Ryan Rahn | Photography

Merry Christmas 2009 | Dec 25th, 2009

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 1:47 PM on 12/25/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: f/1.8 | 50mm | ISO-100
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Flash: No

I am home in Arizona enjoying a warm Christmas, and I was out taking a few shots today. This morning for Christmas brunch I had a delicious, fresh orange off our tree. Oliver also enjoyed playing in the grass.

Nov 28th, 2009

Sat, 28 Nov 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 5:46 PM on 11/7/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/125sec | f/1.8 | 50mm | ISO-100
Lens: EF 50mm f/1.8 II
Exposure Mode: Av (Aperture Priority)
Exposure Bias: +0
Flash: No

Another abstract courtesy of my 50mm f/1.8.

Autumn Bokeh | Nov 11th, 2009

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 5:37 PM on 10/23/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/250sec | f/4.0 | 105mm | ISO-400
Lens: EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Exposure Mode: Av (Aperture Priority)
Exposure Bias: +0
Flash: No

The 24-105 f/4L is not my favorite lens for bokeh, but it works, I guess. This image was also taken in Chisholm Creek Park.

I hope everyone is enjoying their autumn! Most of the leaves are gone here, but it's been relatively warm lately.

Autumn Warmth | Nov 6th, 2009

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 6:00 PM on 10/23/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/400sec | f/4.0 | 105mm | ISO-100
Lens: EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Exposure Mode: Av (Aperture Priority)
Exposure Bias: +0
Flash: No

I went out shooting a couple of weeks ago when most of the leaves were still on the trees. This was taken in Chisholm Creek Park, which is quite close to my apartment. It's nice to finally see some color again!

Alaskan Wetland | Oct 14th, 2009

Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 6:49 PM on 7/8/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/15sec | f/11.0 | 33mm | ISO-100
Lens: EF 17-40mm f/4L USM
Exposure Mode: P (Program)
Exposure Bias: -1
Flash: No

I came upon this scene on the drive to Valdez. I rounded a corner, and all of the sudden, there it was.

I used a circular polarizer in addition to a graduated ND filter to even out the lighting, but it still needed a some gradients during post-processing.

Update: Although the saturation adjustments I applied were subtle, I do agree with ApoChromatic, the original did appear just a bit too saturated. The current photo has zero saturation applied. Any apparent increase in saturation is from minor contrast adjustments.

Smoky Sunset | Oct 7th, 2009

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 9:56 PM on 7/8/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/500sec | f/5.6 | 200mm | ISO-200
Lens: EF 70-200mm f/4L IS USM
Exposure Mode: Av (Aperture Priority)
Exposure Bias: -2
Flash: No

This was taken late one evening near Seward, Alaska. The (somewhat annoying) smoke was due to wildfires on the Kenai Peninsula. There were a few photo opportunities that were helped by the smoke, but mostly it was annoyingly in between my camera and the landscape rendering most of my photos during my last week in Alaska decidedly gray.

For processing, I blended two "exposures" from a single RAW file. An unblended version can be found here.

At first this photo seems a bit dark overall, especially the lower half, but I decided against lightening it further because I like the darker feel of the sunset. This is closer to what I actually saw with my own eyes than would be a perfectly "exposed" image.

Mt. McKinley | Sep 24th, 2009

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 6:31 PM on 6/30/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/200sec | f/9.0 | 24mm | ISO-200
Lens: EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM
Exposure Bias: -1/3
Flash: No

An arial view of Mt. McKinley and the southeastern valley below including many of the glacial rivers.

Pink Petals | Sep 23rd, 2009

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 01:01:01 GMT

General: 6:08 PM on 7/6/09 | Canon 5D Mark II
Technical: 1/320sec | f/2.8 | 100mm | ISO-100
Lens: EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
Exposure Mode: Manual
Exposure Bias: +0
Flash: No

The flowers in Alaska grow huge in the summertime because of the almost continuous amount of light they receive. In the summertime, the "golden hour" is more like the golden 2 or 3 hours, and goes from about 9pm to midnight (and from about 4 am to 7am). Even during the day, the sun still never gets very high in the sky. The point I'm trying to make is that if you want some of the best lighting *in the world*, it can be found in Alaska in the summertime. (Go there a different time and you might have trouble finding light at all.)

This was taken on the front porch of my aunts B&B. I'm still processing my Alaska photos (slowly but surely). Hopefully soon I will have some ready to post. I'm finding myself becoming increasingly picky about the photos I post, and I am trying to choosing quality over quantity.

A note about image size (please respond!).

I have started posting my landscape-oriented photos as 900px wide images instead of 800px wide. Here are two for comparison: 800px and 900px. Larger images provide more detail, and can look better on larger monitors. They can also make it much harder to view the image as the photographer intended if you're using a smaller screen resolution. Ideally, I would automatically display larger images for larger screen resolutions (as I do on my wallpaper page), but that's a lot more coding and posting work.

If you feel so inclined, please let me know which size you prefer in the comments. "Gimme more pixels!" or "Let me see the big picture!"