John Murphy Photography- powered by SmugMug

Your Bio

I am from Newport News, VA. I am married, 21 years now and have a daughter who I think the world of. I am a Mechanical Engineer by profession. I got my first taste in high school and got the bug later in life. I have renewed my interest in photography in the last year

I would like to thank everyone for the kind commnets and I can be reached at jmurphy18@mac.com if you are intrested in any of the photo's

Most Popular Photos

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

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

April 7: Cool Natural Look! I captured this out the window on the flight in. I used my iPhone to take a shot of the sky and I was surprised to see what I got. I took about 6 shots and 4 were good. I put the others here. http://300m.smugmug.com/gallery/4509273_QAdKc#276034421
I have no idea of the EXIF on the iPhone as it is not listed. Speed had to be fast enough to stop the blades to get this effect and the swirl effect on the other. I was impressed.

Can anyone tell me the code to put the html links up as a hyperlink instead of text?
Thanks Need to get ready for class now.

Something happened to the last upload So I had to load again

May 3: Parade of Home Exterior View
This is an High Dynamic Range shot I took of the exterior of the house from the Parade of homes. This is a 7 shot compilation using Photomatix with very little else done in lightroom. This worked well as it was 1PM in the afternoon when I took the shot so the hard light worked to my advantage on the stonework of the house. The rest of the exterior shots are here, 6 total parade Exterior Both my sister and the builder are pleased and the builder is using some photo's on his site.
Edit: Interior Shots
EXIF:
D200
ISO 160
1/640 sec (bracket 1 EV apart)-2 to +2 EVrange
f/8.0
18MM

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

April 29: Working with light.
I did this shot tonight after deciding to try a shot I say in a Nikon picture. Not the same but I like the results. I set this up using a trunk for a table and folded my tripod low. My wife told my daughter I was laying on the floor taking pictures :). I turned off all the lights sans the desktop here and setup the SB200 flashes off the R1 to see what I could do. I set one to bounce behind the trunk on group A, with a blue gel on the lens and hand held another on group B with a red gel. I varied the -ev settings till I got this shot that I was happy with. I was using the Capture control Pro again, tethered to my desktop so I could see my results full screen. That works to those that have never tried it.
EXIF:
D200, tripod mounted, electronic trigger
18-200 VR lens @44mm
1/60 sec @ f/8.0
Commander: main off, A -1.7, b -0.7

April 13: Daisy Daisy, sing to my heart be true.
I worked some more with the macro today as I had some plants to go in the ground and I was already muddy from planting :) My planned shot came out kind of flat so I am glad I took these with my daughter today. We both took pictures again today. This Cape series daisy is shot ~ 1.5:1 mag rate just as the sun came out on an overcast day. I had the camera on a tripod, but it was very windy and it took a lot of shot and a higher ISO than I wanted to capture the shot.
EXIF
D200
105 mm Macro tripod mounted, electronic trigger
ISO 250
f/18
1/125 sec

April 26: Pocket watch
I was practing this AM on this watch and some jewelry prior to going to the parade of homes to photo the house for my sister. Se is an interior decorator and she and her partner are doing a house again this year. I bought some strobes to help me in the matter as the colors have to be right. We were there 1-9:30 and I have to go back tomorrow to finish 2 more rooms. I working with camera control pro were the shots go straight to the laptop so I can tell if I have the shot and the color. That is what I did with this pocket watch. This shot was done with the 18-200 and not my macro. I will get to everyone later this weekend, I need to go to bed as I am tired and have to go back tomorrow. Learned a lot today so that should help.

