Hi and happy new year. I hope you all had a wonderful and merry Christmas, holiday and new year. Next up… each year I do a post of my favorite photos. It’s fun to do, and it forces me to look back at photos I may have forgotten about, and even do a little organizing and deleting as I go through things. Keep in mind though, this is just SOME of my favorites – It’s not all of them, but as always I’m a believer in JUST GET THE JOB DONE!
And I’d hope if you’re going through your photos to get your favorites together, you have the same thought. Rather than take weeks and weeks to do it perfectly – my favorite saying is “Perfect is the enemy of Done”. And now I can consider this job done. The exercise did it’s job for me, and I can move on to the next task 🙂
Settings, Processing and Other Common Things
A few notes on the photos below. First, they were all taken with my Sony Alpha 1 and various lenses. They were all taken on Manual Exposure mode with Auto ISO, matrix metering, and other settings are posted below the photo.
They were all edited using Lightroom Classic, some Photoshop for removing distractions, and Topaz DeNoise or Photo Ai for noise reduction (which automatically does a little sharpening as well so I don’t usually do any sharpening).
Bird Identification – Finally, while some photos are obvious what the bird is, others may not be. I can’t promise I’ll name the bird in all of them because it simply doesn’t matter to me and I don’t know the names. I realize it matters to some of you and feel free to send to a friend, or look online what the name is. But it’s important to understand that I take a photo for one reason – to make me (and hopefully others) say “WOW!”. I’m not a birder. I don’t have a desire to Identify species I see. To me, it’s like needing to know the name of a beautiful mountain in order to post a photo of it. And I don’t take photos for conservation or historical documentation, or tracking purposes. So, for me, the image is all that matters.
Okay…let’s get to it!…
Eagle Fight – I’ll lead off with a couple of eagle photos in a mid-air battle. These are always amazing to see, and I can get lost when going through my hard drive and looking at the hundreds of photos taken before and after this exact moment. It’s just fun to look at and watch the progression, but here are two favorites.
Yellow Legged Thing pulling gooey thing from ground – I follow these little guys around often when I’m out shooting. Every once in a while they get into a little scuffle with each other and it’s fun to capture. This time, I got one pulling a gooey thing out of the ground (yes, I’m sure the gooey thing has a name but I prefer mine better).
Osprey with a Fresh Catch – I took this photo while out on a boat tour with my buddy Dick (Dvwildlife.com). The Osprey had just dove and caught the fish. I actually missed the shot by a few seconds. But I was able to capture right after, with water drops still in the air, and the osprey flying away with its fresh catch. Again, not my best Osprey photo, but my favorite of 2022.
Reddish Egrets Dancing – The next few photos are of Reddish Egrets (yes I know the name) 🙂 These birds dance and jump around and put on quite the show for the people that see it. It’s actually not very hard to capture the photos because the egrets are at this beach (Ft. Desoto near Tampa FL) quite a bit.
But, the hard part is getting the right light and right shooting angle on them. Remember, we usually want the sun behind us and I like it when it’s still pretty low in the sky, so the light is softer. However, I also want some background separation so the egret pops from its backdrop. These egrets look for fish in many areas on this beach, so putting that combination together (light, angle, good action) and having the egret in the right spot isn’t always something we get. But I got lucky a few times last year where everything aligned. I just love the soft warm light and that buttery soft background in these shots, as well as the various poses of the egret.
Eagle Taking Off – Here’s another I took while on the boat tour with DVWildlife.com. I love Eagle takeoffs. And this one made it to the favorite list because I liked the trees around it. It’s not just a bird in the sky, but you get a better feeling for the environment here and it just fills the frame better.
Long(er) Exposure Juvenile Mullet Rocker – I was out teaching a private session with some one earlier in the year and we didn’t find much to shoot that morning. We practiced quite a bit though. Then, at one point I suggested we move to this pier that usually has a lot of action around it. Well, it was REALLY windy that morning and the birds weren’t moving a lot. This Juvenile Mullet Rocker was just sitting there and posing for us. Then it hit me… if we kept the camera really still, we could use a long(er) shutter speed (1/50th of a second) to get motion in the birds feathers. I thought it was an interesting shot and something you don’t see often with wildlife.
