Mack Murdoc Photography

Mack Murdoc Photography Just your good old self taught photographer here to entertain and amuse you. Enjoy

INTRODUCING MY NEW WEBSITE!!https://www.mackmurdocphotography.com/(LAUNCHING SOON!!!)Subscribe now to our e-mail list an...
03/15/2026

INTRODUCING MY NEW WEBSITE!!
https://www.mackmurdocphotography.com/
(LAUNCHING SOON!!!)
Subscribe now to our e-mail list and get your 8 FREE PHONE WALLPAPERS!!!
Big things are coming to Mack Murdoc Photography!!!
I’m beyond excited to share that my website is launching soon, A way to support while filling your life with some beauty knowledge and fun.
Soon you’ll be able to explore:
• Exclusive fine art prints!!
• Epic space puzzles, mousepads, books, workshops, and more!
• Behind the image info on how each deep space photo was taken, including the history and gear used!
• Monthly newsletters featuring reliable space news, discounts, freebies, and more!
This is something I’ve been wanting to build out for a long time, and I’m so excited to finally start bringing it all to life. My goal is to create a space (Pun Intended) where you can not only enjoy the art, but also connect with the stories, process, and wonder behind each image with the ability to take some home if you choose.
And trust me… there’s so much more on the way!! 🌌

"The Wizard Nebula"⁠This one i've been sitting on for a few weeks making small tweaks and changes feeling like it just w...
06/01/2023

"The Wizard Nebula"⁠
This one i've been sitting on for a few weeks making small tweaks and changes feeling like it just wasn't ready... but sometimes its smart to just put your pencil down, call it a day, post it and just hope for the best.⁠
The Wizard Nebula also known as NGC 7380 lies in the constellation Cepheus about 7,000 light-years from Earth within our vary own Milky Way Galaxy. Now heres a fun fact, Sure when you look up at the sky you cant see the Wizard Nebula... but if you could see it this big and bright, from our perspective here on earth it would pretty much be the exact same size of the moon. The thing that most people dont realize is the majority of the objects I shoot are just as big as, if not bigger than the moon from our visual perspective. Infact some of them are like 5-6x bigger than the moon from our perspective... you just cant see them. And yea... dont ask me why they call it The Wizard Nebula... Some people see it... some dont... i dont. ⁠
Photo Details:⁠
Camera: ZWO ASI2600mm Cooled Monochrome⁠
Lens: Explore Scientific 127mm Carbon Fiber Refractor⁠
Focal Length: 952mm ⁠
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6R-Pro⁠
Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Planetary Camera⁠
Guide Scope: ZWO OAG⁠
Filters: Chroma 3nm Ha, Sii, Oiii Narrowband filter set⁠
Focuser: Optec Quicksync FTX30⁠
Shutter Speed: 50 x 10min exposures on Ha, Sii, Oiii.⁠
Total Exposure time: 25 hours⁠
Aperture: F7.5⁠
Gain: 100⁠
Offset 20⁠
Calibration frames: 30 dark, 20 bias 20 flat⁠
Imaging Software: Sequence Generator Pro⁠
Guiding Software: PHD2⁠
Stacking Software: Deep Sky Stacker⁠
Editing Software in Adobe Photoshop & Pixinsight Stacked as SHO⁠
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“The Heart of the Soul Nebula”This one took 25 hours to capture over a week and then another week worth of time to proce...
05/25/2023

“The Heart of the Soul Nebula”
This one took 25 hours to capture over a week and then another week worth of time to process but spread out over months. The Soul Nebula is also known as IC1848 was actually the second target I shot when I bought my first Astro camera back in late 2018. It was a real learning curve to figure out how to go from a regular DSLR camera to an Astronomy camera with filters, but now that I have a much better grasp of what I’m doing I wanted to reshoot it to compare my progress over the last 3 years between shooting this target.
The Soul Nebula from tip to tip is around 100 light-years across and is located in the constellation Cassiopeia about 7,500 light-years from earth. Its brightness comes from stars that excite the electrons in the gasses and cause them to glow while the dark spots are thick galactic dust. This picture was captured very similarly to how your DSLR does. Instead of using Red, Blue, And Green to make an RGB image like most cameras, I used what is called Narrowband Filters which pick up very specific wavelengths of light far from Red Blue, and Green. They are Hydrogen, Sulfer, and Oxygen. Then you combine the 3 images in photoshop and with some post-processing, magic...you get an image like this
Enjoy :)
Photo Details:
Camera: ZWO ASI2600mm Cooled Monochrome
Lens: Explore Scientific 127mm Carbon Fiber Refractor
Focal Length: 952mm
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6R-Pro
Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Planetary Camera
Filters: Chroma 3nm Ha, Sii, Oiii
Focuser: Optec Quicksync FTX30
Shutter Speed: 50 x 10min exposures on Ha, Sii, Oiii.
Total Exposure time: 25 hours

Ehh, another attempt at shooting saturn. With my telescope I dont think ill be able to really get the details and clarit...
05/23/2023

Ehh, another attempt at shooting saturn. With my telescope I dont think ill be able to really get the details and clarity that I really want. But... hey, it was worth a try.

