Your proudest picture, technically speaking.

[FatCat0]

What picture do you look at and go, "Hey, I did a great job with this one." Could be tricky exposure (handheld a 1 second exposure and it came out nicely), strange/dangerous situation you had to put yourself in for the shot, etc.

Minimal post-processing would be preferable for these.

My personal favorite is this one, taken handheld at 271 mm focal length in my friend's back yard:
[edited because I just realized that embedding a fullsized image isn't a great idea]
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3379/082613495001.jpg

Here's a 100% crop:
http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8360/082613495001cropped1.jpg

The part that makes me the happiest about this one is that it was manually focused =)

[FatCat0]

Oh, the other lucky thing was the dragonfly just happened to cover a smudge on my sensor with his black body almost perfectly.

[BradM]

Can't say this is the shot I am proudest of, but it is also a d-fly I captured a couple weeks ago.

Handheld 700mm (500mm f/4 IS + 1.4x), 1D3, 1/1250th, ISO 800, f/5.6

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/septdargonfly.jpg

Or this owl which was much more of an extreme handhold, same gear, ISO 3200 but shutter speed was only 1/80th of a second, not bad for 700mm.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y259/Bradklr/SeptRNWRGHO.jpg

Exif is embedded in the images for those that care, and yeah I am blowing my own horn a bit.

But like my mom often said "it isn't bad to blow your own horn because there aren't many people that will put their lips to your horn". :lol:

[FatCat0]

Wow, I've never even touched a 500mm lot less a 700 (okay...500*1.4).... Good stuff. That little guy's wings were moving really fast to blur like that at 1/1250

[TooManyShots]

A tricolor heron shot....http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3416/3484398858_893c672ae1_o.jpg


The toughest part is to get close to it and shooting it through the weeds. It was a tough shot because I haven't been able to see another one, let alone getting this close to it. I was at the edge of the lake. I was crawling on my knees to get close. It took me sometimes to get close too. I got within maybe 25 feet of the tricolor heron. The only blind I had was the weeds in front of me. I had to wait until the weeds swerve enough to get a clear focus.

[400dabuser]

Being honest, I haven't done many photos that are great technically brilliant

[FlyingPhotog]

End of a very, very long day. Draggin' Ass tired. Really didn't want to even lift the camera at this point let alone deal with a backlit, glossy subject. Glad I did though:

http://www.pbase.com/flyingphotog/image/88907901/original.jpg

[stsva]

End of a very, very long day. Draggin' Ass tired. Really didn't want to even lift the camera at this point let alone deal with a backlit, glossy subject. Glad I did though:

[IMAGE DELETED]

Wonderful image! :D

[joedlh]

There are many reasons to be proud of an image. I have to say that getting all the technical elements perfect is not one of them for me. I don't mean to dismiss the importance of knowing your equipment and setting it up to its greatest advantage. But content trumps technique every time for me.

In one of my images that gets a lot of compliments, I left the camera on ISO 400 from the dark setting from which I had emerged a minute before I took the shot. I did attend to aperture, shutter speed, and exposure compensation. However what made this one stand out from the others was a particularly cooperative wave.

http://joedlh.net/Images/ArtPhotos/SurfFisher_2970x700.jpg

In another, I was using a cheesy 70-300mm F/4.0-5.6 that had -- I discovered the night before while cleaning it -- some sort of fungus growing around the edge of an inner element. But it was a once-in-a-lifetime shot 50 miles out to sea of the release of the first Risso's dolphin every successfully rehabilitated. And I had about two seconds to get a shot that could not have a second take, from two moving platforms in 8-foot swells. Kudos to the captains of the two vessels.

http://joedlh.net/Images/ArtPhotos/DolphinRelease.jpg

[-OutofFocus-]

Wow, I've never even touched a 500mm lot less a 700 (okay...500*1.4).... Good stuff. That little guy's wings were moving really fast to blur like that at 1/1250


While the wings show motion due to flight the body appears crisp sharp.

