Welcome to the online photo galleries of Alaska based photographer Ron Niebrugge, featuring a wide variety of nature, wildlife and travel photos. Images are available for stock licensing and as fine art prints.
Ron's images are available as fine art prints. Whether it's a traditional print on photo paper you are looking for or a more contemporary metal or plaque print we have you covered. Look below any image you are interested in to learn more about our Fine Arts Prints.
Nature Images
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The Homeward Journal is a space to share ideas with nature-loving people like you on how to feel closer to nature, blend the outside and inside in your home's interior design and feel more grounded in all areas of your life.
I am a contemporary fine art nature photographer with a gallery in West Seattle. I believe that the timeless natural beauty of the American West is the antidote to a life of haste and worry. My photographs are artworks with a mission: To blend the outside and inside and celebrate the places you go to in your dreams. READ MY FULL BIO
I recommend that nature photographers downsize and compress images that are shared on social media and include a watermark with their name or logo. I never share high definition photos or original files on social media to limit the opportunity for online photo theft.
Look at past contest winners and see if you notice a trend. What are the judges looking for, and can you get their attention with a special shot in your portfolio? Take your time when choosing images for competition, and ask for input from someone who can provide honest, constructive feedback. Competition images should be unique and interesting.
Introduction: The objective of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) is to investigate the effect of a social networking site (SNS) on body dissatisfaction, facial and smile dissatisfaction, and face-related discrepancy, and whether these effects differ from the use of appearance-neutral Instagram images. We also aimed to investigate whether there are trends in increased self-reported use of social media and increased body dissatisfaction, facial and smile dissatisfaction, and face-related discrepancy.
Methods: Undergraduate students were randomly allocated to an experimental group with idealised smile images or to a control group with neutral nature images. They completed pre-exposure questionnaires, then perused for 5 min their allocated images on individual Apple iPads via the Instagram application. Participants then completed the post-exposure surveys. The main outcome was facial dissatisfaction. Body dissatisfaction and total facial and body dissatisfaction were secondary outcomes. Simple randomisation was achieved with a computerised random number generator. Data were analysed using repeated measures ANOVA and multivariate regression analyses.
Results: A total of 132 participants (mean age = 20.50 2.21 years) were randomised to either the experimental group with idealised smile images (n=71) or the control group with neutral nature images (n=61). Baseline characteristics were similar between groups and no participants were lost. Exposure to 'ideal' facial images on social media decreases facial satisfaction (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.85-1.05; P < 0.0001). Individuals with high baseline self-discrepancy scores are less satisfied with their facial features and body appearance (95% CI = 0.04-1.16; P = 0.036).
We are pleased to announce the launch of our third BMC Ecology and Evolution image competition! Submit your images and the stories behind them for a chance to highlight your research, win prizes, and have your photography featured in the journal.
The competition provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase research and the beauty of nature to a broad audience. Anyone affiliated with a research institution is eligible to enter one image into each of the following four categories:
Since the late 20th century, the restorative effect of nature has been gradually gaining attention in the fields of environmental psychology and public health [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. Environmental psychologists have discussed aesthetic and affective responses to the outdoor environment and the preference for natural scenery over urban landscapes, which lack natural elements [6,7,8]. In 1984, Ulrich reported that surgical patients who were assigned to rooms with windows overlooking natural scenery had shorter hospital stays and experienced fewer negative health outcomes than patients in rooms with windows facing the brick wall of a building [9].