Question Of The Day: Sith or Jedi?⁠⁠Everytime and I go out shooting, we always have a collaboration shot. Normally its ...
05/22/2023

Question Of The Day: Sith or Jedi?⁠
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Everytime and I go out shooting, we always have a collaboration shot. Normally its something related. I think this one takes the cake on the best one we've ever done. Theres another version of this shot from a different view I posted last week. check out .j_photography and follow his photos.⁠
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Photo Details ⁠
Camera: Canon EOS 6D⁠
Lens: EF 14mm f2.8⁠
Aperture: f2.8⁠
ISO: 5000⁠
Shutter Speed: 30 sec⁠
Focal Length: 14mm⁠
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"DinoTopia and the Creation of the Moon"⁠Here's just a fun one out of the bunch that I took. Wanna know something kinda ...
05/20/2023

"DinoTopia and the Creation of the Moon"⁠
Here's just a fun one out of the bunch that I took. Wanna know something kinda crazy, at one point in time the moon looked this red and glowed every night for millions of years as it was forming. Spewing with lava and glowing with its heat. ⁠
What a lot of people don't know is the incredible story of our moon was created. Luckily enough you have a personal space nerd here to tell you. A planet called Theia the size of Mars slammed into the Earth knocking a huge chunk out of our beautiful planet. Now with planetary rocks and dust floating around space, the gravitational forces of both earth and the biggest chunk from earth's stars attract and pull all the debris towards them which resulted in rebuilding earth to its nice round shape, but also building the moon into its round shape. Just to think... the comet that killed this Toy Dinosaur was 10km/6 miles wide and it wiped out the dinosaurs across the planet, now imagine smashing into a planet the size of Mars. Now I should disclaimer that this has not been proven, but it is NASAs and ESAs most acceptable theory-based of studies and research. ⁠
Anyways I hope you're all having a beautiful night. I'm so happy to see that so many of you looked up last night and admired the beautiful moon that was once part of us. I hope this inspires more people to look up once in a while.⁠
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-Mack Murdoc⁠
Photo Details:⁠
Camera: R6⁠
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Spending a beautiful morning at Havasu Falls tucked away deep within the Grand Canyon. Sleeping over the beautiful rushi...
05/19/2023

Spending a beautiful morning at Havasu Falls tucked away deep within the Grand Canyon. Sleeping over the beautiful rushing Turquoise water river, listening to the falls crashing down all in a swinging hammock, just to wake up with this beautiful view as the sun starts to rise. Moments like this remind me of how beautiful this country is from a nature perspective. There really are so many gems that will leave a forever imprint on your memories. Can't wait to go back. ⁠
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Photo Details ⁠
Camera: EOS 6D⁠
Lens: 14mm F2.8⁠
Aperture: f4 ⁠
ISO: 500⁠
Shutter Speed: 10 seconds⁠
Focal Length: 14mm⁠
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The Elephants TrunkWow, this one was a mission! This image took 25 hours to capture and about a month to process and edi...
05/18/2023

The Elephants Trunk

Wow, this one was a mission! This image took 25 hours to capture and about a month to process and edit. I kept tweaking trying to get as much details to show itself as I could. This was one of those projects I love where its nothing but a challenge and you feel like a better astrophotographer because of it. �The Elephants Trunk Nebula lies 2,400 light years away from earth within our own Milky Way Galaxy. The bright part of this image are ionized gasses that grab its energy from stars and make the gasses hot causing them to glow, emitting their own light source, while the dark parts like the trunk itself is really think galactic dust that doesn’t let light pass through on its way to us. To give you an idea on how big just the trunk is, its 20 light years long, which 20 doesn’t sound like a lot but to put it in perspective, it takes 5 hours for light to reach Pluto, so that’s pretty much the length of going to Pluto and back 35,040 times. It's a star forming region which means within that thick dust and gasses stars are being birthed. And I know what you’re thinking, How can you tell that stars are being born within that thick dust if we can’t see it? Thats a great question, the answer is through inferred telescopes like the Spitzer Space Telescope that can look through, almost like an X ray to humans. Just off frame would be a star mostly responsible for the energy to make this nebula glow called Mu Cephei. Its giant 1650x the size of our sun, and as big as the orbit of Saturn.�Anyway, as much as I enjoyed this process and the challenges it came with, the truth is, I’m excited to be done with it and start working on the other projects I’ve been working on over the last few months. �So with that…. Enjoy
Photo Details:
Camera: ZWO ASI2600mm Cooled Monochrome
Lens: Explore Scientific 127mm Carbon Fiber Refractor
Focal Length: 952mm
Mount: SkyWatcher EQ6R-Pro
Guide Camera: ASI 120mm Planetary Camera
Guide Scope: ZWO OAG
Filters: Chroma 3nm Ha, Sii, Oiii Narrowband filter set
Focuser: Optec Quicksync FTX30
Shutter Speed: 50 x 10min exposures on Ha, Sii, Oiii.
Total Exposure time: 25 hours
Aperture: F7.5
Calibration frames: 30 dark,

"Inside Out"⁠Believe it or not, this is a single exposure without photoshop or effects. this is how it looked at the bac...
05/17/2023

"Inside Out"⁠
Believe it or not, this is a single exposure without photoshop or effects. this is how it looked at the back of my camera after i shot it. And yet... even though its a single exposure i used 2 different lenses, and 2 different techniques.
So a few years ago i had the pleasures of collaborating and creating some really fun art with one of the most amazing person that i know. Stephanie Dawn Stuart is one of those people where it is literately impossible to have a bad time around. Definitely one of the more talented kind hearted and fun people to collaborate with and talk to. I look toward to many more.⁠
This picture is a representation of anyone who has had moments in their life where they feel trapped on the outside, unhappy, and feeling like you just arn't enough, but you know that on the inside you have a version of yourself, who peaceful, free and important and just waiting to come out and take on the world with a huge heart and soul they have to offer. ⁠
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Camera Details⁠
Single Exposure⁠
Camera: Canon 6d⁠
Lens : Canon 24-105 F4 L⁠
Tools Used: El Wire⁠
Model: Stephanie Dawn Stuart ⁠
Exposure Time: 4 min 3 seconds ⁠
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Focal Length: 75mm Then 24mm in a single exposure⁠
ISO 320⁠
Apature: F7.1 ⁠
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