April 28: Parade of Homes, Keeping room
This is a room from the parade of home I shot this weekend. I just finished all 200 shots and have uploaded to my site for my sister and her partner. Anne was pleased today so I am pleased! The house is fantastic, the ladies did excellent work on this house. They won last year BTW in 3/3 categories. This room is called a keeping room and the fireplace to the right goes through to the outside with glass on both sides. I have a shot on the site I will open up Thursday
EXIF
D200, 2 320 w/s strobes with umbrella's
M 1/250 sec
f/8
ISO 160

Edit: Interior Shots
Exterior: Exterior Shots

April 19: In the park with my daughter Kara.
My daughter and I toured NEwport News Park after breakfast taking pictures and enjoying the surroundings. I had her stop on this log and pose for this shot for me. She is holding my old D100 with a 24-85 Nikor lens that she has been using for the last few weeks to take pictures. We had a good time today and went to ColdStone and had ice cream afterwards. Yum! Going out now to shoot a sunset is the clouds clear and have dinner. I will answer comments later tonight.
EXIF
D200
18-200mm
ISO 125
42mm
1/250
f/5.6
0 EV

April 1: Pine cone buds along the moat walk. I was out walking today looking for something for the daily photo and saw this pine tree in bloom. I stopped to take the shots and selected this one from the bunch. The shot is the bane of all allergy suffers as all that great yellow stuff comes from here.
EXIF:
Canon Pro1
macro mode
1/1000
f/4.0
ISO 50
15.4 mm = 65 mm in 35 mm

I had a few macro shots prepared for today I went out to dispose of the trash and saw the full moon and a clear sky. I figured I would give this a shot. I went back into the house and got my camera, mounted the 70-200 VR and grabbed my tripod. I took a bracket of 4 and this was the best of the lot. Shot is cropped a lot as the lens is only a 200mm and most people use 400mm or bigger for this. I ended up talking to my neighbor in the process and explaining the shot of the day and what is involved in taking pictures like this.
EXIF info
D200, tripod, 200mm, ISO 100, F/8, 1/250

May 7 Some time you feel like a nut other times you don't
Orange. I got this idea while looking at sheepshot's site. I took an orange and suspended it in front of the light box (Thanks Oliver) and took a shot with a single SB200 flash lighting the back of the orange to show the texture of the inside fruit. I used my 105 as a prime for this shot to get a lot of orange in the picture. Took a few shots to get the internal focus right to show the veining of the fruit. Thought this would be different as my only daily shot from work was that same Heron from yesterday I saw today along the bay. Not as good as he got spooked real easy today.

April 17: Sunrise over the Moat on Ft Monroe.
I saw this shot on the way into work this morning. Sun was due to come up in ~ 20 min. I drove to my office and walked back to the moat and took this shot. Camera was in manual mode and I used a tripod shoot at various settings to get the look and exposure I wanted. I did the frame effect in photoshop, I have been wanting to try this.
For those that do not know, Ft Monroe inner area is surrounded by a moat filled with water. Inner is to the right of this shot, walls are 21' thick at the bottom and 16' thick at the top. I was standing on the Main Gate Bridge to take this shot. There is a shot of this same area taken at lunch on my way to the gym in my historic gallery.
EXIF
Canon Pro1
7.2mm = 24mm in 35mm format
ISO 50
5 sec
f/4.5
0 EV

April 12: macro view of a bud of some kind.
My daughter and I went walking in the woods so she could take some photo's of a dogwood tree and something else she saw. While walking I saw this bud growing off the side of the tree on a small branch. I took the shot with my macro with the mag rate on the 105 ~ 1:1 for this shot. I cropped the image with the view full size as it looks cool. This is a 1:1 view of the image that is smaller than a dime, ~ 1cm. Full size view is here. Full size
EXIF
D200
105 mm Macro at 1:1 hand held
ISO 250
1/40
f/14
+1/3 EV

March 21: Pick a color! I was having some service done on my car this morning so I wandered around the dealership and took a few pictures. Sun was just coming up, 7:30 AM so the lighting was good. I saw this shot in a back row of cars the was just lit by the rising sun and thought it would make a good picture.
D200
ISO 100
112MM
1/30 sec hand held
f/6.3
+2/3 EV

April 3: I am late tonight in uploading as I had taken no pictures today by 6PM and realized I was late. I got out my macro lens and took a few pictures. Of the arrangement I bought my wife Saturday most are dead with this and a few stragglers still living. This was the best of all the shots I took of various items. Some showed dust, oops, others flashback. Shot against a black foam core with available light, daylight compact fluorescent tube.
EXIF
D200
ISO 200
1.6 sec electronic trigger
f/16