[Jon Foster]

Nice shot Jay! I still love the F4.

Here's one I'm pretty happy with. Shot at a show a few weeks ago with a new 70-200 f2.8 L. I'm very impressed with the lens. I had almost a 100% keeper rate which tells you a lot about the lens. Some of the birds reached 270mph in dives and the lens kept up without any trouble.

http://www.pbase.com/jfoster/image/117473304.jpg

Jon.

[Todd Lambert]

Cool thread!

My favorite shot so far, and one that took over 3 months to capture the way I wanted it (12 different nights, I shot it around the full moon each month) - finally got something I liked:

http://lambertphotography.com/forums/IMG_3666.jpg

[[Hyuni]]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/ChangHyun84/IMG_3766.jpg

Shot this when I had my dslr for 2 months. Really proud of it.
I actually was approached by a company asking me to sell the photo to them.
Didn't bite though.

I'm going to print it out in canvas and hang it on my wall :P

[Sorarse]

An early attempt at the Orion Nebula. Whilst it's an easy object to find in the night sky, it doesn't make it any easier to phtoograph. I know that it can be improved upon, and I intend to try when Orion re-appears in our skies this winter, but I was really pleased at how this came out given my inexperience at astrophotography.

http://www.88qv.com/net/166.jpg

[big_apple_ken]

Cool thread!

My favorite shot so far, and one that took over 3 months to capture the way I wanted it (12 different nights, I shot it around the full moon each month) - finally got something I liked:

http://lambertphotography.com/forums/IMG_3666.jpg

Wow...very cool. Care to share how you shot this?

[alphonsis]

exif data shows 98 second exposure, f9, iso 100, at a focal length of 27mm

[Todd Lambert]

Thank you!

I shot that over a span of three months, on 12 different nights, all around the full moon of each month. I got a lot of shots that I liked, but this one I liked best because of the people camping on the island in the background and because the weather was very still with no clouds.

Because of the wind coming off the water on most nights, the clouds would rush by, which is not what I wanted. These shots turned out cool and gave a lot of motion to the shot, but it was not what I wanted, so I kept going back and back and back until I got one night at about 3am (I had to wait that long, so that the moon would be on the right side of the boat) that didn't have any clouds or wind.

This was shot with a 5D2 and a 16-35 Mk II. Setup on tripod, at about 20 feet from the boat, shot at about 28mm and ƒ9 for about a little under 2min exposure. Not much post processing involved actually. Just some sharpening, and a bit of levels.

I have a few versions where I replaced the starburst moon with a full, more yellow moon which gives it a more dramatic feel, but looks pretty bogus - at least to me. I wanted to keep this pretty close to what I saw that night.

About a week after I got this shot, the city came in and dredged it out of the muck and took it out to sea and sunk it. So, I got lucky that I got the shot when I did, as it is now sitting at about 50ft under water. Hehe.

Here is another one from the previous month, where the clouds were just hauling butt, - it looks good in black and white and I've sold a few prints of this one:

http://lambertphotography.com/forums/IMG_1458.jpg

[Snydremark]

Point & Shoot (G7), through glass, from a moving tram @ Shanghai wild animal park.

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1042/3352554631_8c7097cfc8_b.jpg

[ImRaptor]

After a very long day
http://fc08.deviantart.com/fs41/f/2009/049/b/e/Sleeping_by_ImRaptor.jpg

This picture holds a special place in me.

[400dabuser]

http://c2.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images02/102/l_d8514ded257548a0a98410d5369d2901.jpg

I know it isn't a work of a genius, but being the fact it is one of my first music photos that I have done with my slr, I am surprise this has come out so good:)

[Jon Foster]

Thank you!

I shot that over a span of three months, on 12 different nights, all around the full moon of each month. I got a lot of shots that I liked, but this one I liked best because of the people camping on the island in the background and because the weather was very still with no clouds.

