Fall is here

Image: Mt Shuksan, 5D Mk II, 300 f2.8 IS L, f11, 1/500 sec.
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The Saddle above Bagley lake Basin

Fall is upon us, although the color is a little delayed this year due to weather. I decided to go looking for Black bear on the Chain Lakes loop trail at Mt Shukson, so I decided to bring along my 300mm brick, which is a lot of weight to carry for a short hike, but if I wanted a bear shot I needed a minimum of 300mm, so I loaded up and headed for the pass above Bagley lakes. At 90 oz. this lens doesn't go in my pack very often, but this is the time of year to see bear.

This is a beautiful hike, bear or no and in this case, no was the operative word, but the views of Mt Shuksan and Kulshan (Baker) more than made up for packing that big piece of glass up the side of a mountain.

The second and third shots above are crops of the first and you can view them at 1600 pixels on the long end by clicking on them, I did this so you can get an idea of the resolution this lens has. It is an incredibly sharp lens from f 2.8 to f 16, definitely the best lens I have ever shot with, the detail in the glaciers is incredible when viewed full size , it makes it very easy to crop images from 21mp to say 12mp and still be able to print large images, great for wildlife photography.

The 2nd to last image shows the fall color starting to come in at the higher elevations and the last image a snapshot of my position with my s-95. With a dusting of fresh snow on Shuksan it wont be long until the lower elevations in the Bagley lake Basin start seeing the blueberries turn to crimson and red and orange and.............

Time to dust off the snow shoes.

Ross

Images in Light

More from Shuksan

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L at 50mm, CPL and 3 stop GND soft

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This is an image I have been wanting to get with the 5D Mk II, its a 2 shot panorama of Mt Shuksan with the fall colors and fresh snow on the mountain, I look forward to getting this one printed and framed. The 24-105 f4 at 50mm is deadly sharp on the Mk II and is a combination thats hard to beat. Right now I am very happy with the lenses I have, I do wish I could afford a 400mm f4 DO. Canons f4 series of lenses are a blessing for outdoor photographers that want to travel light and the cost is a blessing also over their f2.8 cousins.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Fall has Arrived

Image: Fall At Mt Shuksan 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L, at 35mm, 3 stop Soft GND, 1/20s, f 22.
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Probably my favorite type of image to shoot is the portrait mode landscape with foreground interest, this one has a lot to look at in both fore, mid and background, shot at f22 for maximum depth of field.
A great place to shoot, taken around 3:00 this afternoon, the most photographed mountain in the US, so I hear. Part of the North Cascade range and in close proximity to Mt Baker, about 3 hours north of Seattle.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Foreground

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f 2.8 L II, 30mm at f11 for 2 sec, CPL and 3 stop GND soft. Just prior to sunrise.

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Foreground in an image like this can make or break it, I was unlucky with cloud cover but managed to get an interesting image by using the foreground to add interest, I exposed on the whole scene and recomposed and focused on the plants on the surface of the water, I used live view with exposure simulation, which I am starting to use more of, it works very well, Canon has done an excellent job with live view. I think I have come to like the 16-35 f2.8 L II, it is quite sharp and I can stop it down to f16 or more and have less diffraction than the 17-40 f4 L.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Star Burst

Image: Mt Shuksan Sunrise, 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, f22,1/6 s, -1.7 ev. 3 stop GND soft.


Image: Mt Shuksan Sunrise, 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, f16,1/8 s, -1.0 ev. 3 stop GND soft.

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F22 vs F16, tell me which you like better.

I had a chance to try out an EF 16-35 F2.8 L II this morning, so far its looks pretty good, one thing about shooting this type of lens that is a plus for landscape photographers is the round lens diaphragm you only get this on top of the line lenses, you need more blades in the diaphragm to create the round hole for shooting wide open, however when you stop down you have more intersections of the blades, this allows, when stopped down to f 22, the ability to add nice looking star burst's when including the sun in your image. Also allowing very nice bokeh at large apertures.

Ross Murphy Images In Light