Cute Baby Owls – There were 3 baby owls at a park near where I live, and they attracted quite the photography crowd. I was never able to capture them in great light, but I thought the poses were fun so these two also made my favorite list. Sadly I found out that all 3 of the babies (and I think even the adults) died soon after. Apparently the adults bring food back (usually dead rodents) for the babies. And I guess the rodents had been killed with some type of rat poison, which the owls then ingest and die from. Hopefully more owls make their way back to this area though, as it was nice to watch.
Side Note and Mini Rant: I learned recently that there are safer ways to get rid of rodents than rat poison (which is what I would have used). In addition to teaching me that lesson, it also taught me that people sometimes think all humans are just bad, and that’s not the case. I saw multiple animal conservation groups chastising neighboring houses for using rat poison – but I don’t think they knew any better. I didn’t. People aren’t bad – they just don’t know. But the ultra-conservationist groups post this stuff on the photography and birding groups, the comments take on a life of their own on how bad people are – and in some ways it’s sad because it is just preaching to the choir – because most of those people already know. It’s the neighbors to the right and left and across the street from me that don’t have any interest in birds, that have no idea what rat poison can do. So my mini-rant is… don’t assume all humans are bad and we all want to kill owls. Sometimes people innocently just don’t know – and I wish local news outlets, stores, etc… did a better job of educating, rather than conservationists just posting to bird groups that probably already know.
Green Heron Fishing – This series made my favorites list, not because of the wonderful photography, but just because it was fun to watch this green heron fish. Watching it defy gravity hanging from a brach and then diving into the water was definitely interesting to see.
Owl on a Stick – It’s just a bird on a stick. But who doesn’t love a gorgeous owl portrait? There’s something about owls. Maybe because we don’t see them a lot, but I just have a hard time not taking a photo of one when I see it – even if it’s just sitting there.
Black Skimmers – I always enjoy photographing the black skimmers, especially when they’re skimming the water or turning and banking with the clear blue water and sky behind it. And how doesn’t love a little baby fluffy looking thing. The problem is they’re SOO dark they’re hard to edit to actually see the eye. Here’s a few of my favorites.
Bird Picking Up a Snail – In my defense I do feel like I did know the name of this bird at one time but it’s escaping me. And I know from reading comments that some one will undoubtedly not be able to resist the urge to name all of these birds so I’m sure we’ll find out soon 😉 Anyway, this was my first time photographing them, and it was a lot of fun to watch (and really beautiful birds too).
Another Yellow Legged Bird – As I mentioned, I really enjoy watching the curious and tenacious nature of these little birds. This one happened to have a cool pose, in great light and a beautiful blurry backdrop so it made my favorite list.
And Last But Certainly Not Least… a few Landscape photos – Many of you know that I used to photograph landscapes exclusively, and in the last 5 years I’ve shifted toward wildlife. I still love landscapes though. It’s just that if I have a limited time for photography, right now I find myself choosing wildlife locations rather than landscapes. For me personally, I enjoy a challenge and right now I just find it more challenging. Things change, people change, moods change, and all that… I’m sure this phase will change as time goes on, but for right now it makes me happy.
Anyway, Sony had a big event in Idaho for its Artisan Ambassadors this past August, and I made some time to photograph a nearby lake at sunrise.
Wrapping Up
Thanks so much for taking a few minutes to see my favorites for 2022. As I mentioned earlier, if you take away one thing from this it’s that I think this is a good exercise for everyone. Even if you don’t share them online, make yourself a folder on your computer or collection in Lightroom, and put your favorites in it. It’s a great exercise for finding photos you missed, cleaning up your hard drives and letting you know your accomplishments (or maybe even the lack of them) for the year and areas where you can improve. Enjoy!
I love teaching and photography... In that order. I feel that enjoying photography, and photo editing can get WAY too complicated. So my personal mission (and favorite thing to do), is to create education that simplifies the process of taking great photos, and how to edit them to get the results you’ve always wanted.
Fantastic. Great photos!
Great idea and great photographs. Thanks for the tip!
Nice. I like the bird shots and the sharpness of the images.
Thanks Matt. What a great idea to organize your most memorable shots from the previous year. It has given me a great idea and I am going to sit down and do it now. Get er done.
Thanks for keeping us informed and for all that you do for the community.
Fabulous work
These are awesome – thank you for sharing. I continue to learn from looking at your work!
Hi
I have enjoyed your YouTube video’s and the tips re Done are great. Thank You.
Your bird photos are amazing . I have never got the SS correct. I see you used really fast SS. What distance were you when taking the published photos?
