Sam Brueggeman Photography

Sam Brueggeman Photography I am a photographer with a passion for Night Photography and Snowboarding Photography. I hope you can enjoy these images as much as I enjoy shooting them!

One more from the beacon lighting. This one feels like it could old as the lighthouse itself.
08/03/2023

One more from the beacon lighting.
This one feels like it could old as the lighthouse itself.

Finding the Pheonix3.23.23During intense aurora, the human eye often finds recognizable shapes that form in the bending,...
03/26/2023

Finding the Pheonix
3.23.23
During intense aurora, the human eye often finds recognizable shapes that form in the bending, twisting, and pulsing lights. While shooting straight up, this bird shape caught my eye.

November in the North.Just as a thin veil of morning frost set in, the sky was alive with interstellar particles dancing...
11/05/2021

November in the North.
Just as a thin veil of morning frost set in, the sky was alive with interstellar particles dancing on the edge of space.
Roughly 3 days ago the sun ejected massive amounts of solar wind. After traveling 93 million miles those particles were funneled to earth at each pole by our protective onion know as the magnetosphere. As those particles reached earth they would react with the gasses in our atmosphere to produce the colorful light you see here.
It's not often this much activity or different colors of aurora are seen around the 45th parallel. Nevermind in a light polluted area. This was with out a doubt a special event.

Home sweet Home 🏡
11/04/2021

Home sweet Home 🏡

A week ago I woke up to an unusual orange glow filling our bedroom. I slowly got up and brought the dog to the back door...
09/27/2021

A week ago I woke up to an unusual orange glow filling our bedroom. I slowly got up and brought the dog to the back door to go out. As I opened the door I felt like I had been transported to another planet. I quickly grabbed my camera and attempted capture a sky on fire. As I roamed around my dead end road trying to find a shot, all of the neighborhood (including a full schoolbus) started to leave for work passing the crazy fella wearing pajamas and slippers with a giant camera. Sorry folks but it had to be done.

Here's hoping April showers brings May milkyway. Clouds will cover the sky for most if not all of the new moon this mont...
04/11/2021

Here's hoping April showers brings May milkyway. Clouds will cover the sky for most if not all of the new moon this month. Here is one from last month to tide you over.

Five minutes with the Milkyway I often talk about different techniques I use to create my milkyway images. Here I will g...
03/27/2021

Five minutes with the Milkyway
I often talk about different techniques I use to create my milkyway images. Here I will give you guys an in depth look at one process I use to capture our galaxy.
The first image is the result of all of the following images used to create this final product.
The second image is a 5 minute exposure with my camera stationary. This gives me a clean foreground that can be applied later to the star portion. The lined stars show the movement of the earth over the 300 seconds (5min) that my camera sensor was exposed. I am also able to use a very low ISO or light sensitivity. In this case it was 500. This is well within traditional film speeds and thus makes a much more clear image.
The third image is a tracked shot. For this shot I use an equatorial tripod mount. This mount cancels out the earth's rotation and allows the camera to stay with the stars or focus on one spot in the sky. You can seen the same blurring the stars had in the previous image this time in the foreground. Again using an ISO of 500 keeping everything clear.
The last image is a stacked image. For this method I use multiple images from the same location with a much higher ISO (6400) and shorter shutter speed around 10 seconds vs 300 seconds for the other shots. Those images are then stacked on top of each other in photoshop. Doing so cancels out some of the noise created by a high light sensitivity or ISO.
Lastly I blend them together using parts of each image to create the final product. The result is a highly detailed and clean looking image. I recommend zooming in on each image to really see the difference in the details. Although these are small images and not then highest quality you can still clearly see the difference especially between the first three and the last one.
Why? I do this mostly because I'm a nerd and really enjoy seeing the full scope of power that comes from the milkyway. It also makes printing these images completely different. The quality is dramatically better when printing a tracked shot and can be scaled up much easier.
Hopefully you enjoyed this explanation and the resulting image. Message me for prints!

One last shot of the lights....for now any way. 😉 I hope you guys aren't sick of seeing these. Scroll down for way more ...
03/24/2021

One last shot of the lights....for now any way. 😉 I hope you guys aren't sick of seeing these. Scroll down for way more info than you asked for about Northern Lights.
🚨 NERD ALERT 🚨
Neon lights in the sky.
As solar wind bombards earth's magnetic field some of the charged particles contained in this "wind" slip through weaker portions of the magnetosphere at each pole. These charged particles react with gasses such as oxygen and nitrogen in our atmosphere called the Ionosphere. Here you can see a great example of the layering and differences in the gasses interacting with the ionosphere. Different colors denote either different types of gas mostly oxygen or nitrogen as well as those gasses interacting with ions in the atmosphere at different altitudes. For example the green coloring which is most common in Aurora show's is oxygen that is roughly around 50-150 miles above the surface. The purplish blue sometimes white colors are nitrogen molecules in a similar range. The most rare is the red or orange Aurora which is oxygen reacting at a much higher altitude. Differences in the atmosphere as well as differences in the gasses included in the solar wind will determine the strength, duration and color of the show that is seen. To understand the way this interaction works think about neon lights which use electric current flowing through different gasses to create a glowing color.


Space Deck Pt 2. Saturday morning was really special. I sat in this very spot and only had to turn my head slightly to s...
03/23/2021

Space Deck Pt 2.
Saturday morning was really special. I sat in this very spot and only had to turn my head slightly to see Northern Lights one direction and the Milkyway the other. Not to mention sitting only a few feet from one of the most incredible natural wonders on the planet.

Dreams..Ever since I started shooting night/astro photography I've wanted to get a single image with the milkyway and th...
03/21/2021

Dreams..
Ever since I started shooting night/astro photography I've wanted to get a single image with the milkyway and the northern lights in it. However that is difficult since on this part of the globe the core of the milkyway is only visible in the southern sky and the Aurora is usuallyonly visible directly to the north. Early Saturday morning as the lights were exploding overhead stretching near the eastern part of the sky, the milkyway core was beginning to rise and I realized I had my chance. Luckily I was in a perfect location to be able to capture both from one spot. This is 10 images each shot vertically then stitched together resulting in the single image you see here.

Space deck.This spot feels like it was made for stargazing. It's looking like we may get yet another shot at seeing some...
03/21/2021

Space deck.


This spot feels like it was made for stargazing.

It's looking like we may get yet another shot at seeing some lights tonight. If you are able get to a dark spot with an unobstructed view of the northern sky. If the forecast holds true even people in central MN may be able to see some.

The sky was electric this morning.
03/20/2021

The sky was electric this morning.

Address

Duluth, MN
55803

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Sam Brueggeman Photography posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Business

Send a message to Sam Brueggeman Photography:

Shortcuts

Share