John Murphy Photography- powered by SmugMug

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All photo's on this site are copyright by JMJ Studios, John Murphy. If I can be of any service or you wish to buy some pictures I can be reached at john@jmjstudios.net

Most Popular Photos

July 6: Mr Spidey
Yes I know, ooohhh youck a bug :). I was out looking for a pod, had my 18-200 on and was prowling the neighborhood. I found nothing spectacular, just a few shot. Most of the flowers are dead now due to the excessive heat and the lack of water we have had. I had found a whole 4 shots which were not much when I spotted this guy on the weeping cherry in my front yard. I went in the house and got the 105 macro and the R1 flash rig. I set the flash units on the ring at 0 EV and -1.3 EV and went out. He was still there so I fired away. I took about 30 shots to get a few good ones. He was a fast moving little guy and I chased him around the tree while he was spinning his web. In the end he stopped and was doing some furious work with the front legs and then disappeared. When I looked he was on the ISO knob of the camera checking me out. He is only the size of the thumbnail on my little finger so he is small. I did crop the shot for less leave and better view. I added +5 black and +16 clarity in Lightroom.

Oct 23: Morning on the Bay
I captured this shot on the way into work. The picture caught my eye and I turned around and drove back to this location to capture the shot. I was not dressed for the weather but I stood there anyway and took shots for 20 min. This is a 30 sec exposure shot on the bay with my remote trigger. Temps had dropped from the 60's to 48 with the wind blowing off the water at 15-20. I could hear the wind howling through the masts. A couple of masts on the left side you can see the blur hence movement in these masts. The line in background is the interstate that is leading to the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel. Tunnel over to Norfolk. Have a great day

May 2: Leaf:
It was windy here last evening when I was doing the POD and we found this bunch of leaves on the back deck when we out to get something. THought I could make something of this so I brought it in to try. Very late last night I had an idea when taking shots and this the result.
This is not a crop, but a full shot with my macro. I lit the leave with one SB200 flash (small) from the rear at a 45 degree angle to the leave to get this effect. The veining on the rear popped with this lighting.
EXIF:
D200 on a tripod
ISO 125
1/160 sec, f/9.0
+1/3 EV
single R1 SB200 flash

August 13: Warning Sunrise
I saw the beginnings of this sunrise on my way into work so I had to stop and catch what I could as the sunrise really looked promising. I drove out to the seawall and got my camera and took a few shots while I waited for the sun to come up. This was one of the shot I took while I was waiting. Good thing as the sun never came up at all here yesterday. The darker area you see in the center is the clouds moving in an the fog. The sky went from this red to orange to lt orange fade to white in like 3 min. All before sunrise. I was all set for the sunrise too. Another day as I was really happy with this shot and the colors. This is straight from the camera with .35 added to the exposure. I originally shot the scene -1/3 under so this is how I saw the sky. I did not bracket as this was the peak of when the colors started fading my next shot was orange and the last a faded orange. Have a great day

August 28: Roanoke Island Lighthouse
I shot this in the rain as I was determined to get the shot. I did this as a 5 shot HDR as the weather was bad. As you can see it was raining and I was standing holding my coat over the camera to keep it dry while I took the shot. Straight from the basic settings in Photomatix no LR adjustments.

Nov 9: Before the rain
I went to my favorite spot yesterday morning early with the intent of capturing a early fall morning on the water here. However mother nature had other ideas as it started to drizzle when I got there. I setup anyway and took some shots as I had drove 30 miles to get this shot. By the time I finished it was raining and I was getting wet. I was determined to get a few shots and this one shows the light leaving and the storm over the trees. The sun was behind me in this shot and I think that is the only reason I go this shot, Enjoy the weekend

The Tuner (Tooner) Challenge...11/03/08
The Challenge: Create a photo with your interpretation of the word, "Tuner (Tooner)."
The Participants: Kre8ive, Bill Pador, Karina Boese, jawsnap, Creative Deviance, Lady Kate, and myself.
The Result: Sperzel Tuners
For my shot I took this picture of my Carvin CC275 guitar with the Sperzel tuners. The shot shows off the abalone inlay in the headstock with the gold tuners on the mahogany wood. I use the tuners to tune the strings so I can play in key.

August 6: Creamsicle
I did my usual walk at lunch yesterday, but ran into an old coworker and we walk and chatted. I ended up only taking a few shots. I saw this one just before I went back into the gym to shower. They had a sprinkler out side adding water at noon to plants. I looked funny running to grab a shot and run out between the oscillations of the sprinkler. I added a filter to this and like the effect so I left this and you see my POD. The effect is Indian Summer and it fit the hot swelter day I took the shot in.

