

I captured this photo just before our fall trip – we are now converting and processing images from the end of summer, and from our Fall trip.  I hope to share more here over the next few weeks as we do.

I thought the orcas were cool – but I really liked that rock wall behind them.