Tell about your personal project in photography

[ElenaH]

I posted a few pictures of European Bee-eaters in a Presentation Forum here:

I shoot about 4000 images to get one

And still didn't get it ;-) Need to repeat my shooting again and again. Here are some of the images but I am still not happy with the result. Here the distance to the wall and the lighting are ok and but I don't like the pose. Here I like the pose but the background is too close and too...

bcgforums.com

and found out that @StefanSC is trying to get the same shot (or almost the same ) So, we both have a similar personal project.

A personal Project for me means that I have a vision, a picture in my mind and trying to get that picture. It is my goal.
The criteria like the following: the right interesting pose (it must tell a story), good and not very harsh light, background far away from the subject and preferably dark, the picture must be sharp and 3000px in a long side.
Thanks to Stefan, he gave me a few ideas about bee-eaters behaviour.

@raptor photo has a personal project of getting a raptor pursuing a songbird or duck.

And @12markus12 has apersonal project to photograph a budger but he mentioned he hasn't found one yet but had an encounter with a fox.
Well, in Africa it will be probably an easier task becasue honey badgers are used to steal some food from self-drivers ;-) But to see one budger in Europe (so, European one, not Honey ;-) is not easy! I also didn't see one.
But I also saw a nice female fox while photographing bee-eaters in 2018!

What are your personal photographic project at the moment?
Budgers, Bee-eaters, Raptors? Which species are you looking for? And what are you working on? Tell us about your progress and difficulties.

 

[MrFotoFool]

Interesting topic. When I hear the phrase personal project, I think of a series, not a single photo (which seems to be the way you are using the term). In the sense you are using it, my single photo would be a picture of a wild mountain lion, but they are so elusive I doubt it will happen. (The exception would be if I book one of the expensive Chile puma tours, which I would like to do one day).

My idea of a personal project is you dedicate a length of time (a couple years or more) to a specific subject and follow it to create a strong body of work. Almost three years ago I moved into a condominium in the Tucson Mountains. Javelinas (aka collared peccaries) come through our complex regularly and can be seen almost every day in the arroyo that runs behind our complex (I saw four there this morning). They have become an ongoing project due to their regularity. Not sure what I will eventually do with the images, though a book or at least a feature magazine article would be nice.

 

[FB101]

I go through cycles; right now my project is urban landscape (details and highlights) - and I am about to start on flamingos in Camargue - I have been after one specific picture for close to a decade - when they stick their heads in the mud for food, sometimes they come out with a mud mask that completely coats their head and plumage - and then they let it slide off their face. I want to catch that moment.

 

[Woody Meristem]

Currently I'm taking a nature photo a day for a year within 200 feet (61 meters) of our back door. Half of that year is over now and I've posted those photos in two posts on my blog: https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2023/03/around-house-winter.html and https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2023/06/around-house-spring.html

 

[Robert S]

I'm off to Darwin on Saturday. Big two weeks out. Hoping to get images of birds https://laurieross.com.au/findingbirdsarounddarwin/ , and some landscape images at Dripstone Cliffs. Hopefully I get one or two photos worth sharing.

 

[Ed Erkes]

I tend to be project-oriented in my photography, some long-term and others short-term projects. The most involved project I am on is documenting the life and behaviors of wood ducks. I've been on this one off and on for 15 years. Fortunately I have wood ducks that visit and nest on my backyard pond. My plan is to eventually do an ebook on wood ducks. Two other short-term projects involved obtaining combination sharp/blur images of moths and hummingbirds. I took over 7000 images of moths before I got the image I was happy with.

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[groob]

Like @Ed Erkes , I am generally project-oriented. I spent 4 years trying to get a photo of a female belted kingfisher. I tried countless setups and blinds. Eventually, I learned her daily routine and what did/didn’t work and got some really rewarding shots (not @Ed Erkes level photos, but good for me). Another very rewarding aspect was seeing her in all seasons. I saw her get rained on, snowed on, wooed by a male, chase off a male, disappear for a while, and return. I also saw how her fishing habits changed when the lake was dry versus overflowing. I even put out a perch for her that became her first stop every morning. Like I said, it took 4 years to figure her out, and there were some serious frustrations along the way. But those are probably my favorite photos.

