Why I shoot RAW

Final image after PS CS 5

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RAW image converted in Lightroom 4 to 16 bit tiff

Original RAW Image, before processing.

Shooting in jpg only is like throwing away the negative, I always shoot in RAW format with my DSLR, I want to be able to get everything out of my files and RAW format stores a lot more information than a jpg does.

My original RAW files are selected and have the majority of processing done in Lightroom, highlight recovery and shadows, white balance, individual color luminosity, tone curve and a small amount of pre-sharpening.

This is where I may decide to do local adjustments in PS CS5, along with a very slight tone curve, crop and possibly print-sharpening. They are then saved in 16 bit tiff format for future printing or work and long term storage.

Local adjustments may include dodging and burning or a layer mask or slight color adjustments, PS CS5 is only used for images I select for possible future printing or as a select image for web presentation.

All images for use on the web are saved in jpg format. I may end up with several formats and sizes of each of my select images that get stored on an external drive.

Ross 

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

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

Winter Photography

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f 4 L IS, f7.1 at 1/125 sec.

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Just because its winter doesn't mean photography has to stop, interesting landscapes can be found with incoming weather systems or mountain twilight.

The above shots of a snow storm in Tumwater canyon where shot at -1.5 ev and processed in LR, lowering the white balance just a tad to get the overall blueish cold feel that I wanted to convey the winter feel a little better.

I wanted the trees in a sharp silhouette with the clouds and sun exposed for detail, the snow is visible falling through out the image.

Ross

Images In Light

30 Seconds

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-70 f2.8 L, 48mm at f11, 30 sec, Singh-Ray Variable ND filter.

Smoothing the water was the intent with the long exposure, depending on the effect you want, 1 to 30 second's can give you a wide range of results depending on the waves and the light, adding a stationary object like these poles give some interest to what was an un-eventful sunset

Ross

Images In Light

Eclipse 12/10/11

6:45 am, 5D Mk II, 300mm at f2.8 for 1 sec at ISO 3200

6:45 am, 5D Mk II, 300 mm at f3.2 for 1.6 sec at ISO 3200

This mornings eclipse of the moon, earth shadow at about 2/3 from my front porch, lucky me : )

Yes its Red, this color is normal for moon eclipses "The Blood Red Moon", only got off a few shots before the clouds obscured my view.

Ross

Images In Light

Goats

Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, f5.6 at 1/80 sec.
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Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, f4 at 1/125 sec.
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Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, 200mm, f4 at 1/250 sec.
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Goats: something very majestic about Mt Goats, they are so nimble for such stout creatures, what they can do on a rock wall defies logic.

I've been wanting to shoot Mountain Goats for a long time and a trail at Logan Pass in Glacier NP Montana provided me a great opportunity. They pretty much will pose for the camera, knowing you'll get out of the way if you happen to be standing in the next spot they want to browse on.

Shooting them in the shade of the overhanging cliffs was a bonus as their white coats don't get blown out by the sun, these guys had already molted away their beards, which was disappointing, but gives me reason to seek them out again.

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

Three Days in The Tetons

Cathedral Group, 2 shot panorama.

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300 f2.8 IS L, EF 1.4x, f11, 1/320 sec.

Image: 5D MkII, 300 f2.8 IS L, iso 400, f3.2, 1/200 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300 f2.8 IS L, EF 1.4x, f11, 1/100 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS L, 70mm, f16, 1/2 sec.
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Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 II L, 16mm, f11, 1/160sec.
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What to do with three days in the Tetons ? hmmmm, so much to see and do, not really enough time for back country hikes, but there are so many places to shoot and a lot are right off the road.

Places like Snake river overlook, Oxbow Bend, Schwabackers Landing, Mormon Row, the list goes on, one place I love to shoot is Cathedral group with a 300mm lens, this an impressive set of peaks, including Teewinot, Grand Teton and Mt Owen, viewed from the north.

The Barns of course at Mormon Row or the classic Ansel Adams shot from Snake river overlook, not enough sunrises on this trip, so I'll be going back, maybe a winter shoot next time.

Best time to go, Fall, followed by spring, then winter and finally summer, well maybe winter will move up on the list : ) that's the only time I've not been there.

Not far from the Tetons is the Wind River Range, another impressive Rocky mountain range, the Cirque of Towers at Wind River is high on my list of future treks.

Wyoming has some of the most beautiful scenery in the Rockies and wildlife abounds like few other places.

Ross

Images In Light

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

FHC B-25 J

Image: B-25 J, 5D Mk II, 70-200 F4 IS L, 200 mm f10 at 1/250 sec

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FHC's B-25 J Mitchell, recognized as one of the most accurately restored WWII bombers in existence, what a beautiful aircraft.

Paul Allens group FHC has done a fine job of restoring this old airplane to flying condition. She flew at FHC's weekly fly day along side the HFF's B-25 D "Grumpy"

Ross

Images In Light

Spring in September

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 II L, 29mm at f16, 1/50 sec, no filter's.

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Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 II L, 16mm at 1/25 sec, no filter's.

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Spring in September ? at Mt Rainier, yes. Extremely unusual weather this year in the Pacific NW left snow in the high country a lot later than normal, this pushed the bloom out almost two months, normally we would see flowers like this in late July.

Last year I was shooting fall color at Mt Rainier on October 12th, this year spring flowers on September 10th.

Regardless, it makes for a great time to be at the Mountain, bring bug spray, suntan lotion and keep an eye out for bears in the Bench lake area, the blue berries are ripe and the bears love them.

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

Spitfires and Some Luck

Image: 5D Mk II, 300mm at f 8, 1/400 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300mm at f 7.1, 1/320 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300mm at f 7.1, 1/320 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300mm at f 8, 1/400 sec

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Image: 5D Mk II, 300mm at f 6.3, 1/640 sec

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Some times just blind, dumb luck helps out. I knew the moon was where it was, I just never thought I'd be able to incorporate it in to a shot. Shooting high speed and panning across the sky with a big lens never bodes well for getting a shot that incorporates the moon, not only did I get it once, but four times, on this shoot. The Flying Heritage Collection, fly day in Mukilteo happens every summer and is put on by Paul Allen's group for about 8 weeks, ending Sept 24th this year with B-25 day. FHC is usually joined by the Historic Flight Foundation, which in this case supplied the Supermarine Spitfire Mk. IXe with FHC's: Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 and Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vc.

The first image is a crop of the fourth image, with the Mk V Spitfire removed.

Ross

Images In Light