pursang, Ana, thanks for your comments.

This is my self portrait for the "Old" theme.

I have deliberately copied Subjectiv's techniques (poorly--but using my own texture layers) such has he used in his featured image #89.

Ana correctly points out that this is a redo of my #79, which I intended to post as something that didn't look like one of my photos, and quite successfully.

However, I've always liked this photo (minus the old man) and haven't known what to do with it. It needs more work and I hope that I'll get some tips here, but I think I will be able make it what I want it to be.

I almost added was this your 'OLD' self portrait.

Tracy, thanks for your comment and I tend to agree with you. I'm ambivalent about the old man myself, and I don't think the addition is very successful. However, it does add something to the shot that Ana picked up on.

I put myself in there as a self-portrait as a joke. I'll redo this image for my website, without the man, I think.

Some people may think that I am doing stupid things with photographs that may hurt the chance of my images' being featured. But I *know* what I'm doing.

I'm here to experiment and to learn and to have fun and I am certainly doing all those things.

King, the last several weeks I have mostly been just rating images without posting in order to hone my eye for what I like and dislike. This has made me quite critical of my own work, so I understand *what* you are doing - being featured isn't the best way to improve ones skills. That said, I kind of agree with Ana, in the sense that the man adds a emotional connection to the image but it just seems off to me somehow. It could be the perspective or the lack of strong shadows under him, I can't quite put my finger on it so that is why I feel it doesn't improve the overall image.

Tracy,

It's never good to rush a job. I worked on this image after work last night, an I'm an early-to-bed kind of guy. Circumstances conspired to keep me from having the time I needed, so...

I don't have any memory or reference for how big/small the guy should be in relation to the tree--I think he's a bit too big. I added a shadow under and behind the guy, but it isn't done well enough.

I photographed myself in profile, but now I think it would look better if the guy was slightly behind the tree and the camera was looking just a bit over his shoulder, so if I leave the guy in the photo, I will reshoot myself--I imagine that just the sound of that will please some folks.

Thanks again for your comments.

Very interesting. I haven't been participating much this week - just rating and commenting on the odd shot here and there, so #79 slipped under the radar.

That said, I definitely prefer the treatment you've given this one, although the man does come across as a bit cartoonish.

Thanks, folks,

Thanks to Subjectiv, who generously revealed all, and the skills of others, I have learned a bit about making an image look old and I finally have found a way to present an image I've never shown to anyone before because it was technically inferior (of course, the original remains inferior).

Ratings for the first version (#79):

* Relevance: 3.28
* Impact: 3.06
* Composition: 3.35
* Technique: 2.53
* Quality: 2.53
* Overall: 2.95

Ratings for this version (although the photographer was known to some, I trust that none of those folks dissembled in rating this revision):

* Relevance: 4.13
* Impact: 3.40
* Composition: 3.47
* Technique: 3.40
* Quality: 3.07
* Overall: 3.494

As discussed above, the selection, placement and treatment of the "old man" could be done much better or simply left out of the image.

Thanks to everyone who helped me learn from this. It is not only much appreciated, but also lots of fun. Some of you may know that I post my WeeklyShot images on my website, along with other images that may have fit the theme, but which I chose not to post. I'll post another version of this image on my website when I finish it, and will let you know if you are interested in how I apply your generous and unselfish suggestions and comments to the final version.

Thank you, for what you have written to me. I value that very much. It is nothing personal, that disturbs me on WS, but I think it just is not the same as it was, when I - or others as well - started to post on WS. So at the moment I simply can very well live without WS. Of course, when you come to visit Chriz and family I would be glad to meet you. Best regards, Rahim.