I only have a 100-400 lens
Hi Cynthia. I’m usually at the max focal length for whatever lens I’m using. Thanks!
Beautiful work Matt! I love the details in all of your wildlife photos! Here’s to more shooting in 2023!
Thank you for sharing your beautiful pictures. They were amazing captures of birds. The ones in flight were particularly beautiful and your landscapes will beautiful also.
Thank you I so enjoy your work, daily question and more. Thank you for sharing your favorite photos. You have inspired me to put together mine…soon.
Thanks for sharing these great photos! I appreciate your educational videos because you fully explain editing techniques and do so slowly enough to be understood.
Gorgeous….every single one, even the bird on a stick.
Beautiful collection of photos… Well done
Matt: These photos are absolutely wonderful and you are quite an inspiration for me! My challenge is that the majority of my bird shots are when the bird is fairly still; I’m not yet any good at capturing “action shots”. I’ll keep trying though, and thank you so much for your very helpful photography lessons and comments. Happy New Year!
Thanks Joan. We all started somewhere and everyone who has nice action shots started with nice still photos first. Keep working at it. It’s like anything… the more you practice the better you’ll get.
Dear MK,
I am a big fan of your work – photos AND photo education.What a wonderful collection you have here. I’m inspired to make my own collection now.
But I have to say, sir, that I’m also a huge fan of your honest, unabashed, & direct approach to what I’m sure are often annoying and frustrating issues in your line of work. In particular in this article, is,
“…chastising neighboring houses for using rat poison – but I don’t think they knew any better. I didn’t. People aren’t bad – they just don’t know.”
Exactly! And I love that you don’t feel compelled to know the names of the birds you photograph (& that you tell us why), pointing out that it isn’t a requirement for caring about the animal you’re photographing, or the landscape in your viewfinder. Sharing what you learned about the rat poison however, to this huge audience of yours, could make a big difference in the future of many birds’ lives.
Thank you for that, and Happy New Year,
Wonderful selection of photos! “Bird Picking Up a Snail” is a Black Skimmer in case no one else mentioned it. They are such fun to watch and a challenge to capture in a photograph, but you certainly nailed it! Thanks for all you do and Happy New Year!
Thanks. I do know that it’s not a black skimmer. You’ll see what they look like in some of the other photos.
Hi Matt I think they were 1 caption off on the skimmer comment . Your comment that it was picking up a snail made me think, checking my book on hawks I think it is a female Snail Kite LOL Love all your work and have followed your work for many years.
Thanks. That sounds correct. Like I said, I did know what it was at one point and I knew it had snail in the name 🙂
Stunning! Thank you for sharing.
These are fantastic, as are your descriptions and asides.
I am wanting that Sony 600mm lens more than ever!
Take it from some one who owns it… it will not change your photography.
Beautiful body of work! Well done.
Hi Matt! I really loved the title “Yellow Legged Thing Pulling Gooey Thing from Ground”! I joined a facebook group that was apparently hard-core birders and when I posted a “Canadian Goose” I was told it is a “Canada Goose” and someone even asked me if I checked its passport. I responded by saying I grew up in upstate NY by the Canadian border so they were Canadian geese! We need to keep a sense of humor! Thank you for all of your wonderful videos and training classes. I will be looking thru my photos looking for my favorites! Happy New Year!
Thank you so very much for sharing your amazing work! As “a birder” I truly enjoyed the way you captured the daily life of these amazing creatures!
Did you use a tripod for the landscape photos?
Yes, almost always – especially at sunrise or sunset.
I agree with you on the education of non- birders. Most care if told. Others are so busy with their everyday lives that it means little. I too get black stares from my friends when I tell them how excited I get to photograph a muskrat! It’s my hobby not their thing.
Beautiful & fun favorites!
Thank you for the idea to review my past years’ photos. I’ve never looked at an entire years’.
Beautiful images. Thank you for sharing.
Matt, loved the photos and I really enjoy your attitude. I would love for you to do a field workshop, especially on bird photography.
Hi Mat,
Some pretty awesome work sir. Enjoy looking at the images today!
Thank you for share.
I love and respect the way you teach and admire the images you have chosen from your ‘stash’. The bird images are special because they are such beautiful subjects. What is the chance that you might offer a bird workshop as I would be interested.
Very good images. I love the landscapes and birds.
Thank you, Matt. Photos are great!!
