Best 2005 Photos
Posted by Rex under Photography | Permalink | | Leave A Comment
I spent several weeks reviewing my photo collection and put together a gallery of the best 25 photos of the past year. These photo represent the best of my “work” as an amateur photographer. These represent best in terms of sentimental, artistic & technical values to me. With almost 3000 photos to chose from, the process wasn’t easy– too many I wanted to include…
During the review process, I took notice of my progress as a photographer. I became more comfortable with my Canon 350XT. I can’t say I have mastered it, but I’ve learned to use most of the functions it has to offer. I started out the year relying less on the fully automatic modes. By spring, a good number of my pictures were shot in aperture-priority mode, which remains my favorite shooting mode. By summer, I began to experiment with longer shutter times. I outgrew the kit lens that came with the camera and recently added a Tamron 28-75mm lens to my collection after months-long research. I yet to put it through its paces, but it is currently my favorite lens.
The highlight of the year in terms of photo opportunity has to be my trip to Yosemite. While I really enjoyed the excursion, I regret that I didn’t have better lenses then– could’ve used a wide angle lens. I was surprised I didn’t get more “high quality” shots with the trips to Hawaii and Tahoe. Then I was reminded that traveling with kids doesn’t leave you with alot of time to shoot these type of shots. On the flip side, I did get lots of sentimental shots of our family, just as well. 🙂
For the new year, I hope to find more time exploring photography. I am planning to add a wide angle lens soon since I’m highly anticipating spring. Hopefully, I will find time for short photo excursions when the weather gets warmer.
Stats:
1st shot of the year: 1/16/05 – 1:41pm (family trip to Monterey Aquarium)
Last shot of the year: 12/31/05 – 7:23pm (Festival of Lights @ Vasona Park)
Total shots for the year: 2973 photos (not counting hundreds deleted unwanted ones)
25 Best Photos: 0.84% of total number of photos shot in 2005
Note that you’ll need a Flash player installed in your browser to view the gallery.
Very impressive photos indeed!
My favorites out of the bunch are:
The trees – the linear lines directing your eyes upward leaving you wondering how far up the sky the trees will reach. I like the color of this one.
Creek – I like the effect created by the flow of water over rocks. Looks like a layer of mist drifting over the surface of the water.
Beachscape – I like the multi-layer effect and texture of each layer as well.
Sunflowers – beautiful against the backdrop of the almost turquoise-colored sky. Nice contrast in colors.
Narnia – I call it this because it looks like a scene out of Narnia. Love this photo in b/w.
Allison on Grass/Katelyn in front of Sago Palm – fine fine moments captured of the girls. Their smile/expression comes from the heart. Very natural and just gorgeous!
Minnies – I’m a disney fan. Need I say more?
Katelyn Drenched – Seeing her expression, I could almost feel the piercing cold on my skin.
But where’s the one of your darling Suzanne? ??
Nice set Rex! I love the last BW pic of the trees the most (but I’m a sucker for BW photos) ^^
Nice album interface too. But Tony (who only has a BSD box) cannot browse it 😀
Thx Min. As far as Tony’s problem, he’ll need Flash plugin which isn’t available for BSD I don’t think… sorry!
Grace,
Wow, I’m not sure my photos are worthy of great interpretations like yours… 🙂 But I’ll take them anyways…
such perception and insightful comments, displaying a deep appreciation for art (not that I even dare to label my pictures as anything remotely like art!).
I also really like the names you give them.
Very nice Rex. Did you use manual mode (vs auto focus) for taking the kids’ picture too? Did you have to use photoshop for touching up?
I normally use auto focus. I use photoshop for cropping pictures and converting black/white pictures. I normally do minor touch up on most photos, sometime I do major touch up for added effect (e.g. The picture with Katelyn on the snow was the extreme case).
For scenery picture, I like the creek one and the mirror image ones – absolutely beautiful! I suppose you did not have to edit those? As for pictures with people, I like it how you can just focus on the person and make the background blury – very professional. I think there is a term for it but can’t think of it now. That’s not done by autofocus, is it? Maybe I will just have you take our kids’ yearly pictures! How much do you charge? 😉 🙂
Thanks Sandra… The lake where I shot the reflection of the mountain is called, oddly enough, Mirror Lake in Yosemite Valley. The Tanaya Creek & Mirror Lake photos were not touched up.
Neither manual nor auto focus affect the blurry background. Depth of field in a photograph is controlled by aperture and the focal length of the lense. It’s a common effect for portraits & close-ups to use shallow depth of field since it defocuses the background and draws attention to the subject. It’s actually one of the easier effects to capture…
As far as shooting your kids; just for you– a special discount. 🙂
Your pictures are absolutely gorgeous!!! I guess I have to make a special trip up there to get our family photos done by you.
Thanks Loanne… btw, did you guys get a new camera? You were mentioning about getting one last xmas.
Yep we did! We are having a lot of fun with it. Especially for Matthew’s Martial Arts & T-Ball – I love taking the action shots!
You guys got the Canon XT right?
Yep!