Best of 2025

[Comet Hunter]

Wow, what a year.

I tried to branch out with imagery other than astro this year.

Traveled to some very cool places in the EU and Canada which made it hard to pick just 10. But here we go!

#1

Favorate of all images I took this year. Taken with my cell phone of all things, but it captured a very special/magical time and place visiting family in the Netherlands.

#2

The Holland Tulip Festival. So much eye candy to image in this magical place.

# 3

Another magical place. Yellow Knife in the Northwest Territories of Canada they said was about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle
The Norther Lights did not disappoint. And # 3 is showing off the Big Dipper which I captured by accident

# 4

This one really catpured the memories of the Canadinan N Lights.

# 5

Fun with Bubbles

# 6

Back to Astro and one of my best images of a galaxy, this one is M81

# 7

Christmas Lights Magic

# 8

Just taken 11-18, Soooo many Stars.

# 9

SH2-221, is a record for me having the most data I have ever collected for an individual Astro image.
Captured here is (321) 5 min long frames (30 hrs+) stacked to bring out this very faint
super nova remnant

# 10.

Last but not least my Christmas image for 2025. Clear skies permitting, I always try to capture a deep space image over the holidays.

LDN1622 The Boogie Man Nebula (not a very Christmassy name) but was taken the night before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas night.
(This one has over 20 hours of 5 min subs)

* Since my original post, i reprocessed the boogie man to this cropped rendition!

Happy New Years to all my Focalworld friends!

Who knows what 2026 will bring!

 

[AlanLichty]

Looks like you had a pretty good year in both memories as well as photography. Lots to choose from here but my favorites are #1, 3, 6, 7, and 10 in no particular order.

No need to apologize about #1 - the best camera for a memorable scene is the one you have with you.

 

[Michael13]

6 and 10 are my favorites from this set. I respect the amount of work that goes into these astro images requiring hundreds of images. I guess not having that kind of patience has saved me a lot of money!

 

[Comet Hunter]

Looks like you had a pretty good year in both memories as well as photography. Lots to choose from here but my favorites are #1, 3, 6, 7, and 10 in no particular order.

No need to apologize about #1 - the best camera for a memorable scene is the one you have with you.

Thanks Alan, it was a great year

 

[Comet Hunter]

6 and 10 are my favorites from this set. I respect the amount of work that goes into these astro images requiring hundreds of images. I guess not having that kind of patience has saved me a lot of money!

I chuckled at "saved a lot of money". Thats for sure, thanks for looking...

 

[Mike Lewis]

Wow, Ed a great set with strong images in both astro and scenic. I think for me #1 and #4 stand out for scenic captures, with #6, #8, #9, and #10 all being stand out astro images.

#1 - a wonderful capture showing that a phone can#4 - take a great image too.

#4 - I love this one, really impressive.

#6 - I think my favorite astro image of the very strong group, as I think really detailed realistically colored galaxy shots are much harder to executer than one might think. This is an excellent version.

#8 - A great target and one that is now on my future target list after seeing your results here.

#9 - another wonderful image - those extra hours paid off. I love SNR images, and this one is no exception.

#10 - Probably my favorite nebula image of the bunch - great job, looks very natural.

ML

 

[Comet Hunter]

Thanks, Mike. I've been blessed to have traveled to many different locations in 2025. I'm also lucky enough to be traveling to Jordan and Egypt in February with a 5-day river cruise down the Nile, so I hope to get many great chances at some unique images with my new Canon R8 and all new lenses. Clear skys in 2026

 

[Mike Lewis]

Thanks, Mike. I've been blessed to have traveled to many different locations in 2025. I'm also lucky enough to be traveling to Jordan and Egypt in February with a 5-day river cruise down the Nile, so I hope to get many great chances at some unique images with my new Canon R8 and all new lenses. Clear skys in 2026

Ed,

very cool. I am a Canon shooter too. What lenses are you going to be taking?

ML

 

[Comet Hunter]

Ed,

very cool. I am a Canon shooter too. What lenses are you going to be taking?

ML

28 to 70 stm, 100 to 400 usm and the wide angle Venus Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D, plus a new magnetic cpl and nd filter set

 

[Jameel Hyder]

#3 and #6 are my favorites from this nice set of images. You sure had a busy year. And that trip to Jordan and Egypt should be fun and potential for memorable images.

 

[Comet Hunter]

Thank you, I'm excited for sure.

 

[JimFox]

So many awesome images Ed! I like your variety. I need to come back and pick favorites, but I just wanted to at least say that I liked them to start.

 

[BlackRockArt]

Wow, what a year.

I tried to branch out with imagery other than astro this year.

Traveled to some very cool places in the EU and Canada which made it hard to pick just 10. But here we go!

#1

Favorate of all images I took this year. Taken with my cell phone of all things, but it captured a very special/magical time and place visiting family in the Netherlands.

View attachment 86377

#2

The Holland Tulip Festival. So much eye candy to image in this magical place.

View attachment 86378

# 3

Another magical place. Yellow Knife in the Northwest Territories of Canada they said was about 100 miles south of the Arctic Circle
The Norther Lights did not disappoint. And # 3 is showing off the Big Dipper which I captured by accident

View attachment 86379

# 4

This one really catpured the memories of the Canadinan N Lights.

View attachment 86380

# 5

Fun with Bubbles

View attachment 86381

# 6

Back to Astro and one of my best images of a galaxy, this one is M81

View attachment 86382

# 7

Christmas Lights Magic

View attachment 86384

# 8

Just taken 11-18, Soooo many Stars.

View attachment 86385

# 9

SH2-221, is a record for me having the most data I have ever collected for an individual Astro image.
Captured here is (321) 5 min long frames (30 hrs+) stacked to bring out this very faint
super nova remnant

View attachment 86387

# 10.

Last but not least my Christmas image for 2025. Clear skies permitting, I always try to capture a deep space image over the holidays.

LDN1622 The Boogie Man Nebula (not a very Christmassy name) but was taken the night before Christmas Eve, Christmas Eve and Christmas night.
(This one has over 20 hours of 5 min subs)

* Since my original post, i reprocessed the boogie man to this cropped rendition!

Happy New Years to all my Focalworld friends!

Who knows what 2026 will bring!

View attachment 86408

wow, Ed, what a great series, I really like your astro shot, the Boogie Man is fabulous.

Oliver

 

[Jeffrey]

Fabulous Astros!

 

[Mike Lewis]

28 to 70 stm, 100 to 400 usm and the wide angle Venus Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D, plus a new magnetic cpl and nd filter set

28 to 70 stm, 100 to 400 usm and the wide angle Venus Laowa 15mm f/2 Zero-D, plus a new magnetic cpl and nd filter set

Ed,

Sounds like a good suite of lenses and just a fantastic trip! I hope you show off some of the terrestrial images you get when you get back (and any nightscape too of course...)

I have the RF 14-35 L, RF 24-105 L, RF 100-500 L, and that very same laowa 15mm wide angle for nightscape. My copy is OK, but I sure wish Canon would let Sigma release their very fine UWA full frame lenses (14mm, 20mm, 24mm) for astro shooting - they are the best of all. I really like the 20mm version...

ML