Help! Advise on which 3 photos to choose... (10 medium sized pictures)

Thirdfox

Hi guys I'm entering a college comp for newspapers and one of the categories is "photog of the year" - it's basically looking for the best photos (in any area, can be non-news related) and I need to submit 3 samples of my photos...

I'm pretty set on two of them (the seagull and beijing bicycles) but can't decide the last one:




...do any of my pictures really stand out to you? I was thinking about these...













I want them to be varied... of course if you see anything else in my gallery that you like then please point it out. I'm probably going to try and make a decision this weekend and get them printed (to 8 x 10 size - so I'm a bit concerned about that Lamborghini shot - the quality may not hold up printed out...)

Sure C&C is welcome too

Thanks for helping out!

edit: fajitas recommended this one:


and heck I'll throw in this macro too:

challengemaster

Beijing is an amazing place wish i got a pic of the bicycles when i was there!

I did however get a rather blurry pic of a Hello Kitty car..

Yeah, first two seem good, i like the lambo shot.. or the train one.. will have a look through the rest of your pics later

deaddonkey

i like the 2nd last one.

gandalf

Its 1 or 2 for me, edging towards 1 because it just jumps out at me.

Great pictures all of them though.

elven

The train and the sumo shots stand out to me...

Thirdfox

gandalf wrote: »

Its 1 or 2 for me, edging towards 1 because it just jumps out at me.

Great pictures all of them though.

Do you mean the surfer and bullet train shots?

I think quite a few people liked the bullet train one...

Challengemaster: Ha - I've yet to see a Hello Kitty car in Beijing actually!

Thanks for the comments guys - it seems like bullet train or sumo is leading so far...

Fajitas!

The bird

deRanged

I like the train one a lot.

GristlyEnd

The train definitely. I'm stuck between the bird and the sumo match. Sumo probably wins for me (I love most things Japanese).

Fajitas!

Oh, just noticed, you already picked the bird.

Whoops.

Hmmm... I'm not too gone on the others - I've seen work of yours before that I prefer.

Thirdfox

Fajitas! wrote: »

Oh, just noticed, you already picked the bird.

Whoops.

Hmmm... I'm not too gone on the others - I've seen work of yours before that I prefer.

Do you remember what it was? Most of my shots are in this album: http://pix.ie/thirdfox/album/316457

I was talking to the organiser and he basically said that I should go with a wide variety of samples - so bird, b&w people and bullet train might be a good combination... or bird, b&w bicycle and sumo might be another good one...

Decisions decisions

Thirdfox

DarrenG wrote: »

The train definitely. I'm stuck between the bird and the sumo match. Sumo probably wins for me (I love most things Japanese).

I need to select 3 shots - I've chosen the b&w bicycles and bird shot already... was looking for a third (so either train or sumo it would seem).

Fajitas!

If you want a people photo, I'd be going with "Gaze"

Thirdfox

Gaze instead of the bicycles? I like both of them (but one is of my sister...can you figure out which one? )

Or gaze as the third photo?

Thirdfox

Oh and another question - the competition wants A4 sized photos (no larger than A4 and no smaller than A5) so I guess that 8x10" is the closest size to print at?

8x10 looks really square... can I get away with 6x8" prints?

Cabaal

#1, the bird, have to say its my fav
]

GristlyEnd

Sumo one if you are only looking for one more.

Fajitas!

Oh **** me, I'm confused now.

I've had one of those days.

Right, final decision from me (for the moment :rolleyes: ) Bird, Gaze, and do a levels on the Surfer one, and bring out the whites and the brightness, and put it in. I think.

Sorry

challengemaster

People read the post.. he's already picked the first two - they're settled/chosen (or atleast were). vote on the rest!

Fajitas!

He's "pretty set" on two of them.

Still time to change.

