My favorite images of 2025

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Looking at this thread I could not decide which of my photos from 2025 I liked best. So I decided to open a new topic and post 8 shots :smile:.

I hope you don’t mind, that I posted some of these images already elsewhere on this forum. The files are quite small.

what_a_colorful_childhood
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what a colorful childhood

stern_gaze
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stern gaze

wind
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wind

things_to_discover
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things to discover

a_little_quarrel
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a little quarrel

skydiving_crow
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skydiving crow

Vogelhallig
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Vogelhallig

facing_east
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facing east

I like the minimalistic and moody character of this photo. There is an enormous amount of detail in the image:

facing_east_detail
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100% crop.

So a really big print might be nice.

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That is indeed a very nice series of pictures - all of them.

Do you have secretly a picture you like most…

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No, I am not even sure about these. There are others, especially some street photography I did. It’s changing with my mood. But the crow was my favorite for some time.

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Booo!
Feel your pain, what a good set.
Tell you what, I’ll make it easy - you don’t even have to justify it, just choose.

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They all are beautiful. “The wind” has so many messages and feelings. A bit of van Gogh?
It is done technically, and artistically superbly.
Please share more.
If you would please share also exposures, and conditions.
Thank you.

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Beautiful images.

My favourite is the wind-blown flower. Perhaps only very few would have considered that weather even suitable for flower photography. Your imagination took you beyond that. Wonderful image.

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Very good set. I particularly love “Wind” and “Skydiving Crow”

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what a colorful childhood :
1/100, f/11, 70 mm, 500 ISO, LED light
Calliteara pudibunda in a wood. Difficult shot, the thing was moving fast all the time.

stern gaze :
1/2000, f/6.7, 500 mm, 1600 ISO
Arenaria interpres at the sea shore.

wind :
1/2000, f/7.1, 191 mm, 400 ISO
Some kind of Anthemis on a dike in a strong wind.

things to discover :
1/200, f/22, 75 mm, 100 ISO, ring flash
A rose from our garden in a vase.

a little quarrel :
1/2500, f/6.7, 500 mm, 800 ISO
Charadrius dubius in aerial combat.

skydiving crow :
1/2500, f/9, 500 mm, 640 ISO
A crow in a nosedive because it had spotted something edible on the water’s surface.

Vogelhallig :
1/100, f/7.1, 500 mm, ISO 640
This is a shot of Hallig Norderoog from Hallig Hooge 4 km away. „Hallig“ means a little island in the North Sea without (high) dike that is flooded serveral times a year. Norderoog is a bird reserve and also known as ”Vogelhallig.” The two small houses are built on stilts and serve as accommodation for the bird wardens.

facing east :
1/400, f/11, 24 mm, 500 ISO
Boat landing stage on Hallig Hooge with a view to the island of Pellworm.

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I got tricked on the last image and clicked the arrows :sob:

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They do perform an action … :innocent:

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@Thomas_Do, Thomas, besides finding your pictures beautiful, I sure like the way you present your pictures with the white space around it and the black line within this space. Kind regards, Jetze

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Thank you.
Wow, you know what you are doing for sure.

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Great set of images! I’ve always been a fan of the images you’ve posted elsewhere in this forum. Which camera are you shooting with these days? And are you happy with it?

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Thanks, you are very kind.
A long time I used a Sony alpha 7III. Then I upgraded to a used Sony alpha 7RIV. This has a higher resolution and allows for some more cropping, when the light is good. Helps in wildlife photography. Other cameras might have better autofocus but what I like is the low light performance. And in the end, its not the camera that makes the picture. At least that’s what they say :wink:.

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Thanks. The high MP Sony’s have always interested me for similar reasons, i.e. the cropping and ability to use crop lenses if you want a smaller kit.

And yes, your pictures are nothing to do with the gear. I’m sure you would create great photos with any other camera. But I’m always interested to hear experiences of different systems.

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Absolutely.

My Sony a7iv has so much capability, above mine, that if the pictures are not good, I know it is not the camera, it is how I am using it.

There is a you-must-have-a-very-good-camera story of a photographer replying, “Yes, I do! And I taught it everything it knows.” Point taken. But…

Yes, I have a good camera and it teaches me!

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I have a different view. A camera with least capabilities may help one to become a better photographer? maybe?
No Zoom lens forces you to take a better composition -maybe ( watch out for not stepping off a cliff thou! )
Kidding aside, remember till 20-30 yrs ago cameras were least capable comparing to today’s cameras yet many photographers captured great images.

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Not necessarily better, but technically more aware, absolutely.

Composition may be good or bad with primes or zooms. But I’d hate to not have cropping! :slight_smile:

A friend of mine knows little of photo technicalities, yet she takes beautiful landscapes, seascapes, butterflies, birds, dragonflies, pics. Her first published landscape was taken on a plastic film camera with no controls at all.

My OM1n had a meter needle in the viewfinder. And I forget what kind of focussing aid it had, something visual. And it was sooo lightweight. We had very different expectation of fail rates in those days.

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Thank everyone for the kind praise.

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You’ve certainly earned it…when I joined here I liked seeing your photos and what you’d done with them with darktable…now I just like seeing your work in general. No if you’'ll excuse me…I need to go wash the brown off my nose now…