Singh-Ray Blog

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, How to, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Dry Lake Bed, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Dry Lake Bed, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

I have been a long time user of Singh-Ray filters, particularly their graduated neutral density filters.  So I must say I was honored when they approached me recently and asked me to contribute to their blog.  In fact, I already had the first post written in my head, as  it was a tip I thought I would post here.  Instead, I shared my discovery of the usefulness of using live-view in the positioning of graduated neutral density filters.  Well I don’t want to spoil the whole post, you can check out the whole story at the Singh-Ray blog. 

As far as my own blog goes, I still may do some fine tuning of the header, photo size etc., so if things look a bit funky from time to time, you will understand.

An Easy to Use WordPress Theme ?!

Ron NiebruggeCalifornia, Miscellaneous, Photos, Travel 22 Comments

A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.

A sunset at the Salton Sea California from this past winter.

I have received numerous emails and comments over the past year asking me to post bigger photos.  Really, I haven’t been ignoring those requests, it just wasn’t possible because my old theme was so narrow.  It was probably fine in the days of 800 x 600 monitor resolutions, but today, I just ended up with a narrow blog and a bunch of gray space on either side! 

So I had enough of my old theme, and there was no way I was going to try to modify it – heck, just adding the photo to the banner took me a day!    So this past weekend I went on a search for a new theme.  I won’t bore you with the details, but there are thousands and thousands of themes out there – and of course none of them are just right.  That is when I found Thesis;  About Thesis — Find out more about Thesis and the DIYthemes philosophy 

With Thesis, I had total control.  To change to three columns instead of my previous two –  I just selected the 3 column option in the drop down menu.  I wanted an extra wide column for my large photos – all I did was type in the desired width in a little box and bingo, it changes!  Not only does it change, but everything lines up perfectly – something that was a constant battle before.  Would I prefer the side bars on each side, with the content down the middle?  You guessed it, just another click.  Rotating photos at the top of the sidebar – painless!  Supposedly they have great support, fortunately I didn’t need it, but I did drop by the online forum which has almost six thousand users.Read More

Borrego Springs

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 5 Comments

A park in Borrego Springs, California.

A park in Borrego Springs, California.

It seems a bit strange to be inside adjusting sunny warm looking desert photos from our last trip –  then taking a break to shovel snow out of the driveway.  At least the cross-country skiing has been awesome!

Here are more Borrego photos.


Dune Evening Primrose

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Travel 11 Comments

A closeup of a Dune Evening Primrose, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

A closeup of a Dune Evening Primrose, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

When it comes to macro close-ups of flowers, I’m no Michael Brown, but it is still a lot of fun – one could get lost for hours experimenting with the different lines, colors and textures found in just a single flower.  Add to that, the different combinations of focal length and depth of field and the composition possibilities are nearly endless.  I tend to prefer the broad landscapes, but it is kind of fun to enter the little macro world found at your feet.

Desert Sand Verbena

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Photos, Travel 11 Comments

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

This was captured at sunset last night.

To follow up on my Anza-Borrego wildflower forecast post from yesterday – the more I hike around, the more convinced I am that it will be an excellent wildflower year here.  I found numerous desert lily plants and big patches of lupine plants both of which should be blooming within the next few weeks.

2009 Anza-Borrego Wildflower Forecast

Ron NiebruggeAnza-Borrego, California, Travel 11 Comments

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Desert Sand Verbena, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park, California.

Well between Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and Vancouver – our last month has involved a lot of city photography.  The final couple of weeks of this trip will be based in Las Vegas – with all this city time, we had to make a few days and return to our favorite quiet little desert location;  Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.

This did give us a good chance to see how the wildflowers are progressing, and to share my finding here.  In a word, it is shaping up to be a very good year for wildflowers!  I guess that is more then a word, but you get the idea.  If I had to pick one word, with due respect to Tony the Tiger, I would say they are going to be great!

We spent a month here last year beginning just about now, and it turned out to be a pretty good year.  This year, most places are much greener then even last year, and as you can see by the above photo from this morning, there are areas already beginning to bloom.  But don’t take my word for it, according to the Borrego Sun, naturalist Paul Johnson is predicting this years bloom to be better then last with the peak hitting around the end of the month of February.  In addition, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park website is predicting a “good to excellent bloom in the near future”.

We arrived here on Sunday just in time for another inch of rain – this most recent storm should help extend the season.  We have commitments in Vegas, but I gotta admit, it is going to be really tough to not be here for this years peak.  I may have to grab my tent and sneak back over here for a night!

The above photo was captured with a 100 mm macro lens.  I added a 25 mm extension tube which allowed me to focus and move even closer to the small flowers.  I then parked my truck in such a way to shade the flowers, and used a gold reflector to add a touch of warm light – not unlike what you might find at sunrise, although this was a couple hours after first light.

Why We Have Winter Gear in Southern California.

Ron NiebruggeCalifornia, Los Angeles, Photos, Travel 8 Comments

Long Beach, California.

Long Beach, California.

They have done a nice job with the waterfront along downtown Long Beach – it was much nicer then I remember.

We have wanted to photograph Vancouver and the Whistler area for some time.  Traveling to and from Alaska these days has been very expensive, so we packed a lot of our winter gear on this trip in hopes of finding a killer last minute deal to the Vancouver area.  Well guess what, thanks to an Alaska Airlines airfare sale, and some great luck with naming our price on Priceline, we have put together a very inexpensive  trip.  We spend a couple of nights in Vancouver, and then a couple of nights at Whistler.  It is going to be a very busy, whirlwind of a trip, but if possible, I’m going to try to keep up with the blog.  If there isn’t much activity, you will know why.