2024-07-16 Personal Best

This challenge is about thinking about your best images you have taken over the years and reflecting on what you like about them and then what you could do to re-create or even improve on them. It does not have to be an identical image but could be the idea of the image that you apply to a new situation.

One exercise could be to go back into your image archives, and compile a photo book of your best images. Sort of like creating a formal portfolio. There are a number of online photo book companies that allow you to create books online. Adobe Lightroom has a utility called “Book” where you can create a photo book inside Lightroom. Once completed you can choose to send it to a company called “Blurb” which will produce the book and send it to you for a price. Or – you can choose to produce the book in PDF format for publication online (no extra cost to you). Here is the link to today’s photo book presentation.

Here is an example of a series of my personal best photos for the 2018 photography year. It was created with the Lightroom Classic (LRC) Book option and exported to JPEG format. The images were then imported into Google Photos Online. Click Here to view. (Note: Once the new window opens, click on the first image for a full-screen display. To advance click on the right side of the image to advance to the next image.)

Anyone interested in submitting their LRC Book photo album let me know, and I will create a new web page.

This is an invitation to try a new image that matches or exceeds your personal best so far, or you can have a look at your archives and post a few of your best images. Maximum of 4 please.

Also, keep your images at or below 1600 pixels wide or 1050 pixels high.

47 Responses to 2024-07-16 Personal Best

  1. Henri says:

    Focus stacked from 10 images. Taken this morning with my 35 mm Macro Lens. 1/800 sec, f/1.8, ISO 160. A shaded yard with the aid of a LED fill-in light. Minimally enhanced in Photoshop, used levels tool and exposure slider. I also took out several minor distractions. I have not used focus stacking recently. This was a conscious effort.

  2. Henri says:

    I took this exceptional picture in 2018 in West Bowmont park in the little stream between the two lakes. An unusual chance encounter. The lighting was perfect. Really a lucky shot. Enhanced in Photoshop with the Levels tool.

  3. Bill Stilwell says:

    My wife and I have enjoyed more than a dozen dogs but the big guy named Griffin, a Bouvier des Flondres, stands alone in most categories such as temperament, intelligence and good looks.
    I always struggled trying to get a descent photo of him that displayed the correct texture and contrast due to his thick and deep black coat. As well his eyes never were in sharp focus.
    This image was shot soon after acquiring a TTL X60 StrobePro flash that was used bouncing the light upwards and slightly behind the camera off a white ceiling. Luminar 4 was used to remove a few specks the camera found but I didn’t before shooting and enhancing the light in the foreground ( his face and eyes ) and added a slight darkening vignette.

  4. Karen Sandra McDaniel says:

    In 2018, I went to Churchill, MB to photograph the Polar Bears as they wait for the ice to freeze so that they can go out hunting. It was quite an experience and the first time that I had gone on such a nature trip. I was impressed with the size of the male bears and how they entertained themselves. Basically, they were bored. I used my regular camera, F8 Aperture Priority and 400 mm lens. Nothing fancy. The bears came right up to the buggies.

  5. Karen Sandra McDaniel says:

    Then we got two Polar Bears at the zoo and I went out in December to photograph them. This was my favorite. Basically the same setting, but now some cropping and a little time in Topaz Sharpen AI.

  6. Karen Sandra McDaniel says:

    This was my next favorite.

    • Henri says:

      I like this one best. Great job framing and sharpening. I always find it difficult to eliminate major distractions photographing in the Calgary Zoo.

  7. Della 朱世芸 Ho says:

    I like this composite that I made last year

    • Henri says:

      Wow, what artistry Della! You have to give a demo on how you do this kind of photography and post processing.

  8. della says:

    An abstract attempt

  9. della says:

    another try to post the image

  10. Frankie says:

    I decided to run four of my favourite shots since my daughter is visiting from England and I don’t have time to go out and shoot. All my favourite shots over the decades are of people. My best ones are from the days of film.
    This is an iPhone shot, but I like it because it’s funny. My husband (at the top) and I went to Cuba in 2017 with my friends from Grade 9 who still live in Ontario. The two men saw a topless woman walk by so they were keeping an eye out for another one. My girlfriend is suntanning away obliviously.

  11. Frankie says:

    This is from September 2021 during the time of weekly anti-vaxxer parades in the Beltline. Funny and alarming. Apparently Republicans think liberals are pedophiles. The girl on the left is looking worried while her mother is holding her back from getting too close to this angry wackjob. Yes I’m being judgmental.
    ISO 800, 240 mm, f/7.1, 1/320

  12. Frankie says:

    In 2009, I was a U of C student at Shantou University in Southern China. This campus gardener looked as if she had the weight of the world on her shoulders.
    ISO 400, 160 mm, f/5.6, 1/200

  13. Frankie says:

    I was captivated by these stunning women and their beautiful dresses. They were part of a wedding party in Chicago’s Millennium Park in May 2024.
    ISO 640, 40 mm, f/4.5, 1/320

  14. tony campos says:

    I find it very difficult to select the best photos I’ve taken, and even more difficult to come up with something now that it’s better…but I rummaged through my archives and picked some.
    This was taken from hwy.3 with an old Minolta S404

  15. tony campos says:

    This was taken near Mt.Chester (elephant rocks) with a Canon Powershot G9
    f/3.2, 1/1600, iso100

  16. tony campos says:

    This was taken in Nova Scotia in the evening also with the old Minolta camera. There is a lot of granularity in the picture but I like the ‘painting’ like effect of the filter applied in gimp.

