Railroad Grade to Climbers base camp, Kulshan.

Image:Mt Baker, 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4L IS

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Image:Colfax Peak, 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4L IS

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Possibly one of the most beautiful places in the Cascade mountains and one of my favorite places to hike and do photography.
  Also the last hike before Glacier and Wind River, we should be on the Garden Wall in a few days time, heading to Granite Park and Grinnell Glacier, finally ending up at Manny Glaciers, then off to Jackson Hole Wyoming for a few days of rest and down to the Wind River Range and the Cirque of Towers for four days of back country.

Going to be a fun trip !

Ross

Isolation

 

Image 5D Mk III, 100 f2.8L IS, f2.8, 1/160 sec ISO 100

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Image 5D Mk III, 100 f2.8L IS, f2.8, 1/60 sec ISO 100
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There is isolating an image in camera and isolating in software the second and third images by shooting at f 2.8 and the first by doing a reverse mask in CS5 and shooting at f 2.8.

Ross

Images In Light 

The View From Mt Dickerman

Image: 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4L IS

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Image: 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4L IS 

Del Campo Peak panorama, hand held 3 shot.

Image: 5D Mk III, 70-200 f4L IS 

All images hand held on the way up Mt Dickerman in the central Cascades, this was about getting in shape mostly, getting ready for the Cirque of Towers, The Grand Teton and Glacier National Park in two weeks.

Ross

Images In Light

5D Mk III/EF100 f2.8L IS

5D Mk III, 100 f2.8L IS, f2.8, 1/250 sec at ISO 100, crop.

Crop of above image

5D Mk III, 100 f2.8L IS, f2.8, 1/800 sec at ISO 100, crop.

Wow.......

I don't  review gear, but when something comes along that works like sliced bread, well.......

the combination of the 5D Mk III and the EF 100 f2.8L IS just works and works well, the image stabilization is incredible, the AF speed and accuracy phenomenal, fantastic bokeh and great color rendition, this lens will have to get pried off the Mk III.

The 5D Mk III is an all around improvement from the MK II, Canon have a fine camera that has the most advanced auto focus system in a DSLR, excepting the 1Dx which has improved color RGB tracking. See the on line guide book for the 5D/1D auto focus.

If you only shoot landscape is it still worth it ? I think so, no one really only shoots landscapes, I photograph friends and family, my dog Ducky, along with airplanes and wildlife, so do I need it?...

no, do I want it, yes. Did I get it? absolutely !

oh and being able to shoot in the dark at f2.8 and ISO 12,800 is incredible, usable images at that ISO.

Ross

PS for those of you that don't like to shoot RAW ?  this is the camera for you, the jpg's out of camera are excellent. 

Images In Light

Vertical Panning

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A slight upward motion of the camera along with a narrow aperture (to attain a longer shutter speed) is all that was done to attain this look, a slight curves adjustment in CS5 for contrast.

The red bark of the Ponderosa pine along with the surrounding green of the forest made for nice contrast and color.

Ross 

Images In light

Desert Hike - Umtanum

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, 200mm, 1/1000 at f4

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Pygmy Short Horned Lizard 

 Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, 189mm, 1/800 at f4
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Image: 5D mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L

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In a sea of flowers, which one do you photograph ?

Umtanum Creek Canyon

Ross

Images In Light

Subject Isolation

Image: 5D Mk II, 300f2.8 IS L, EF 25 extension tube, f2.8, 1/80 sec, iso 400

Image: 5D Mk II, 300f2.8 IS L, EF 1.4x II TC, f5.6, 1/60 sec, iso 200

Isolating a subject is a matter of using the appropriate aperture , in the top image I used f2.8 to isolate the single purple flower so it would stand out even more from the blue ones, in the lower image I used f5.6 to try and maintain the entire flower in focus, it helps a lot to not have a busy background so the bokeh is as pleasing as possible and this helps with the isolation, extenders and extension tubes come in useful to get in tighter with your lens and a wider aperture lens is better for isolating your subject, this can be used for taking people portraits also.

Ross Murphy Images In Light

Subtle Light

Cannon Beach, Or. 5D Mk II

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Artist's Point, Mt Baker, Wa. 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 L IS

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Subtle light can produce some beautiful and dramatic images, one of the benefits of staying around after the sun sets and the tourists have left. Being there for it is usually the hard part about photography, being that I have a day job I must attend, I don't get to see enough of it.

I had a recent conversation on this subject with some fellow photographers, most understand how important a role good light plays in getting an image that is aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes it can be indoor lighting, sometimes that light right before or after a storm.

Tulips and Snow Geese

Image: 5D MkII,300 f2.8, EF 1.4x II TC , 1/3200 sec @ f4, iso 100.
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Image: 5D MkII,300 f2.8, 1/2000 @ f 2.8, iso 100
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Image: 5D MkII,300 f2.8, EF 1.4x II TC, 1/2500 sec @ f4, iso 100.
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What do Geese and Tulips have in common ? at this time of year we have the Skagit Valley tulip festival and it coincides with the annual migration of the Snow Geese, they stop off to rest and fatten up on their way to the arctic circle to breed. This makes for great photographic opportunities, if you can't get one your bound to get the other. One other migratory bird of note in the NW are the Sandhill crane common to Eastern Washington during their migration.

Ross Murphy 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

Fresh Snow

5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L

5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L

5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L

Nothing like a dusting of fresh snow to add some contrast to a landscape image, the hills above lake Chelan in Eastern Washington made for interesting images while we cross country skied Echo Ridge.

Ross

Images In Light

Alpine Trees

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 L IS
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I love shooting alpine trees, they tend to be a lot more uniform and have a much bigger height to diameter ratio than their low altitude brethren.

They always work well for framing a mountain or valley and for portrait orientation style of image's which I shoot as much if not more than landscape orientation.

Ross

Images In Light

X

A new direction for me ? perhaps. X-Pro1

I have gotten a taste for the Fuji color and files with the x10, the x100 looks good but the x-Pro1 looks even better and I'm hearing very good things so far.

Ross

Images In Light

Lightroom 4 Available now

At a new lower price, Bonus ! find it here $149 or $79 upgrade.

See a review of LR4 here.

Lightroom 4.0 Resources here.

Ross

Images In Light

Interesting clouds

Image: Fuji x10, 24mm, f7.1 at 1/850 sec, ISO 200

On the way over to lake Wenatchee for a xc ski, the clouds made for an interesting composition from the side of the highway. JPG straight out of camera.

Ross

Images In Light