I need help picking my top 5

coastalconn · Jun 21, 2013

A local paper has decided to write an article about me. It's something like drunk chef turned into sober chef/bird photographer.. I'm pretty excited it has a circulation of about 60K households, maybe someone will actually buy a few prints... Anyways I have room for 5 pictures. I'm having a really hard time picking my 5 favorite. I could easily pick 5 Ospreys but I'm trying to mix it up with different birds and colors... I narrowed it down to my top 20 in a set on flickr. top 20 - a set on Flickr #1 and #2 are easy, My Osprey POTY and Lunar the Saw whet owl.. The next 4 are a toss up to me. Which ones would you pick? Or is there one in the set you would pick instead? Or is there one you remember from the past? Does anyone have tips for PP for newspaper print?

#3

Osprey angel by krisinct, on Flickr

#4

American Goldfinch by krisinct, on Flickr

#5

Merganser by krisinct, on Flickr

#6 I think this is a definite but I need to somehow get rid of the white blob in the background...

Snowy Egret toe in by krisinct, on Flickr

CowgirlMama · Jun 21, 2013

I'd do 4,5,6. I like the osprey, but you said you already picked one of those, so I'd go for variety.

Plus, your #1 is sooo cool, the second osprey just doesn't measure up.

cgipson1 · Jun 21, 2013

Those are all excellent! Hard call on the Osprey... if you don't have something else better, I would say two Osprey shots should be fine!

I played...

frommrstomommy · Jun 21, 2013

that one with the fish is going to blow people away. I know youre looking at them from a bird photographers perspective.. but as someone who knows nothing about bird shots, seeing that one with the fish is a WOW. also, I think you should include an owl.. people love owls, they are very "in" right now as far as random jewelry and cutesy home decor go.. so it will appeal to many IMO.

Aloicious · Jun 21, 2013

are they going to be printed in color in the paper? newsprint paper or something glossier? that could play a role in what will turn out better in print. (congrats BTW, sounds really interesting! if there is an online version of the article you'll have to link to it)

without knowing the print specs, I'd say the obvious 1&2 you mentioned, the snowy Egret tow in, red tail hawk vs bunny (or the red tail #2, if the bunny blood is too gruesome for the paper), and for the 5th, I'm kindof in a toss up between the willet getting a drink, or Merganser...I really really want to say the eagles mating as a birding person myself since the behavior is very interesting, but the pic itself is a little OOF which may turn off the non-birder who is just looking at the pics for the 'neat' factor.

frommrstomommy · Jun 21, 2013

look at your favorites and comments on the photos in your top 20 too.. that should be telling as quite a few were WAY more popular on your flickr than others.

coastalconn · Jun 21, 2013

cgipson1 said:
Those are all excellent! Hard call on the Osprey... if you don't have something else better, I would say two Osprey shots should be fine!

I played...

View attachment 48246

Content aware on PS? It's the one thing I'm missing in my software. I might mask it and do some cloning...

cgipson1 · Jun 21, 2013

coastalconn said:
cgipson1 said:

Those are all excellent! Hard call on the Osprey... if you don't have something else better, I would say two Osprey shots should be fine!

I played...

Click to expand...

Content aware on PS? It's the one thing I'm missing in my software. I might mask it and do some cloning...

I masked and cloned... hahaha.

coastalconn · Jun 21, 2013

frommrstomommy said:
that one with the fish is going to blow people away. I know youre looking at them from a bird photographers perspective.. but as someone who knows nothing about bird shots, seeing that one with the fish is a WOW. also, I think you should include an owl.. people love owls, they are very "in" right now as far as random jewelry and cutesy home decor go.. so it will appeal to many IMO.

I'm including Lunar for sure.. He was the little Saw whet owl...

CowgirlMama said:
I'd do 4,5,6. I like the osprey, but you said you already picked one of those, so I'd go for variety. Plus, your #1 is sooo cool, the second osprey just doesn't measure up.

Agreed!

Aloicious said:
are they going to be printed in color in the paper? newsprint paper or something glossier? that could play a role in what will turn out better in print. (congrats BTW, sounds really interesting! if there is an online version of the article you'll have to link to it)

without knowing the print specs, I'd say the obvious 1&2 you mentioned, the snowy Egret tow in, red tail hawk vs bunny (or the red tail #2, if the bunny blood is too gruesome for the paper), and for the 5th, I'm kindof in a toss up between the willet getting a drink, or Merganser...I really really want to say the eagles mating as a birding person myself since the behavior is very interesting, but the pic itself is a little OOF which may turn off the non-birder who is just looking at the pics for the 'neat' factor.

I'm supposedly on the front page so it will be color but just newsprint color. Thank you

I will link it for sure.. I know the eagles are OOF

I love my hawk and bunny, but I have to check with the editor.. I love the willet too but I think the detail may get lost in newspaper print..

frommrstomommy said:
look at your favorites and comments on the photos in your top 20 too.. that should be telling as quite a few were WAY more popular on your flickr than others.

Some have been "explored" so the comments get inflated... One of my most popular pictures according to flickr is a willet in flight from a year ago that is noisy and OOF...

wyogirl · Jun 21, 2013

FYI-- If they are being printed on newsprint they are going to look bad even though they are great shots. Newsprint color all depends on who the "color guy" (the less technical term) is. If he is good, the photos will be acceptable, if he sucks, well the photos will be crap. No real detail comes out in newsprint so simpler pictures are better. If you have great texture in your shot, it wont come across in newsprint. Look for clean lines when picking your shots.

wyogirl · Jun 21, 2013

Also-- these are great shots! I love owls (even before it was cool) so I really like those in particular.

jedirunner · Jun 21, 2013

CowgirlMama said:
I'd do 4,5,6. I like the osprey, but you said you already picked one of those, so I'd go for variety. Plus, your #1 is sooo cool, the second osprey just doesn't measure up.

^^ What she said.

Congratulations on the article, and I hope you'll link us all to a web version of it!

Kevin

squirrels · Jun 21, 2013

The eagles mating is still a pretty cool shot you know for the patriotic audience who likes um...action

ETA: Lunar is staring into my soul!

Aloicious · Jun 21, 2013

wyogirl said:
FYI-- If they are being printed on newsprint they are going to look bad even though they are great shots. Newsprint color all depends on who the "color guy" (the less technical term) is. If he is good, the photos will be acceptable, if he sucks, well the photos will be crap. No real detail comes out in newsprint so simpler pictures are better. If you have great texture in your shot, it wont come across in newsprint. Look for clean lines when picking your shots.

+1 here. you'll lose a good amount of fine detail even if the color guy is good, simple shots with good contrast between the subject/background/etc will work best as was mentioned, I'd steer away from shots like the goldfinch with the similar tones and colors in the bird and background for newsprint, I'd also probably not do the merganser mainly since the best thing is the fine detail on the head feathers, which will be hard to come through on the newsprint....that's just me though.