It’s a process pretty much done every day, often multiple times, at the Sun Gazette – choosing which sports photos will be used with a story in the newspaper or posted on Websites.
If available, the obvious choice is to use the best photo, whether that is a clear action shot, or one that tells the story, like a team photo. Sometimes the process is very easy. Sometimes not, especially if the photos are not very good, not in focus, or don’t much add to the story.
Photoshop can work wonders to vastly improve any poor-quality pictures.
Sometimes there is no choice to make, as only one photo is available.
The selection process is most challenging if there are many standout action shots, like each time Sun Gazette photographer Deb Kolt takes pictures of any game or sporting event. That actually is the hardest part. For every one or two standout photos used of Kolt’s work, there are many, many more not used.
Often writing whatever sports story is much more straight forward than selecting a photo to go with that article.
– Dave Facinoli
dfacinoli@sungazette.net