April 9: Flowing water, the water of life.
I am still on travel here in Huntsville and a local teaching the class told me I should visit Monroe State park in the mountain before sunset. So I ventured up there after class, stopped at the scenic overlook took a few pictures and then proceeded to the park. I was walking around admiring the view when I heard the water. I followed the rocky path down the steep bluff and was able to catch a few shots of this water from the side. Best view was from the front, but that was a 100' drop so.... This zoomed shot was the best of the lot as there are 2 small trees just to the left of this shot. Thankfully I had the foresight to bring the baby tripod, (monfronto modo) with me this trip and had it in the car. To get the smooth effect I used manual mode and a low ISO. As this is a point and shot type I do not have ND or polarizer for the camera. I am glad the shot was worth the effort to get as I was in dress cloths and shoes, twisted my ankle walking down the trail to get this shot.
EXIF
Canon Pro1
ISO 50
1/2 sec
f/8.0 (max for this camera)
25 mm = 100 mm in 35 format.
0 EV

May 6: Bird on the moat wall
I caught this "Yellow Crowned Night heron" (Thanks Gail!) standing on the moat wall on my way back to the gym after walking. He kept turning his head watching me but let me take his photo. I was actually leaning over the fence with the camera to get this final shot hence the weird angle. He kept looking but did not fly away.
Good catch on the date kre8ive Fixed :)
EXIF
Pro1, 51mm - 200mm in 35 format
1/320 sec, f/6.3, ISO 50 0 EV

May 01: The luck of the Irish!
A shamrock plant in our front flower bed. I caught this right after the sun went behind the house tonight. I was looking for some plants to photograph that I had not posted yet. I spied this one under out weeping cherry tree and setup my tripod. I used a single flash off the R1, baby flash, and bounced the light into a gold reflector to get the warm tone in the picture. The wind was blowing tonight making shots hard. The reflector helped and hindered a bit with the wind. THis shamrock is smaller than my little finger, ~.375" (3/8). I like the warm tone of this shot the light off the reflector added.
EXIF
D200, tripod mounted
ISO 125
1/60 @ f/14
+1/3 EV
(1) R1 flash bounced into a gold reflector

May 10: Flowers in the Rain.
This morning was rainy and overcast so when there was a break in the rain I went out to see the new flowers that are blooming under our weeping cherry. I was able to capture this shot this morning after breakfast and before my daughter and I went out for a "short" trip. Glad I did as we returned much later than I figured. This shot is a focus stack of 2 shots. I tried 4 shots but the halo effect from the out of focus palp was a bit much to deal with. I liked the water on the pedals (my back too from the cherry tree overhead).
EXIF
D200, tripod mounted
105 mm VR in manual mode
1/60 sec
f/11.0
ISO 125
0EV
Natural light, no reflectors

April 14: Surreal Gazebo
I took this shot at lunch today. I was out waking in the lousy weather today and took this shot. I used the surreal effect to help on this shot as the weather was grey and drab. I like the effect it has on this picture.
EXIF:
Canon Pro1
23.9mm = 85mm in 35 format
1/1000
ISO 50
f/3.5
EV -1/3

April 11: Flowing water, cascading down the path of life
This is a little water fall that is actually behind the conference center I have been at all week. I was able to take this shot with the use of a tripod and the electronic ND filter that the Pro1 has built in. After my last trip I did some reading on Canon's site of the old manual. This is really only as big as it looks ~ 5' and located under a bridge on the UAH campus at the Belville center. I arrived just after sunrise to catch this shot.

I would like to thank everyone for their comment on my pictures and I will do my best to catch up when I get home. The net connection I have here is real poor. This upload take ~ 10 min to take. Motel has a wireless router and I only get 1 bar. I was up all last night working on my presentation that is due at 8 this morning. If the all goes well and I get my connection I should be able to go home tonight!
EXIF
Canon Pro1
32mm = 135mm in 35 format
1.6 sec exposure tripod mounted using timer on camera
f/8.0
EV 0
ISO 50

April 4: I was off today as we had 3 appointments scheduled during the day so I tried to make the best of the time I had. I took this shot and several others this morning after it stopped raining. Day was a bit dull and dark so I mounted my macro on the camera and placed the rig on a tripod. This shot is of a pair of blooms that have not opened yet with a few well placed water drops. If you look at the water drops you can see the leaves and walkway behind me. Focus of this shot was on the raindrops and not the Azalea itself. I was intrigued at the reflections in the water drops and this is what I concentrated on.

