My all-time top five photos

Welcome to my top five. These are my top five shots of all time. From time to time, I will update the photos here. Some shots may be bumped off as I refine my skills but this doesn’t mean photos might not return. As I learn, I may realize some of the hidden gems in my collection and gain a new appreciation for former top-five photos.

Note that the photos are in no particular order. All images are linked to a full-resolution file in Flickr.

Hello window!

Hello Window! will always have a special place in my heart. This was the first time I took my Panasonic Lumix G9 to a trip for serious travel photography. Prior, most of my travel photography was tourist-y. When I finally had the Lumix G9, I found myself more interested in pushing the technical limits of my camera and new post-processing techniques. Combined with the ease of use of uploading via Wifi to post on Instagram, it made story telling and sharing really fun.

Hello Window! is a bracketed shot. I took 5 photos with 0.3 stops of changes and merged it using Photoshop Classic. These three things, the first photo-minded trip, the first shoot with my G9, and the first time actively uploading photos to my phone, it has a lot of memories tied to it.

View Hello Window! on Flickr.

First morning at the Grand Hotel

Vietnam was the first time I traveled internationally with my Panasonic Lumix G9. It marked the first time I had traveled to another country with intent to document not only the tourist events, but take scenic and creative photos too. It was also a family milestone with my in-laws. I spent a lot of time with the immediate and extended family and really felt at home thanks to all of them. Last, this was also one of the vacations were I felt really relaxed (after overcoming some terrible flight delays).

One of the flaws that I am interested in nailing in future shots is the focus. I mistakenly shot at f/2.8, but it looks like the focal length was wide enough to keep most of it sharp though.

View First morning at the Grand Hotel on Flickr.

High contrast doggo

This was one of the first photos shot when I picked up the Olympus Pen F. Even just shooting around, I fell in love with the monochrome profile 2 in their creative dial. One thing I hope to learn from the high contrast of this filter is how to use space to compose shots.

This is a photo straight out of the camera. While I do keep some .jpegs if I do some camera to phone to Instagram sharing, this was really the first SOOC picture I fell in love with.

View High contrast doggo on Flickr.

Pear Lake in Sequoia National Park

As of October 2019, this is easily one of my favorite photos I have ever shot. It’s a culmination of two of my hobbies colliding – photography and backpacking. It shows all of the lessons from an earlier article, combined into one of the best photos possible. One of the most astounding parts of the photo is the rock. What looks like snow – it’s all very white rock. It’ gave this beautiful light throughout the entire lake and scene.

This photo was shot using 7 photos with +/- 1 exposure bracketing. I love how my two friends fishing towards the off-right center help put perspective on size and scale on the image.

You can also view this photo on Flickr and the rest of the Pear Lake album on Flickr.

Stunning view, hiking through Lower Calf Creek to the Lower Falls

This was photographed on the Lower Calf Creek Falls trail, in Utah.

I took five +/- 1 exposure bracketed shots and merged them together in Lightroom Classic. This was the first photo where I completely wrapped my head around the power and utility of the Panasonic Lumix G9’s in-body stabilization (IBIS).

You can view this photo on Flickr here.

Notes

This was originally posted on 3/16/2019 with the following photos: Queen Mary, Final touches to Bun Thit Nuong , High contrast doggo, First morning at the Grand Hotel, Hello Window!. When photos are removed from here, you can find them in the list of retired photos.

• On 06/07/2019, Final touches to Bun Thit Nuong was removed and moved to the retired list.
• On 10/15/2019, Cheers to the Start of Summer and Queen Mary was removed and moved to the retired list. The list was updated with Pear Lake in Sequoia National Park and Stunning view, hiking through Lower Calf Creek to the Lower Falls.