Selling print question "sharpness" issue

[jimf]

I am currently getting ready to print and sell a few photo's in the $50- $200 range for photorag prints w/ conservation mat.  I was filming the wave action against a pier & light house on a dark & wild windy day.

The wind was so strong, I quit filming after just a few minutes and decided to take photo's. My first shots were taken in haste without checking the settings on my 7D, so my first shots are jpegs, not raw.

I am getting ready to print and sell about  6-8 of the photo's taken over 2 days. 

I have chosen 4-5 photo's to print and I'm happy with them.  However, they are not my favorite shots from a standpoint of showing the enormity of the storm.   Of the 1,000 photo's I took, there were a handful taken where I caught the biggest wave/spray of the 2 days and had the good fortune of the sun breaking through  the dark menacing clouds.  Those were my first 50-80 shots of my 1000.

I have 3 sequences that I'm in love with.  ALL IN JPEG.  Some of the few I got with the sun out.  The 3 biggest waves/spray of the 2 days.  The smallest of these 3 wave sequences has only 5-6 pics and is in good focus.  I like the prints.  However,  there are a couple of "better & bigger" showstoppers in the other 2 sequences.  Biggest and best has the worst focus.  Next one a little better, but still not great.
Focus on the lighthouse is ok , but it really doesn't matter as it's engulfed in the spray from the wave and I'm on the shadow side for these shots.  My issues are with the metal walkway framing and hanging lights that are not in focus. Every other sequence I took for 2 days, the friggin walkway and lights are sharp.  Just not on these 2 sequences. 

When showing matted prints to my family &  friends (none who sell photographs), they say don't worry about it.  Print em.

Do I only print the "best " focused and composed shots, or can I include a couple of the wildest ones, that are not my best.  Color and exposure are fine, it's just the sharpness issue.

Help Help Help.... & thanks in advance. 

[bobtowery]

Perhaps the "less than sharp" areas are your artistic touch? If your customers don't have both, they won't see the difference, and furthermore if they like and want the image, that's really the only validation you need.  That aside, I dunno why anyone with a nice camera like a 7D would ever be in JPEG. If you use Lightroom, there is no extra workflow for RAW.  Card space/disk space, so cheap now I can't see an argument there.

Glad you have some paying customers!

[Lonnie Utah]

That aside, I dunno why anyone with a nice camera like a 7D would ever be in JPEG.

FPS and buffering for action shots?? Just a guess...

[jimf]

Trust me, jpegs weren't intentional.  Didn't check the settings.  I was shooting with 5D mkii and 7D that day. Usually both camera's are set to raw.  As I said in orig post, I switched from shooting with the 7D in film/video mode to stills without checking settings.  The weather was wild and I let the excitement of the moment over ride good judgement.   Occasionally the 7D is used for high speed sports, so that's probably were it was left.

After way too many hours, I finally found a solution that partially fixes one of the issues I don't like. 

I'm starting to lean towards using a couple of the images.  I can get away with an 24x18 frame with13x19 print.  I'm going to try larger soon, so maybe it will work.

thanks