I am late today as we switched from Cox to Verizon fios and I am just getting on line now. Still do not have my local mail working, but my .mac address is working.

EXIF:
D200
105 mm Macro in manual mode , tripod mounted, electronic trigger
ISO 125
1/8 sec
f/18

When I get caught up here with verizon I will respond to all and review the sites. They look good on my iPhone, I just cannot add comments from the phone for some reason.

April 20: Lilly
We have rain today for most of the day as we were stuck inside. I bought a small batch of flowers as my wife was due home today and we knew she would like the Iris and lilly. I took the opportunity to photo the lilly before she came home. This one is focus stacked, 2 copies. My 1st attempt at focus stacking. I use the Helicon Focus program (MAC) for this operation. I shot the lily using the NIkon R1 flash system using 2 flashes in 2 groups. Trying to learn to use my flash better
EXIF
D200 on tripod
105mm VR in manual
1/60 sec
f/14
+1 EV
ISO 125
Same setting for both shots stacked. Looks like the stacking program kill EXIF data

May 5: Chamberlin Hotel on Ft Monroe.
I took this shot today at lunch while out walking. I though this would lend itself to a good B&W conversion so I gave it a whirl. I was working with Dreamhat (Gerry) tonight on the gradient map and worked a version of my own with this effect. I did my normal process steps, then added a darkening layer with a blend if for the sky, a small contrast curve then added the gradient mask. Thanks Gerry for the help. I did an alternate that is freaky for today. Basically what happens when you over sharpen to the nth level. Freaky alt DOP
EXIF, PRo1, 1/1250, ISO 100, f/5.6, -2/3 EV

shot from inside the balloon

Featured Galleries

May Daily Photo's : May Photo of the day. I have made it through 2 months now and working on my third in the photo of the day challenge! I will do my best to get a new shot every day. I am going to bring my Canon Powershot Pro1 with me to work and my D200 in the evening so hopefully I can find something worth wild to post for a daily shot. I am enjoying this challange as this is really streching my abilties.

May Daily Photo's

May Photo of the day. I have made it through 2 months now and working ...

Updated: May 11, 2008 5:35pm PST

April Daily Photo's : April Photo of the day. I am starting my second month on the photo of the day challange! I should actually hit 30 days here in the 2nd week. I will do my best to get a new shot every day and this month will be a challange as I will be on travel 6-11. I plan on brining my laptop with me if I can get net access I can upload some photo's each evening after class. I am going to bring my Canon Powershot Pro1 with me so wish me luck. I am enjoying this challange as this is really streching my abilties.

April Daily Photo's

April Photo of the day. I am starting my second month on the photo of ...

Updated: May 04, 2008 4:04am PST

Gallery Categories

4 galleries with 82 photos

Updated: May 11, 2008 5:35pm PST

Kara Murphy Pictures

3 galleries with 38 photos

Updated: May 10, 2008 8:57am PST

8 galleries with 115 photos

Updated: May 06, 2008 4:37pm PST

4 galleries with 25 photos

Updated: May 04, 2008 4:49pm PST

2 galleries with 30 photos

Updated: May 04, 2008 4:48pm PST

3 galleries with 46 photos

Updated: May 04, 2008 4:14am PST

1 gallery with 9 photos

Updated: May 03, 2008 5:39pm PST

Parade of Homes

2 galleries with 115 photos

Updated: May 02, 2008 8:21pm PST

4 galleries with 44 photos

Updated: Apr 17, 2008 4:14pm PST

1 gallery with 74 photos

Updated: Mar 28, 2008 7:38pm PST

4 galleries with 34 photos

Updated: Mar 25, 2008 4:34pm PST

3 galleries with 52 photos

Updated: Mar 18, 2008 2:37pm PST

2 galleries with 18 photos

Updated: Mar 08, 2008 9:50am PST

1 gallery with 16 photos

Updated: Jan 19, 2008 1:44pm PST

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