Because of the wind coming off the water on most nights, the clouds would rush by, which is not what I wanted. These shots turned out cool and gave a lot of motion to the shot, but it was not what I wanted, so I kept going back and back and back until I got one night at about 3am (I had to wait that long, so that the moon would be on the right side of the boat) that didn't have any clouds or wind.

This was shot with a 5D2 and a 16-35 Mk II. Setup on tripod, at about 20 feet from the boat, shot at about 28mm and ƒ9 for about a little under 2min exposure. Not much post processing involved actually. Just some sharpening, and a bit of levels.

I have a few versions where I replaced the starburst moon with a full, more yellow moon which gives it a more dramatic feel, but looks pretty bogus - at least to me. I wanted to keep this pretty close to what I saw that night.

About a week after I got this shot, the city came in and dredged it out of the muck and took it out to sea and sunk it. So, I got lucky that I got the shot when I did, as it is now sitting at about 50ft under water. Hehe.

Here is another one from the previous month, where the clouds were just hauling butt, - it looks good in black and white and I've sold a few prints of this one:

http://lambertphotography.com/forums/IMG_1458.jpg

I really like the first shot you posted. This one is cool too though. Is that a guy walking in the background?

Jon.

[Karl Johnston]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3924460015_a6909d0033.jpg

I really love the silhouette I got here, and it's bang on with the aurora in the background too :) all in one frame, no processing whatsoever

[FinalCut747]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2482/3905664730_883da39920_o.jpg
Last day of the cruise, I was lucky enough to have the 20D, and snapped my proudest pic. It was after a bad morning of waves heading into Vancouver. It was off the back of the cruise ship. I tried it with many different settings, finally achieving this.

[400dabuser]

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3924460015_a6909d0033.jpg

I really love the silhouette I got here, and it's bang on with the aurora in the background too :) all in one frame, no processing whatsoever


Omgz, that is so good

[JWitmer]

It's not much, but I had fun.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/jwrm315/Multiples_6.jpg

[ryant35]

1D MKiin, 500mm f/4, 2x teleconverter, ISO 800, f/8, 1/3200sec, hand held.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k173/ryant35/CP3_0451.jpg

[cgatto]

I was on my way to school when I snagged this shot. I realized once I got my camera out that half my gear was still at home. All I had was my 350D, a nifty fifty, and a 128MB CF card!

It's a little over the top for some people, but I was very proud with how it turned out. It's won me some nice prizes and has been published in my local newspaper since.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2539/4002471643_6d908cb590.jpg

[Todd Lambert]

Chris, that's a great shot! It almost looks like something out of a war movie.

Karl, your stuff never ceases to amaze me.

[EcoRick]

;8791047']http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v67/ChangHyun84/IMG_3766.jpg

Shot this when I had my dslr for 2 months. Really proud of it.
I actually was approached by a company asking me to sell the photo to them.
Didn't bite though.

I'm going to print it out in canvas and hang it on my wall :P

This is a great shot of the "Bean". You must have been up early before anyone was out. Most of the Bean shots are pretty boring by now. This one is just awesome. Congratulations!

[[Hyuni]]

This is a great shot of the "Bean". You must have been up early before anyone was out. Most of the Bean shots are pretty boring by now. This one is just awesome. Congratulations!
thanks!
Yep, had to wake up at 5AM and drive over downtown from Hoffman Estates to take that photo.

[Karl Johnston]

I was on my way to school when I snagged this shot. I realized once I got my camera out that half my gear was still at home. All I had was my 350D, a nifty fifty, and a 128MB CF card!

It's a little over the top for some people, but I was very proud with how it turned out. It's won me some nice prizes and has been published in my local newspaper since.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2539/4002471643_6d908cb590.jpg
I've always loved this shot by you!

Todd; Cheers :o

[FlyingPhotog]

There is some excellent work in this thread and the backstory on each is really great info!

Well Done All!!!