 

[Robert S]

I tend to be project-oriented in my photography, some long-term and others short-term projects. The most involved project I am on is documenting the life and behaviors of wood ducks. I've been on this one off and on for 15 years. Fortunately I have wood ducks that visit and nest on my backyard pond. My plan is to eventually do an ebook on wood ducks. Two other short-term projects involved obtaining combination sharp/blur images of moths and hummingbirds. I took over 7000 images of moths before I got the image I was happy with.
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Wonderful images. How did you get the last two?

 

[MrFotoFool]

@Ed Erkes Those are truly stunning; some of the best and most original nature photography I have ever seen.

 

[Ed Erkes]

Wonderful images. How did you get the last two?

Thank you. The last two were combination ambient/flash exposures using 4 and 2 flashes ,respectively, set on rear curtain sync. The hummingbird image was your typical multiflash hummingbird setup, with a print of out-of-focus foliage as background. A long exposure of 1/3 second was used to allow the ambient light to capture the blur of the incoming hummingbird.
The moth image was taken on my front porch with an exposure of 1/10 second. The light bulb provided the ambient exposure that lit the blurred moths and background. The flash at the end of the exposure provided the sharp moth images.

 

[Ed Erkes]

@Ed Erkes Those are truly stunning; some of the best and most original nature photography I have ever seen.

Thank you so much! Those are kind words indeed!

 

[Robert S]

Thank you. The last two were combination ambient/flash exposures using 4 and 2 flashes ,respectively, set on rear curtain sync. The hummingbird image was your typical multiflash hummingbird setup, with a print of out-of-focus foliage as background. A long exposure of 1/3 second was used to allow the ambient light to capture the blur of the incoming hummingbird.
The moth image was taken on my front porch with an exposure of 1/10 second. The light bulb provided the ambient exposure that lit the blurred moths and background. The flash at the end of the exposure provided the sharp moth images.

Thanks for the info. You have certainly done something special.

 

[Doug Herr]

Current short-term project: North American woodpeckers. I'm very happy with most of my Northern California woodpeckers but there's much more to Picidae than Northern California.

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Plus the sapsuckers and Black-backed Woodpecker (can only post 8 photos).


Long-term project: birds of North America (a bit ambitious), nearly 500 species so far.

 

[ElenaH]

my single photo would be a picture of a wild mountain lion

I wish it will happen! And I hope, we will see some good photos of Javelinas. But are they not dangerous?

I go through cycles; right now my project is urban landscape (details and highlights) - and I am about to start on flamingos in Camargue - I have been after one specific picture for close to a decade - when they stick their heads in the mud for food, sometimes they come out with a mud mask that completely coats their head and plumage - and then they let it slide off their face. I want to catch that moment.

great!! as I can see you also visualize it very well

Currently I'm taking a nature photo a day for a year within 200 feet (61 meters) of our back door. Half of that year is over now and I've posted those photos in two posts on my blog: https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2023/03/around-house-winter.html and https://forestandfield.blogspot.com/2023/06/around-house-spring.html

yes, I know your blog and I find it super. Sometimes there are simple photos but they are very atmospheric and perfect in composition and all together they make a story

I'm off to Darwin on Saturday. Big two weeks out. Hoping to get images of birds https://laurieross.com.au/findingbirdsarounddarwin/ , and some landscape images at Dripstone Cliffs. Hopefully I get one or two photos worth sharing.

Oh, it's a nice website! is it yours? Good luck to meet some nice feathered friends!

My plan is to eventually do an ebook on wood ducks. Two other short-term projects involved obtaining combination sharp/blur images of moths and hummingbirds. I took over 7000 images of moths before I got the image I was happy with.

It is an absolutely stunning work!! I assumed that you used flash with rear curtain (there are also some similar pictures in BPOTY with other species (but your pictures are better!!) but what don't understand how the bulb is not so bight against the flight patterns of moths? with 1/10 the bulb must be very bright. Is it somehow specially dimmed?

Like @Ed Erkes , I am generally project-oriented. I spent 4 years trying to get a photo of a female belted kingfisher. I tried countless setups and blinds. Eventually, I learned her daily routine and what did/didn’t work and got some really rewarding shots (not @Ed Erkes level photos, but good for me). Another very rewarding aspect was seeing her in all seasons. I saw her get rained on, snowed on, wooed by a male, chase off a male, disappear for a while, and return. I also saw how her fishing habits changed when the lake was dry versus overflowing. I even put out a perch for her that became her first stop every morning. Like I said, it took 4 years to figure her out, and there were some serious frustrations along the way. But those are probably my favorite photos.