Thanks for sharing your photographs, Matt. Wonderful selection!
These are lovely. Thanks
Hi Matt, Thanks for sharing your favourite, beautiful images. Unfortunately, 2022 was not a good year for me health wise and between Chemotherapy and Radiation I had little time to go out and photograph. However, I took you Bird Photography course and thoroughly enjoyed it. Now in 2023 I will go out and put it into practice. I have a photography trip booked to New Zealand in April so this year is going to be MY year. Look forward to whatever you have planned for us this year.
Hi Matt – great images, thank you for sharing and for the exposure data. My learning take-away is that best shots happen in the brightest light. Here in gloomy Scotland shooting at f5.6 1/3200 iso 2000 is something I can only dream about ?
But you have a natural soft box and can shoot all day long 🙂
They certainly do make me say Wow. Lovely photos and I’m so glad to see a few landscape photos.
Matt;
All great shots. I see why you named them some of your favorites. Coincidentally, some of my favorites are of the same subjects. Maybe it was due to the fact that I was in the same area at the same time. Thanks for sharing. By the way, I hope I’m not being forward but, that bird is very rare, is a kite that eats snails so maybe you can name it something appropriate. Forgive me. Thanks again for sharing. Happy New Year to you and your family.
Outstanding photos Matt….Wish I could get that 600mm lens..
Hi Charlie. I realize it’s easy for some one with the lens to say it doesn’t matter… but it doesn’t matter. If you want to wish for anything wish you can get your camera in to some of those places with those subjects, in good light. But don’t wish for the lens. If I had to trade it for the 200-600mm 100% of the time I would do it. It makes almost no difference.
I must make that ‘collection’ of favourites and delete some deadwood!
I started making a folder of my favorite photos last year because of your suggestion and did it again this year. It’s a lot of fun and I also got lots of comments and shares after posting the photos on Facebook. I also enjoyed seeing all of your favorites. Thanks for recommending this.
Thank you for sharing!
Hi Matt, Great photos from last year, you do have the touch.
I took your advice from last years post on Fresh Start and kept track of some of my favorite photos. Like yourself they were not all of them, 12 of the ones I liked best. Maybe not the sharpest in some, however still the ones I liked. If you look up my FB page you can see them. I plan on doing the same thing this year to see if I have improved or not.
On a side note, I am taking the DV Wildlife Tour while in Florida this February.
Thank you again for all your tips, advice and courses I have taken and still working on so far.
Semper Fi,
Joe W.
Thanks Joe. Let me know when you’re going out with Dick. I’ll see if I can make the trip up too.
That would be great, I am planning on getting in touch with him next week, so I’ll let you know as soon as I book it.
Semper Fi,
Joe W.
Brilliant. I just got back to UK after visiting Florida and the Everglades. Got some good photos but nothing quite like this. I guess you had all year to take them and I only had two days.
Beautiful photos!!
Matt,
Enjoyed your photos. You may find this book useful-
Sibley Birds East, David Sibley, Alfred A. Knopf, 2016
Thanks. I have it 🙂 I just personally don’t spend the time identifying the birds – I’d rather shoot, edit, or work on my business 🙂
Thanks for sharing Matt! I love the clarity of your captures with the A1!! I’m using a Sony 7R3 still but when I grow up, the A1 is on my wish list. ❤️
I’m glad you showed some beautiful landscapes as well because it was a refreshing change for my eye to go wide when viewing your images. There are challenges to getting both great bird captures AND finding the perfect landscape location, preferably at Sunrise or sunset light so I enjoyed all your images.
Thank you so much for sharing these. I love the names you have given to many of them. I love that you don’t feel you have to name every bird. (I sometimes get caught in that trap.) So much beauty, delight and joy. Happy New Year.
Good thoughts, good strategy. I wish you a happy and prosperous 2023.
Thanks for sharing your favorite photos. I do a blog post about my favorite photos every year. It’s definitely a worthwhile exercise for all the reasons you mentioned. Plus it is fun to look back through the previous years’ blogs and see how my photography has changed over time.
The last image taken with iPhone 13 makes me wonder “why bother with full frame Sony at all”?) . ( I have a7r 4, Olympus o d em2, Sony 24-105, Olympus 150-400, plus others)
For that particular photo, in that light, and just posting online a DSLR or mirrorless wouldn’t make any better of a photo. However, those camera do have their advantages in many cases – just not this one.
Fantastic photos