Happy Holidays

Image: Westlake Center , 5D MkII, 16-35 f2.8 L II

Happy Holidays

Ross Murphy Images In Light

787 high speed taxi test

Image: 787 No. 1, 5D Mk II, 70-200 f4 IS , ISO 400 1/2500 sec at f5.6

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Big week coming up here in Boeing land, the 787 should be in the air on Dec 15th at 10am, high speed taxi tests where performed over the last few days in preparation.

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Night Photography

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, 16mm @ f11 for 3 sec, CPL filter.

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Shooting at night or just before dark can be rewarding when looking for a new perspective on an often photographed subject, the Seattle Center Pergola is a place I have been wanting to shoot for a while and I must admit I found it hard to find a position where I could come up with something original, I am sure its been shot from this perspective before, maybe not with this light and this type of cloud. The 16-35 f2.8 allowed me to get the wide feel I wanted for the image I had thought about before hand and the light and cloud worked pretty well to allow me to come away with a few images I like. See more at my web site.

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My favorite Image for 2009

Image: 5D Mk II, 17-40 f4 L, 3 stop soft GND, Mt Baker B and W.

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Kulshan (the Lummi indian name), The most prominent active volcano in the The North Cascades and part of the Pacific Rim of Fire. Renamed Mt Baker in 1792.

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Zeiss Distagon T* 21mm f/2.8 ZE Lens for Canon

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, 3 stop GND soft
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Now available the Zeiss glass we want for our Canon cameras, I have heard very good things about this lens and I am dying to try one out the Distigon 21mm f2.8 it will give full exif data to Canon cameras and give focus confirmation, it has some mustache distortion but looks sharp across the field. Next is the 50mm f1.4, the Planar 85mm f1.4, soon the Distigon 18mm f 3.5 and the Distigon 35mm f2 Things are looking better in Canon glass land, especially if you add in Canons primes and latest tilt/shift lenses.

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Grand Teton Isolation

Image: 50D, 300 f4 IS L, 1/800 sec at f 7.1

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Isolating mountain peaks with a telephoto lens is a type of landscape work I enjoy a lot, it gives a sense of what its like up there, and allows you to compose some interesting and original work. This can be shot at wider apertures than the typical landscape due to less depth of field, these type of images also lend themselves well to black and white renditions, the 300 f4 IS L is a very nice lens and pretty versatile, I was shooting Buffalo in the morning with it and the Teton range later that day. The above shot was converted to b and w with CS4.

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Lightroom discount 15% off

Thought I would post this, for those on the edge of purchasing Lightroom, I highly recommend it. Find it here.

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, 1/20 sec at f22, 3 stop soft GND.

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Ross Murphy Images In Light

Perspective

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L at 35mm

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L at 58mm

Image: 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L at 105mm

Perspective will say a lot about an image, the above shots taken from Denny Park show 3 different perspectives of Seattle, each telling there own story. When shooting an image think about what you want to convey to the viewer, what image in your mind is it that you want them to see, each of these shots will feel a little different going from wide, to close in, one showing the Salish Sea as it is now known and the last showing a more intimate view giving perspective to the city's proximity to Mt Rainier.

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Fall at Mt Rainier NP

Image: 5D Mk II,300 f4 IS L at f4,spot metered, ISO 400, 1/250 sec click to view larger

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, 18 mm at f16, 3 stop GND soft, click to view larger.

Image: 5D Mk II, 16-35 f2.8 L II, 33 mm at f16, click to view larger.

Again another day of bad weather at the Mountain, was only able to get 5 shots off with the Mountain in the image, but it was still better than a day in the office, ran in to a black and silver phase Red Fox and a Black bear on this trip and enjoyed a quiet hike in Paradise valley, pretty much all to my self, the colors where a little beyond peak up high but still nice lower on the Mountain. The weekend before I got snow, so a little better this trip.

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Winter Forest

Image: B and W Forest, 5DMkII, 70-200 f4 IS L at 116 mm, f11

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Well, what I thought was going to be the last chance to shoot fall color at Mt Rainier, turned in to a cold a snowy day with the temperature right at 32 deg. Paradise valley (above) was cold and moody, it turned out to produce some interesting compositions including this on that I cropped to remove the trunks of the trees and the square format worked nice. See the full image here.

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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.

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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.

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Skunked Again !

Image: 2 shot panorama, 5D Mk II, 24-105 f4 IS L at 58mm, f11, 30 sec.

Clouds, I want clouds when I go on a shoot, this year has been nothing but total blue skies, I'm getting a little ticked off, but hey, some times you get the right conditions, some times you don't, maybe this means next time it will be stellar, we'll see, hope your having better luck

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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.

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Patagonia

Iconic Patagonia

Cerro Torre,

Mt Fitzroy,
Torres Del Paine,

Just some of the iconic names that come to mind from the southern tip of South America, Chile and Argentina's wonder land of ice and stone. Maybe the worlds greatest place to shoot landscapes of mountains, glaciers and exotic wildlife. I am looking for some intrepid souls, interested in traveling to this incredible place, when its winter up here in Seattle its summer in Patagonia, if I can find the people to go I will set up the photographic trip of a life time, whether you are a beginner or an expert, the means and the will to do a trip like this is what I'm looking for. Just so you know I am well traveled and have been to Central and South America, Africa and Europe, so I know what it takes to set this up and I know the basic locations to shoot, from Laguna Torre and Pehoe, to Los Glaciers NP, this trip will include hiking so you must be in good physical condition (not to extensive), this may be my first trip to Patagonia, but it wont be my last.

If interested, let me know via e-mail or this post.

Ross Murphy Images In Light