July 9: Out of my comfort zone.
Well I did it today, fully out of my comfort zone and in front of the camera. It was raining today and between that and the tasker I was working I did not get my lunchtime walk in today. I have had this SP shot in the back of my head for the last month so I figured that if John could get in front of the camera then I could. I did the setup in my "office" here at home with two SB800's. One is mounted on a stand at 90 degrees to the camera with the diffusion dome on and set for 14mm lens The second was on the camera with the diffusion dome and set for 17mm lens. I was using my 17-35mm lens at 24mm for the shot. Flashes were controlled by the master on the camera set at full and the off camera a -.3EV. Triggering was done with the Nikon electronic trigger set for multi exposure. This forces the camera to focus at every shot so I could trash the 1st shot and use the rest :) I was actually working on a shot in Lightroom in the picture. The sunrise is here. Sunrise This was my alt choice in case I lost my nerve to post my mug shot.

June 2: Butterfly's are free tonight, fly away bye bye Elton John
Butterfly that I chased on my walk for at least 10 min. He was flitting from dandelion to dandelion feeding on the flowers. I took about 10 shots before I got a good one to use for the DP. I had my D200 today so I was happy to chase him around the moat walk. Nothing special here, natural light and an 18-200 VR lens to capture the shot.
EXIF
D200
ISO 125
1/250
f/8.0
+1/3 EV
200mm

August 10: Knock Knock
We went to Newport News Park yesterday to checkout the work the beavers had done on some trees and to go for a walk. We had a nice walk and enjoyed the trip, my daughter was a real ham :). I caught this woodpecker when I was leaving the park. He was on the tree check us out. Shot handheld leaning against the walkway. I just added the vignetting blur in PS.

April 23: Lilly of the Valley.
I took a big group of shots today, but with overhauling our fish tank. New rocks, pump, plants and recycling 35 gals of water I have not had a chance to look at most of the 80 picture I have in LR. I did run Helicon focus on 3 different stacks in between cleaning the tank. This and the bug I caught on the rosemary turned out well. This shot is straight from the camera no PP sans focus stacking 4 shots. This lilly had opened fully between yesterday and today so I thought I had better get my shot before the bloom fades. I was real happy with this shot to the point that I have not even looked at the remainder that I took today.
EXIF: The same for all 5 shots in the series
D200 on a tripod
105mm macro
1/60 sec
f/13
- 1/3 EV
ISO 160
Nikon R1 lighting system, used both flashes one on the ring one hand held

Nov 18: Water Droplets
I found this leaf in the yard and I really liked the play of light on the leaf. The interplay with the features looked good and I was impressed with the shot. I had been walking around with my 70-200 on and the min distance with that lens is 5' so I was about 6' away from the leaf and still captured this shot. I did the conversion to B&W in PS and adjusted the setting till I found a point for the shot I liked. Enjoy and have a great day

Nov 12: The Silhouette
I captured this tree for a shot I was thinking of as I liked the way it looked and the statement it made against the blue sky. I exposed for the sky using spot metering and took the shot. The only processing is to raise the black threshold a little and to dodge the bottom where a car's shiny back end was showing. Have a good day

July 14: Bad hair day
I caught this little gal early on my daily walk. There were a pair of herons down in the moat and I was able to get close enough without my usual scaring them away to get some good pictures. Here is the pair of them on the pipe in the moat Heron Pair
The weather was real bad yesterday, heavily overcast, trying to rain so I stayed near the gym facility incase of rain I could run back with my camera. I have now put a big plastic bag in my gym stuff just in case.
This gal stood posed on the pipe for me and let me take 4-5 shots. I liked this one the best. 18-200mm lens at 135mm leaning over the moat walk fence to get this shot. The later shot was when I got closer and the male flew in protective :) I took the shot and left them in peace. Shot was color corrected to remove blue - green cast.

June 17: Daisy in the morning light
I caught this daisy in the early morning light as I wandered around taking pictures while waiting to get my car worked on. My flat tire from fathers day will not hold air so I had to replace the tire and discovered it an odd size. I liked the way the light played across the flower and the lingering effects of last nights rain were still present in the center and the pedals. I liked the effect of both the shadows and the light in this shot.
EXIF
D200
105mm VR hand held in manual mode
ISO 125
1/500 sec
f 9.5
0 EV
+5 black in LR
+15 clarity LR

June 14: Damselfly
I was out today looking for some shots for my POD when I saw the cone flower in bloom. I went back in to get my tripod and flash as the sky was heavily overcast and gloomy. When I came back out with the gear in my hand I saw this damselfly on the flower. I photo, the fly in various poses while holding the flashes in one hand and the tripod leaning against me. So much for the gear. The on camera flash was up but at -2 EV as I had indented to hand hold the lighting for the flower. When I moved close he flew away. I cropped this shot to show the detail of the fly and the flower. Look for these cone flowers in the future.
Happy Fathers Day folks.
EXIF
D200
105mm in manual.
ISO 125
1/60
f/13
0EV
flash -2.0 EV
Off to get a flat fixed as my front tire is flat. I will get comments later when I get the car fixed.

