Snowy Mountain Sunrise

Ron NiebruggeAlaska, Chugach, Photos, Travel 13 Comments

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

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

Here is another photo taken from just a few steps out the front door during another beautiful morning.  This was captured last week on the same day as the photo of ice patterns.

I know, I have thousands of photos of these mountains, and have posted dozens of them here on the blog over the years, but I just can’t help myself, they are just too beautiful!  I’m sure I will take thousands of more in the years to come.

How to avoid lens flare

Ron NiebruggeMoab, Photos, Travel, Utah 30 Comments

When photographing directly into the sun, especially with zoom lenses, it seems like lens flare is almost impossible to avoid.  I thought I would share a little trick that I have used for the last few years for eliminating flare.


I capture two images, one that includes the sun and flare, and one where I block the sun and eliminate the flare as you  can see above.  I then combine the two images using photomerge in Photoshop  keeping most of the image on the right except for the portion of the image where you see my fingers.  Here is the end result:

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

Landscape Arch, Arches National Park, Utah.

It is important that both images are of the same exposure – I make sure I’m working in manual mode because your camera’s meter is going to come up with two very different exposures for these two scenes.  And of course a tripod so that the two images contain identical compositions is imperative.

I used to stand in front of my camera and block the sun with a lens cap.  The lens cap made a perfectly round shadow that I could then position just barely over the front of the lens.  When it comes to your eyes, I’m sure this is the safest way of doing it, but it does take more work in Photoshop.  Lately, I have been looking through the camera with my hand out in front until it is positioned to block the sun – I wonder what passerby’s must be thinking as they see me doing this – is he really photographing his fingers in front of that pretty arch?  🙂

Courthouse Wash

Ron NiebruggeMoab, Photos, Travel, Utah 8 Comments

Courthouse Wash, Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.

Courthouse Wash, Arches National Park, near Moab, Utah.

Over the last week or so we have been very busy converting and adjusting photos from our Fall trip, we hope to be done with this job sometime this week.  I will likely share more photos from this trip over the next few days or weeks.

It has been a really nice winter in Alaska, and I have been very content to be working at home, cross-country skiing, and enjoying the winter pace.  But, as I start the pour over photos from our recent travels, it re-ignites the urge to explore and photograph new regions, and revisit old favorites.

Check out more of our Arches National Park photos.