Thirdfox

There's nothing like more confusion to help make things clearer

Really do appreciate the help though guys... might throw up a poll in the end! Seems like there are a few that people like over the others - bird, train, sumo, gaze and surfer... bicycle shot doesn't seem as popular? So it looks like a cull from 6 to 3.

sheesh

yep the first 2 are great I like the train one too its also sort of indoors. the only possible down side of it is it looks fake in the small pic (no I don't think it is faked) everything looks so perfect . the lambo one is very cool but as you say it might not blow up well.

stick-dan

I like the bicycle one, The lamborginhi and also the bullet train. I prob not a good one to comment though but they stood out to me. Looked at the bird one and it just seemed to me it was like the bird did not look right on the background. Just seemed to stand out from the back-ground a little to much. But i love all your work man though.Fine job. Hope the c+c helped.

Thirdfox

sheesh wrote: »

yep the first 2 are great I like the train one too its also sort of indoors. the only possible down side of it is it looks fake in the small pic (no I don't think it is faked) everything looks so perfect . the lambo one is very cool but as you say it might not blow up well.

I'll be blowing it up to A4 anyway - saying it looks fake is probably one of the best compliments I've ever gotten

The lambo shot is cropped down to 1352 x 811 pixels...upsizing back to 3600 x 2400 probably wouldn't do it any favours...

edit: I just tried upsizing the lambo shot - it isn't tack sharp when upsized by a factor of almost 3 but I think it'd be acceptable at A4 size...

bradnailer

1,2 & 7 would be my choice.
No.7 is so unusual it's a great shot, nice work

Thirdfox

Here is the one that fajitas liked btw:

Ideo

I'd probably go with the sumos myself!

Fenster

Defo the bird!

gandalf

Naw I meant the bird and bikes shots they stand out totally from the rest imho. And the bird is definately the one that grabs me.

OSiriS

I would agree with Fajitas suggestion.

Placebo

bired and train
china ones quality seems really bad, like an average digital cameraquality, maybe cause flickr resized?

shepthedog

Definitely the one with fajitas recommended...The girl gazing into the camera.. What competition is it?

Thirdfox

Placebo wrote: »

bired and train
china ones quality seems really bad, like an average digital cameraquality, maybe cause flickr resized?

Ouch , I thought the quality was pretty good (in terms of the composition and meaning behind that picture - evolution of China witnessed by the juxtaposition of buses and bicycles. And how the average Chinese person is just concerned with getting by - as seen on the guy's tired expression).

I don't think that technical perfection is the most important criteria in this competition and that the quality isn't half bad anyway...is there any particular thing that downgrades the quality in your opinion?

You can click on the thumbnail to be taken to the original sized copy of the photo by the way.

shepthedog wrote: »

Definitely the one with fajitas recommended...The girl gazing into the camera.. What competition is it?

The Smedias competition. So while they said any photos for "photog of the year" I still think that having something news-ish related would be nice (hence choosing "Beijing Bicycles")

I'm entering the Sports photog and News Photog categories too (with pictures that were published in our college newspaper).

Placebo

edit, it was resized by your host to make it into a thumbnail.
http://pix.ie/thirdfox/452260/size/800

quality is good

Thirdfox

Okay so many people have given an their opinion on this - I want to just lay out the votes so far:

Bird: 12 votes (probably a "definite"...is that an oxymoronic statement? )
Bicycle: 5 votes (but some people just suggested the one extra photo...)
Train: 7
Sumo: 6
Gaze: 3
Car: 3
Surfer: 2

I would think that it is between the Train and Sumo photos - I personally think the train one looks better but would the sumos have more "human interest"?

deRanged

I'm not one for c&c but:
the train has clean lines, a lead in, symmetry, pleasing angles, nice light and an air of danger/strength. also some nice detail at full size (the cars going in the opposite direction to the train with red lights etc)

the sumo one has chaos, clutter. if you cropped down to just the surround of the ring plus say one row of seats, you get a nicer image I think.

of all of them the train stood out to me at first glance.

Thirdfox

Shameless bump - (at least I'm not double posting!)

So - bird, bicycle and train?

Thanks for all the C&C too. I'll let you know how my application goes

TelePaul

Sumo! Sumo! Sumo! Your bicycle shot is absolutely amazing, congrats.

Thirdfox

D'oh! I've already done up the train shot for printing... I might be able to use the sumo shot for another competition then

Thanks for the input guys - really appreciate all the help

SavageD

The train for sure - it is a great shot and will also tie in with the other pictures - motion