Color or Black and White

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Choosing when to convert to black and white is not always easy, fortunately its as just a few clicks away in Lightroom. The above shots I took with black and white in mind, images with snow and rock always make for good conversions due to the high contrast.

 

Selecting the B & W tab will give you a quick preview of what your image will look like and then its a matter of processing how you like, the color slider increase or decrease the luminance of their corresponding color in the color image. Try making a virtual copy of the image and then use the compare tool to see which you like better.
 

Ross

Images In Light

Perspective Correction

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Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70 f/2.8L II, 24mm, f/11 at 1/60 sec.

Perspective correction is something we come up against whenever architectural elements are the subject matter of a photograph. This image of the lighthouse in Mukilteo is a good example. Looking at this image subjectively some will say the image should be fully corrected and some will say it would look un-natural that way. I believe a certain amount of distortion is acceptable and appears more natural.  

Other issues with correction are reduced resolution due to crop and sharpness loss from the correction itself, for these reasons I always try to minimize distortion correction, the original size of the image was 5760 x 3840 and the fully corrected image is 5399 x 3712, not a huge change. One last thing to keep in mind is your field of view, the fully corrected image lost a lot of foreground detail (flowers, pathway).

Lightroom5 lens correction panel - for fully corrected image

 

None corrected for perspective

Fully corrected for perspective

Ross

Images In Light

In Camera Abstract

5D Mk III, EF100 f/2.8L IS Macro, f/11 at 1/6 sec

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Having fun with abstract images, shooting a grove of Alder on the way up to Bridal Veil Falls I have a whole series now on abstract trees, its a little different each time I shoot, because of light, but it can be a fun exercise trying to get the right amount of camera movement to make the image blur just the right amount.

Getting the shutter speed right is key to getting this type of abstract image, I shot at f/11 to slow the shutter speed down in to the range of 1/6 to 1/4 of a second.Then I moved the camera either up or down as I depressed the shutter button, trying to keep the motion of the camera as parallel to the trees as I could. The green just comes from the surrounding foliage.

 5D Mk III, EF100 f/2.8L IS Macro, f/11 at 1/4 sec

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Ross

Images In Light

My favorite place to shoot

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70f/2.8L II, 70mm, f/16, 1/20th sec, tripod.

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Image: 5D Mk III, EF 24-70f/2.8L II, 70mm, f/11, 1/30th sec, tripod.
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Image: 5D Mk III, EF 70-200 f4L IS, 200mm, f/4.5, 1/250th sec, ISO 400.
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Most photographers have a favorite place to shoot, mine would have to be Mt Rainier National Park.

The ever present Mountain in these parts is Mt Rainier or as we call it "The Mountain", it has attracted me from a very young age and I'm a regular visitor to the park in all four seasons, I ski in the winter and hike the rest of the year, I even managed a summit back in 2000 with a group of friends.

When I go hike the Mountain I usually come across wildlife of some kind, this time it was a mother Black bear and her two cubs, but this is one of my favorite weeks to be on the Mountain, the Bloom is in peak near Chinook pass and I chose the Naches Loop for this days hike.

Image: 5D Mk III, EF 100f/2.8L IS, f/7.1, 1/125th sec, hand held.

Image: Upper Tipsoo lake, x100s, 1/280sec at f/8, ISO 400

The hike starts and ends at Tipsoo lake, so I started there at sunrise and completed the hike 2 1/2 hours later, I highly recommend it if you go to Rainier, fall will be especially nice as well maybe the first week of October to catch the fall colors

Image: Mountain Anemone, 5D Mk III, EF 100f/2.8L IS, f/3.5, 1/4000th sec, hand held, sky background.

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Ross 

Images In Light

"The Mountain"

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 L IS

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"The Mountain" as we call it around here, or Mt Rainier, is not a very accessible mountain in the winter. This year I picked up cross country skiing, which brings me new options for getting in to remote areas in the winter, it also makes me consider new options for light weight gear.

We spent a night at High Hut which belongs to the Mount Tahoma Trail Association (MTTA) at $15 P/P a night its pretty nice with a view that cant be beat.

Image: High Hut, Canon s100.

High Hut can be seen at the end of this ridge on the left

A tough ski in but the ski out was fantastic, hope to be back here again next year for another great trip.


Ross Images In Light

Last of the Fall color

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Fall color is fading fast in the Cascades, these shots where taken just out side Plain, Wa. near Lk Wenatchee.

Ross

Images In Light

Park Butte

Image: 5D Mk II,16-35 f2.8 L, 23mm at f10, 1/50 sec, hand held 3 stop GND.

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Mt Baker from Park Butte
Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L, 29mm at f16, 1/25 sec, hand held 3 stop GND.

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Definitely one of the most beautiful hikes in the state, Park Butte on the south side of Mt Baker or Kulshan (the Indian name) just a couple hours from the trail head and just 2 1/2 hours north of the Seattle area.

Three trails lead off to different parts of the mountain, photo opportunities abound on these trails, with Kulshan in view most of the time. Get up Railroad Grade to climbers camp and to see a glacier tumble off a cliff or make your way up the Roman Wall to summit the mountain. Great wildlife opportunities all summer and fall color the first week of October.

Black and white conversion done in Lightroom.

Ross

Images In Light

More Fall at Rainier

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, f11, LV, 3 stop GND filter
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Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, f11, LV, 3 stop GND filter
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Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, f6.3, LV
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Better light prevailed on this trip to the mountain, the fall colors are fantastic. Every trip to Mt Rainier, the mood is different, the light never the same, that's one of its best features.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Fall at Mt Rainier National Park

Paradise Valley
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Paradise
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Paradise Valley
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If you have time in the next week to visit Mt Rainier, I highly recommend you do so. Mt Rainier puts on a fall show that's hard to beat, rivaled only by the spring bloom, in ways as good as the fall show in New England.

The color is coming mostly from Blueberry bushes that grow all over the Cascade range, the bears go through this like harvester machines, fattening up for their winter long sleep and can be seen at the park stuffing their furry faces full of over ripe blueberrys.

Black Bear fall 2009
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It was overcast for my visit but I hope to be back for some good weather this coming week end, the color should last another week.

You may also get to see a black and silver phase Red Fox I have seen on a couple of recent shoots at Mt Rainier.

Winter 2009
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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

A fun shoot and some wild light.

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, CPL. at + 2 ev.
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Moments after the storm I took this shot of a tranquil sunset.

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L
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The clouds enveloped my position from behind me and came between me and the sunset for this shot.


Image: Mt Baker and Alpine Tarn, 5D Mk II, 17-40 f4 L,3 stop GND, f11, 1/60 sec.
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On a backpacking trip to Mt Baker last night, produced some good images and when a thunder storm rolled in, made for some wild light, including glowing thunder heads and rainbows in the same shot, will try to get some images up to add to this post in the next couple of days, but boy was last night a wild ride in the North Cascades.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Image: Thunder Heads at sunset

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Image: Incoming storm over the North Cascades
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Perseverance

Image: The Silver Forest, 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L, 1/13 s at f11, 3 stop GND filter.

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Perseverance paid off this morning, I stayed down at Mt Rainier over the weekend and there where no clouds for my first two shoots, this morning I almost rolled over and went back to sleep , but I had set 2 alarms on my watch, one for 4:00 and one for 4:05, so I dragged myself up to see the sunrise at "Sunrise" and to my surprise, the clouds started to roll in, a little earlier would have been nice, but hey we take what nature gives us. I had good light for about 2 hours of shooting, the above image was taken from with in the Silver Forest.

Ross Murphy Images In Light