Wow! It is a nice story!

Current short-term project: North American woodpeckers. I'm very happy with most of my Northern California woodpeckers but there's much more to Picidae than Northern California.

it is a very good project! I even didn't know that there so many different woodpeckers! Never seen some of them!

 

[NorthernFocus]

I don't have/work on what I'd describe as "projects" but my definition may be different due to my career. Rather I'd describe what I do as pursuing "perfect" images for various species in my mind's eye. Or re-creating past images that were near perfect content but had technical issues or some minor issue. But I don't pursue those things to the exclusion of other subjects.

One example for me is my annual pursuit of a perfect sea otter image. Every summer we make half a dozen week long boating trips on Prince William Sound. One of those weeks each year is a (more or less)dedicated photo tour. We always visit a bay that has historically had a high population of sea otters and particularly moms w/pups. Last week we made that trip. This year it wasn't very productive due to a combination of unusually low number of animals and poor shooting conditions. But we persevere...

The perfect (northern)sea otter image in my mind's eye:

1) Is actually an image of perfectly smooth/colorful water with an otter passing through it.
2) If it's a mom with pup on here belly they must both be making eye contact(both eyes) with the camera
3) If an individual animal must have good eye contact and one rear foot/flipper should be above the surface with water dripping off
4) Must have a great display of whiskers and perfectly sharp.
5) A great reflection is a bonus but at minimum needs to be a single reflection(i.e. not multiple across the tops of waves/ripples)
6) Needs to be at a low POV but not so low that it brings the horizon into the image.
7) Must have enough pixels on target to allow printing (near)life size(i.e. about four foot horizontal dimension)

Here is a near perfect shot but was shot years ago and has a few technical issues. Looks great in this format but isn't high rez enough for my print criteria. If I could to re-create this one with current day equipment/skills I'd be content(yeah right...).

And here is the best I managed this past week. Great eye contact, good whiskers, got the flipper out of the water. But the water is too rippled in FG, wake is too prominent, not enough bow wave, etc, etc.

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[MrFotoFool]

I wish it will happen! And I hope, we will see some good photos of Javelinas. But are they not dangerous?

No, they are not dangerous. Only two times people have problems with them. One is people walking a dog, which javelinas occasionally attack because they see them as their enemy the coyote (I have seen javelinas chasing a coyote twice at my home). The other is when people try to hand feed them (which is illegal) and they get bitten. I do not own a dog and I am not stupid enough to feed a wild animal, so they pose no problem for me. In fact, I often sit quietly near them and they ignore me, sometimes grazing as close as six or eight feet.

 

[Wade Abadie]

I tend to be project-oriented in my photography, some long-term and others short-term projects. The most involved project I am on is documenting the life and behaviors of wood ducks. I've been on this one off and on for 15 years. Fortunately I have wood ducks that visit and nest on my backyard pond. My plan is to eventually do an ebook on wood ducks. Two other short-term projects involved obtaining combination sharp/blur images of moths and hummingbirds. I took over 7000 images of moths before I got the image I was happy with.
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These are simply incredible images! I honestly cannot pick a favorite.

 

[Robert S]

No it's not my website Elena. Just something I found on google.

 

[Patty15]

My personal project in photography is not any particular subject. Yes, my main subjects are birds and other wildlife that come across my path, as evidenced in my facebook page, Photography by Patricia Hurst (can I plug myself here?

) That aside, after buying a Z9 and a Z8, I told my husband that maybe I should take up portrait photography, as in taking graduation photos to make some money to support my pricy tastes. Now, if I could just get my grandchildren over to practice on, I'd be good as gold.

For me, photography has been fun. I needed something to interest me in retirement so I just didn't become a crabby, old lady. Ok, so I'm still crabby from time to time, but I'm also the crazy lady that grabs her camera when her husband yells, "Get your camera, you've got to get this!" Not even knowing what I was running out on the deck with my camera to see, I got this. Not the best photos, since I was late to the event, and the deck rail ended up as a haze in the last photo, but still fun. That's what a lot of it is for me. (Beside our planned trips here and there in western PA where I now live.)

