One year later - "Why is daddy still gone?"
by timfythetoo

Comment by chalice:
Trading Post

I like the composition and colors. Certainly meets the challenge too. I read your comments...your son and wife are gems to participate this way. I would have scored this a 7 or 8. A simple, yet effective photo. Plenty of emotional impact (although I did not get the watch). Well done.

4th of July can't come fast enough ($350)
by timfythetoo

Comment by chalice:
I'm afraid this one doesn't do too much for me. While it is appropriate for the idea of "indulgence" all of the packages are just too busy for my taste. Colors are good. Focus is fine. Not much more I can say. I would have scored it a 5 had I been in town.

Morning sun and shadows.
by timfythetoo

Comment by chalice:
This shot is superb. While I suspect some did not think the shadows were the focal point, and I guess they are right, I love the interplay of light and shadow and would have scored this an 8 had I not been on a trip and been unable to get online. The colors are terrific too. This would have worked exceptionally well in the green challenge as well.

I like the lighting (duh) and I also like the placement of the walk. While I might ordinarily use the rule of thirds to shift it to one side, in this instance I like your decision to put it down the middle. It's leading lines take my eye right into the shafts of light. I also like the tonal quality of the greens. You have a good range of green, from light leaves to detailed shadows. Well done, I'd say.

Maybe it is easy being green.
by timfythetoo

Comment by chalice:
As soon as I saw this topic I thought to myself, the Kermit pictures will be all over this one. I was out of town I didn't vote, so I don't know if there were others. It meets the challenge, but kermit (like yellow ducks and woodies) is pretty predictable. That said, the idea is pretty clever and you have executed it well. The technical aspect is fine. I would have scored this a 5 or 6. I suspect Kermit's star power helped with the ratings because 28 scores at 9 or 10 seems high to me based purely on photographic merits (IMHO).

Since my own scores are pretty mediocre, maybe I'll incorporate Kermit, duckie and woodie in my next picture to see if it makes a difference. ;-)

Grandpa & Grandson
by timfythetoo

Comment by Judi:
A wonderful bond between the two generations.

No Skateboarding Allowed
by timfythetoo

Comment by locutus:
When I look at this shot, I can hear the skateboard as it clatters back to the ground. Very evocative.

Some of the background is a little distracting, though. Maybe it would have worked better if the stop-sign had been cropped out, for instance. I can see what you're trying to do with the stop-sign - with its touch-colour red and the title of the photo - but it isn't really adding to the scene for me. Maybe if the sign was in focus and more closely juxtaposed with the subject...

I'd have tried losing the stop-sign and some of the foreground pavement, but leaving the median-strip and parked cars as background, to impart the sense of "urban street scape".

But for all that, still very evocative.

Glass Towers
by timfythetoo

Comment by Melethia:
Nice lines and blues - like the red lines on the one part of the tower too. Don't like the pesky car in the triangle, but what are you gonna do?

Enjoying my ultimate success.
by timfythetoo

Comment by wavelength:
I think that the idea here was good, but the execution was lacking. I think it does show success in a certain way. I also think that many really don't understand success in a healthy manner, which leads them not to understand how this fits the challenge.

The execution part: Portraits of any kind, even far away and under trees, are better with directional lighting than with full daylight. The light is so incredibly even on you, that it almost seems you could be pasted in. I'm thinking you may have meant for the shaft of light to highlight your son, but the light then became too harsh. Also, this shot setup I think works better with much negative space instead of busy space that you see here. Maybe you two sitting on a hillside with mostly blue sky above you. Maybe that or this in provia black and white.

I also get in those moods where I just want to take a picture for me and ignore all the artsy crud, but I and you should probably resist entering these photo's, and just enjoy them on our walls. (I also do stupid too-literal stuff like my bokeh entry)

Glass Towers
by timfythetoo

Comment by Azrifel:
Cool angle and nice composition. The reflection tells a lot about the surroundings = good.

Relaxing in the mist
by timfythetoo

Comment by Melethia:
Now this is sweet! I love the colors. Nice of your zoo to provide a background that lets the tiger take center stage. Nice focus. Kitty looks so relaxed you could almost walk up and pet him. Though I would not suggest that...