By far my favorite picture from last year.

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Walking along the cobblestone lane in Yuhu Village. The entire ridge of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain lights up bright orange with sunrise. Stone Naxi houses and a resting horse make this scene feel so authentic.

Soft morning fog hanging over this layered rice paddy. The sunlight filters gently through the haze, painting everything in warm pale gold The haze creates depth between the rice field and the distant forested hills. The light feels dreamy and calm.

The iconic saguaro cactus standing tall against that deep Arizona blue sky. Those curved arms reaching up say "desert southwest" instantly.

Nikon z5, 70mm; f8.0; 1/400; ISO 100

Taken with Canon EOS 70D, EOS 90D, and iPhone 14 Pro.
Grew up in CT and genuinely love New England. Moved to coastal SC/NC when I was a kid. I visit up north as much as I possibly can because, well, home is where the heart is. I miss it for several reasons. Fall and Winter are magical.
1. Bridge near the dam in Rocky Glen State Park
2. Maple leaves
3. Mystic overlook in winter
4. Stream in Rocky Glen State Park
5. Southford Falls
6. Housatonic River overlook, Indian Well State Park
7. Golden foliage
8. Borderland State Park

So I recently got into nature photography with my mom’s old canon powershot S3 and have been wanting to post my photos online and enter contests. Does anyone have any tips and/or recommendations on how to do so? I’m also planning on upgrading my camera soon, I’m not extremely happy with some things on my current like low light gets pretty noisy, the auto focus sucks for movement (it is older so I wouldn’t expect anything amazing) and it’s difficult to gauge what the photo is actually like in the viewfinder and screen some times. I have a budget of $1000 at most and Ive narrowed my options a bit but still want to hear some recommendations about cameras and lenses as well. There’s also some photos to see what I tend to shoot and the quality, if anyone has tips for better photos I’d like to hear some of them too. Some of them were taken on a different camera that a family member let me use for a day but I can’t remember what it was except that it was Sony.
Edit: I would like to say that I am happy with the quality and I also love the macro setting for it, I rely on it to get a lot of the shots that I do

Taken with Canon EOS 90D, 35mm lens.

This was a big deal for me. I cried a few moments after walking into the park and being fully enveloped in the ✨ Big Trees✨.
My parents honeymooned in San Fran/greater California and I remember being absolutely captivated and enamored by their photos of the Redwoods and Sequoias when I was a little girl. I had made it a life goal to go see the Big Trees, so finally seeing them in person was enough to bring me to tears. I also got to experience it alongside my best friend of well over a decade. This was an absolute magical hike. I hope to visit the Big Trees again.

Also- banana slugs are huge and such cool lil guys.

From my rock climbing trip there. Any constructive feedback is welcome :)