In particular, indoor experiments, where it is possible to control the stimuli and physical environment, entail more specific and diverse methodological approaches than those used in field experiments. Of the five senses, the effectiveness of sight [33,34,35,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74], smell [36,37,38,52,53,75] and touch [49,50,51] have been discussed. The rapid development of physiological indicators has enabled evaluation of body responses such as cerebral activity (functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], near-infrared spectroscopy [NIRS] and electroencephalography [EEG]), autonomic nervous activity (heart rate variability [HRV], heart rate, pulse rate and blood pressure) and endocrine activity (salivary cortisol concentration). Such data could be helpful in understanding the mechanisms underlying the physiological responses emerging from contact with nature; furthermore, the data would be useful for understanding the different effects shown by field [19,20,21,22,23,24,25,26,27,28,29,30,31,32] and indoor experiments [33,34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41,42,43,44,45,46,47,48,49,50,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,58,59,60,61,62,63,64,65,66,67,68,69,70,71,72,73,74,75]. In particular, compared with studies that examine the effects of the other senses, studies on the visual effects of nature are at the forefront of research. Researchers have accumulated data in this field since 1981 [6].
Another study investigated the physiological relaxation effect related to the individual preference of nature scenes [62]. Twelve male adults each viewed their individual preferred video of a sea or forest, and their physiological changes, as shown by HRV and heart rate, were recorded. The participants were divided into two groups of six on the basis of their preference for sea or forest scenery, and each physiological change indicator was compared among the groups. The heart rate while viewing the sea video was higher than that while viewing forest video. In the same year, one study examined physiological relaxation effects to determine if forest locations and vegetation density affect human attention and relaxation state [71]. One hundred and eighty university students were recruited in the study, and the participants were placed in groups of six (n = 30) that participated in a visual stimulation experiment. Pictures of three locations representing a forest interior (featuring surrounding trees and vegetation), a forest edge (featuring the visibility of the overlapping patches) and a forest exterior (featuring where the patch can be seen from far away) as well as three pictures of vegetation with different densities (high, medium and low) were collected. Six types of visual stimulation slides were eventually prepared. The participants watched the slideshow, and their electroencephalographic alpha frequency, which is associated with a state and alert relaxation, was measured. The results showed that the forest interior group had higher alpha values than those of the forest edge group, which suggested that the interior group was less relaxed than the edge group.
The technique of fMRI provides an opportunity to further explore the psychophysiological benefits of viewing natural environments. This novel approach enables direct examination of regional brain activity while viewing landscapes. Tang et al. compared the restorative value of four types of landscape environments (urban, mountain, forest and water) by using fMRI to investigate regional brain activity [60]. The study recruited 39 adults between the age of 20 and 30 years, and data from 31 participants (14 males and 17 females) were used after excluding for movement artifacts. The nature landscape included images from three types of common natural setting: mountains, forests and water. Urban landscapes were retrieved from an online gallery of photographs. In total, 12 photographs, three from each of the four categories, with similar color, lightness and layout, were used in the experiment. Compared with the mountain and water landscapes, urban images increased visual and attentional focus, which resulted in activation of the cuneus. This finding indicates that viewing mountain and water landscapes after urban landscapes may reduce activation in the visual cortex and increase activation in the rest of the attention system. Compared with urban landscapes, water landscapes were associated with increased neural activation in the attention area of the brain, which suggested that viewing water landscapes may stimulate the rest of the attention system. Interestingly, a lack of significant difference in brain activities between viewing urban and forest landscapes suggests a smaller effect on attention restoration than viewing the mountain and water landscapes. Overall, different landscapes affected regional brain activity differently; most notably, the visual and attention areas of the brain responded differently to images of urban and natural environments.
Similarly, in another study during the same year, fMRI was used to evaluate the brain activity of 30 college students with rural (13.5 5.7 years) and urban (13.8 4.4 years) life experiences [66]. Rural scenes included forests, gardens, parks, and hills, whereas urban scenes included apartments, buildings, electrical cables, and factories. Different brain areas were activated while viewing the rural and urban scenes. The superior parietal gyrus, anterior cingulate gyrus, postcentral gyrus, globus pallidus, putamen, and caudate nucleus head were mainly involved while viewing the rural scenes. In contrast, the hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, amygdala, and lingual gyrus were primarily involved while viewing the urban scenes. These findings demonstrated an improved characterization of neural activation, indicating that a nature-oriented lifestyle is inherently preferred. ff782bc1db