July 13: Desert time.
Yesterday was a very hectic day for me and I was rapidly running out of ideas for a POD come 8PM. My lovely wife had this idea and I ran with it. This is my daughter's slice of desert that she graciously let me photograph before she ate the piece. I tried various positions and angles on the fork, that is how it got cool whip on it not from samples, to keep the flashback from the shiny stainless steel fork. I liked this angle and lighting the best. Three flashes used in this shot with a home made light box via notes Oliver posted. 1 R1 mounted on top as fill 1 to the side as fill and SB 800 on cord at the side as primary flash. PS Kara, my 12 yr old, made the cake. The streaks are pudding poured in while backing. Decorated with mandarin oranges.

Oct 16: Morning across the bay
I captured this on the way into work. This is what I see now on the bay in my commute. I normally carry the tripod to my point and shoot. Yesterday I thought of the light I see reflecting on the water when I go into work and I put my good tripod in my trunk. I took advantage of the equipment as this is a 45 sec exposure in manual. I had to bracket the focus as there was not enough contrast for the autofocus to work. The only PP is a +1/3 EV of exposure. I normally as a rule add nothing to an available light shot. The pier is from a restaurant that passed to the elements after hurricane isabel.

Nov 20: Lines
I took this shot while walking and I liked what I saw. I was captivated by the lines in the shot. I converted this to B&W in PS to get the look I wanted and that was it. I just liked this shot and the way it looked. Happy Thursday

The Track Challenge...11/10/08
The Challenge: Create a photo with your interpretation of the word, "Track."
The Participants: Kre8ive, Bill Pador, Karina Boese, jawsnap, Creative Deviance, and myself.
The Result: For this challenge I decided to do the verb form of the word track. This is a shot of my turntable, yes I still have one. I chose a limited edition Album by Grand Funk Railroad that I have. This LP is literally a gold color. I set the shot up in my studio and used multiple light sources. The primary lighting is Compact flourcents color corrected to 5000K. The light behind the needle is a CR123A Flashlight I was using to help light the tracks as the gold LP is hard to see. This is what caused the reflection of the cartridge and head on the record. The dots to the far rights are the speed tracking dots on the turntable. Finally, do you know how hard it is to get an accurate focused shot on a moving turntable :) So I took a "few" shots before I got this one. Have a great day everyone.
Seeing Carolyn's comment I will add I bought this LP in 1973

August 7: Simplicity in expression
I captured this Zinia yesterday while walking at lunch. The weather was hot, hazy and humid, typical for August. I saw these Zinia' and stopped to capture the shot. In the processing I noted the simplicity of the shot in B&W and choose this for my POD. This is a yellow pass filter on the shot. This morning and afternoon are going to be rough for me as we had a major change to my briefings yesterday. Two of my major programs changed and I am hustling to get the powerpoint charts done for a 1PM briefing. I will not be able to comment on photo's until late tonight. Wish me luck as I am already 20 min late.

June 15: Muted Clematis
This is one of the Clematis flowers growing on the vine my wife planted last year along a fence in the yard. There are actually 4 other bushes between me and this flower so I used the macro as a prime to get this shot. My neighbor came out to cut his grass while I was taking this shot, tripod in the bushes trying to get closer and asked if I was trying to commune with nature :) There were four other clematis in the shot, but this was the one I focused on and crisp so I cropped the shot to convey what I tried to frame when I took the picture. I used the gradient mask method to mute the colors that Gerry (Dream Hat) showed me to give the clematis the soft look it has. I am only letting 25% of the color through. I also used a reflector to bounce light back into the pedals at exposure. Here is the original http://300m.smugmug.com/photos/314038752_z7r8Z-M.jpg
EXIF
D200
105mm VR
ISO 125
1/10 sec
f/8.0
0 EV

April 6: DVD reflections. I am on the road this morning and will be in airports most of the day. It is raining right now here so my thought of an early shot is gone with the rain. I am using this DVD shot ala Banjon I took Friday. I took a new DVD, placed on the table, lit with a compact fluorescent overhead added a few drops of water and then tilted the disk slightly using a lens cap. The streak in the light is caused by a LED flashlight I held at 12 to the picture.
EXIF:
D200
105 mm Macro tripod mounted, electronic trigger
ISO 200
1 sec
f/18
1/3 ev

The Kleenex® Challenge...10/27/08

The Challenge: Create a piece using Kleenex® tissues.The Participants: kre8ive, Bill Pador, Karina Boese, jawsnap, and myself.The Result: My vision of the challenge.
I made a placemat using a basket weave pattern out of 3 different color Kleenex, a 3 dimensional pyramid, a star, my daughter cut the snow flake and shaped the box so I could make a tissue Kleenex box. The only items not Kleenex are the silverware I used as a prop.

July 18 Chocolate
I went out with the office for a quick lunch yesterday so I did not get my walk in. By the time I got home from my errands it was late and I had no picture. I had formed this thought in my head for this shot and tried my luck. It took me about 10+ shots to get the lighting to the levels I liked without shadows. This is Lindt Petite deserts, my daughter shared her' again so I could photograph. I actually had to open the box for this shot. I used 3 flashes to accomplish this shot with the lightbox. SB 800 on the sync cord as the main from the left side, another small on the right and a small clamped to a stand above. If someone wants to try chocolate, put it in the fridge 1st. I learned this the hard way :)

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