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[Ed Erkes]

These are simply incredible images! I honestly cannot pick a favorite.

Thank you! I appreciate the kind words!

 

[thelordofthelight]

Incredible frames and absolutely loved it! Thanks for sharing!

I tend to be project-oriented in my photography, some long-term and others short-term projects. The most involved project I am on is documenting the life and behaviors of wood ducks. I've been on this one off and on for 15 years. Fortunately I have wood ducks that visit and nest on my backyard pond. My plan is to eventually do an ebook on wood ducks. Two other short-term projects involved obtaining combination sharp/blur images of moths and hummingbirds. I took over 7000 images of moths before I got the image I was happy with.
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[vandL]

I'm working on building a visual portfolio that documents as many species as I can. I'm using it as motivation to capture even the most common critters (eg. squirrels, Robins) and utilizing light, the environment, etc. to capture beautiful portraits of them.

 

[Crr008]

We have a ranch and there are so many creatures and critters out there. Over the last year, I've started capturing and cataloging what I find. Before I was mainly focused on flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies (and a few deer and wild turkeys). This year I began work on identifying birds species, either by sight or sound. I started trying to take pictures of all the small birds. At first it was "just get any picture" and that has morphed into getting better pictures. It's been quite a challenge but fun. In a month we take our annual trip to the coast where I focus on coastal birds and critters. I'm hoping to get enough practice with the Z8 at the ranch that I'll be ready for shore birds.

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Checkered White Butterfly on a blanket flower

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Benwick's Wren

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Deer (I was shooting butterflies and looked up to find this deer which is why my shutter speed was so high)

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Summer Tanger (my first time seeing and capturing this bird on the ranch)

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Gray Hairstreak Butterfly on Mexican Hats (upright Prairie Coneflower)

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Aztec Spur-Throated Grasshopper

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Dark-winged Bee-fly

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Familiar Bluet Damselflies

 

[markymark]

I don't have/work on what I'd describe as "projects" but my definition may be different due to my career. Rather I'd describe what I do as pursuing "perfect" images for various species in my mind's eye. Or re-creating past images that were near perfect content but had technical issues or some minor issue. But I don't pursue those things to the exclusion of other subjects.

One example for me is my annual pursuit of a perfect sea otter image. Every summer we make half a dozen week long boating trips on Prince William Sound. One of those weeks each year is a (more or less)dedicated photo tour. We always visit a bay that has historically had a high population of sea otters and particularly moms w/pups. Last week we made that trip. This year it wasn't very productive due to a combination of unusually low number of animals and poor shooting conditions. But we persevere...

The perfect (northern)sea otter image in my mind's eye:

1) Is actually an image of perfectly smooth/colorful water with an otter passing through it.
2) If it's a mom with pup on here belly they must both be making eye contact(both eyes) with the camera
3) If an individual animal must have good eye contact and one rear foot/flipper should be above the surface with water dripping off
4) Must have a great display of whiskers and perfectly sharp.
5) A great reflection is a bonus but at minimum needs to be a single reflection(i.e. not multiple across the tops of waves/ripples)
6) Needs to be at a low POV but not so low that it brings the horizon into the image.
7) Must have enough pixels on target to allow printing (near)life size(i.e. about four foot horizontal dimension)

Here is a near perfect shot but was shot years ago and has a few technical issues. Looks great in this format but isn't high rez enough for my print criteria. If I could to re-create this one with current day equipment/skills I'd be content(yeah right...).

And here is the best I managed this past week. Great eye contact, good whiskers, got the flipper out of the water. But the water is too rippled in FG, wake is too prominent, not enough bow wave, etc, etc.

View attachment 63348

Great set of images, can I ask what focus mode you used on the Z9?

 

[NorthernFocus]

Great set of images, can I ask what focus mode you used on the Z9?

Thanks. I use almost exclusively wide area S, L, C1, and C2. For static/slow moving subjects wide S or C2(sized to 1x1). For BIF wide L or C1(Sized larger than the L box). I tried using 3D early on and wasn't impressed. Now with a couple generations of FW updates I plan to experiment with it again to use in "hand off" mode after first grabbing focus with one of the wide areas. Once in a while if I'm shooting some really erratic BIF(like swallows) against a really clean BG I'll try Auto Area. Results have been hit and miss.