As many of you probably know I'm putting together a book of wildlife & some Nature/Flower shots. Predominately it's a gift for my father who's computer illiterate & can't see my photos. He keeps telling me to send him prints, but since he lives in Sweden I'd go nuts trying to do that. On another board someone suggested one of those frames which change photos - - if would not work. My father will not live with that - so that's out.

So instead Tony got me started on the idea of putting together a book for me to self publish & give give family for Christmas as a gift.

Unfortunately my father is really not into wildlife photos - - but in this I don't care - - it's what I do. My mother loves them & my sister tolerates them.

Father gets what he gets. And that's how it's been all along. I should add that since I've always been involved in some form of Art or other, my father has lived with a lot of my "Art" since I was a very little girl. Ceramic pieces were in his office for well over 30 years & are now in his home office as he's semi-retired. I made art pieces in metal as well, & they've always been all over the place. When I was 21 I had the opportunity to meet Goldie Hawn during an interview in Stockholm & I photographed her for a magazine & also printed shots for my father which I framed & left as a surprise in his office. It hung in there for well over 20 years & now hangs in his home office. So, even though wildlife is not my father's thing - - he will like this...

Anyhow, I'm having huge issues deciding on my cover shot for the book which I will have printed in hard cover for my family, but will make available both as hard cover & soft cover.
So - - I have over 30 shots which I need to reduce down to 1...

Now, I put this on DPR & photo.net as I could not start a thread here until after midnight - so I have from that a top 11 at this point. Still, if you have the energy etc you can see all of the shots considered in this gallery & many are nipping at the heels of these shots.... A trip over to Zenfolio may well be worth it....

Please help me by voting for your top shots & if you should see something in the gallery - please just follow the number Zenfolio gives you for each shot. No order needed - each shot you like will get a point.

Thanks for all your help & oh, the ones listed here are in a random order.......

Oh - - title is "Moments In Nature - A Photographic Journey"

Lil

# 1 - - "Little One" my dear little Little One who takes peanuts out of my hand & whom I've followed for a year now...



# 2 - - Male Brown Pelican



# 3 - - GBH



# 4 - - The Angriest Hummer Ever



# 5 - - Avocet Chick out for a stroll looking for lunch



# 6 - - Adult Avocet looking for a snack in Golden Light



# 7 - - Adult Tern Feeding Chick



# 8 - - Grasshopper in a Flower



# 9 - - Female Rufous or Allen's Hummingbird



# 10 - - Energetic Snowy Egret



# 11 - - White Pelican

Hi Lil,
no 10, clarity and freshness of this would make me want to look inside.

good Luck,
Howard.

#6
Dan

#6 with #3 in reserve

# 10 is a clean, simple image with no distractions ~ Ron

#6 with a little rotation CCW. #10 a close second.

#4.

My pick would be #6 or #9 because they are simple but beautiful and have a very claen background to place a title on. You definitely need free space for that.
Good luck with your project

I wanna play...
#6 for me Lil, if you want a "warm" look....#10 if a "cool" look is more appropriate. GL...Will

10 otherwise 6

No 6

# 6, and good luck Lil

#3 or #10. The others all seem to have distractions that give them verve and uniqueness for inside the book, but the two I selected seem neat and clean for the cover.

Here's one vote for 3, second is 1

#6 Is my favorite. Great area for Title and a very warm feel. Although no matter what you choose I am sure he will cherish it forever.
Blue Skies,
Charlie

Lil #3 for me followed by #35 in your gallery

Karl

10 followed by 6.

Ken

Hi Lil. Looks like you are making some progress on your book. I'm going to give you some advice based upon my own experience with making a blurb book. I decided to go with a wrap cover for the book. I chose a picture which had darker color tones. It looked great on my computer monitor, but when I got my book I was a bit dissappointed. The colors on the book color turned out more muted and darker than I wanted. It did not have the pop in colors that I was originally able to achieve on my computer monitor.

So my choice for your cover shot would be #10. I like the bright colors. It is a simple composition with no distracting elements. The cover should attract a passerbyers eyes and bright white on top of the clean blue background really should POP! Plus the clean blue background will give you room for some text for the title of your book.

Goodluck and post us a link once you have completed your book and have uploaded it to the blurb site.

- Hung

6 or 10

Rob

A definite #10... perfectly exposed, well composed, and simple.. It would certainly convince me to look at the rest of the book. And for the cover, KISS... keep it simple ... Just me opinion. Either way, Lil, I am sure your father will LOVE the book.. sort of like a brag book for him to show his buddies.

6 or 10, aren't I a big help? You might try reprocessing 10 to give it more of a golden hour look, take down the brightness a bit and change the color temp to warm it up.

#3 - I like the depth and the surrounding environment

#6

Put me down for #6


Wacky roger
Founding Member Of OOOPs

I like to see a very clean shot for a cover. #6 or #10.