  17. Sue says:

    In 2014 in Rwanda, I was able to go trekking with the Mountain Gorillas. This little mischievous one was debating which of his playmates he was going to tackle next. I loved the expression on his face.
    Shot straight out of the camera and taken with a 250 lens, but I don’t have any other details.

  18. Sue says:

    Sunset on Baobab tress in Madagascar in 2015.
    Straight out of the camera, but unfortunately I don’t even remember which camera.

    • Henri says:

      Beautiful sunset and silhouettes. Love the gradation of the sky from pale blue grey to bright yellow.

  19. Dwight says:

    personal best or some of my favourites. I take so many pictures of whatever strikes my fancy at the moment. The first picture I took was when they were widening 16 Ave. I think the van Gogh violin shop is gone now, but back in 2007, the door of many textures was there.

  20. Dwight says:

    back in October 2010, I was the office delivery guy. I was making a stop and when getting out of the car I looked down and saw this in the gutter so of course always having a camera with me I shot it. I have since turned this picture into a tryptic and a 40×60-inch canvas.

  21. Dwight says:

    this last one was from a trip to the Island in March 2016. The boat itself was in Ladysmith Harbour, I took it with my Olympus OMD with the dramatic tone filter and cleaned some of the bits that were distracting.

  22. Fred Schwering says:

    One of my favorite subjects are birds especially Raptors. I took this photo of a Bald Eagle in 2021 at Lake Parker in central Florida. I used an Olympus Stylus 1 with a teleconvertor.
    Aperture Priority, Spot Metering, F/2.8, 1/250 sec, ISO 400, 510 mm zoom.

  23. Fred Schwering says:

    I like the intensity of the Osprey’s stare in this photo. There is something unsettling about a raptor staring at you with both eyes. The photo was taken in 2021 at Circle Bar B Reserve in Florida with an Olympus Stylus 1 with a teleconvertor.
    Aperture Priority, Spot Metering, f/2.8, 1/1000 sec, 510 mm zoom, ISO 100.

  24. Fred Schwering says:

    This photo of a Red-shouldered Hawk making a meal of a frog was taken in 2021 at Lake Parker with my Olympus Stylus 1 and teleconvertor.
    Aperture Priority, Spot Metering, f/2.8, 1/250 sec, 281 mm zoom, ISO 320.

  25. Fred Schwering says:

    The last photo is of Snail Kite was taken in 2019 at Lake Parker in central Florida. I was using an Olympus E-M10. I found it difficult to photograph because of the black coloured feathers.
    Shutter Priority, 1/1000 sec, f/7.1, +0.3 Exposure Compensation, ISO 200, 300 mm zoom.

  26. Doug Stewart says:

    Log projecting from the water last week at Griffith Woods. The stillness of the water and its uniform colour creates the illusion of the log and its mirror image floating in the ether. Sony RX-10, f/8, ISO 100, 591mm, 1/320 sec. Minor adjustments in Apple Photos, sharpening in Topaz Photo AI. This is one of my better “arty” shots.

  27. Doug Stewart says:

    Alberta Wild Roses in Carburn Park last year. Sony RX-10, f/5.6, ISO 400, 547mm, 1/200 sec. Minor adjustments in Apple Photos, denoising in Topaz Photo AI. I liked the beautiful colour of the roses and the delicate lace of cobwebs clinging to them, all within a fairly shallow depth of field.

  28. Doug Stewart says:

    Butterfly delicately balanced on a flower in 2023. Sony RX-10, f/4, ISO 160, 1/1000 sec, 600mm. Saturations adjusted in Apple Photos and denoised in Topaz Photo AI. I was pleased to capture so many elements in a relatively shallow depth of field and get a good Bokeh effect from the wider aperture.

  29. Doug Stewart says:

    House wren in Carburn Park in 2022. Sony RX-10, ISO 1250, f/4, 1/1000 sec, 600mm. Denoised in Topaz Photo AI and cropped in Apple Photos. Given the lower light conditions (and the difficulty in getting these guys to sit still!) I was pleased to get a tack sharp shot with good Bokeh.

  30. Shannon says:

    2015 photograph of the Scotia Saddledome which will soon be replaced by Scotia Place. I took this photo while taking a night photography class at SAIT. I liked the light coming off the buildings in the background.

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