Thanks for your comments. I took this color slide image in the Massachusetts countryside around 1971. The camera was hand-held with a telephone, and the original is soft. I like the photo, but I've never used it for anything, so decided to experiment on W.S. The original slide actually has something growing on it!

The first goal of the experiment is to post a photo that is not immediately identified as one of mine. Did I succeed? I especially want mooch and psychodudu to be unaware of who took this photo, just for fun, as they seem to enjoy pointing out which are my images and I want to spoil their party. :>)

The second goal was to distract the viewer from the fact that the image is not sharp anywhere, so this image is extremely manipulated just as part of the process of experimentation. I just kept trying different things and didn't keep a record--which is also not like me.

The third goal was to make the image look older. I don't have any experience with this, don't have any Photoshop actions for that would do it for me, and didn't want to waste any time creating layers that could make the image look weathered and worn. Instead, I just fiddled some more, degrading the image in a variety of ways. Does the image look like an old print with stains and some faint scratches?

I think that this image is too rich and saturated to look as if it had faded with time. That may have been a better choice.

Thanks again,

King

Did I say "hand held with a telephone...?" LOL I meant "hand held with a telephoto....

There weren't any camera phones in 1971.

I'd say you succeeded in all points... although goal two is also part of goal three...

The picture reminds of the time when I marched with the clans at Cullodden ...

ups! sorry. I just logged on. Don't know why my line from yesterday suddenly popped up again.

smkl...something compells me to ask about the time you marched with the clans at Cullodden. My last name is Douglas and I've visited Scotland.

Please tell me more!

eduardo...thank you! mooch and psychodudu will surely be fooled. I even fooled you into thinking that the composition is not good.

King, Didn't guess this was yours!

I might have desaturated it a bit more, going for the older look. Also, I like the scratches and dirt you've added, but the other texture (something like clouds?) seems a bit soft for the proper effect.

I'm feeling this warm glow of anonymity mixed with inadequacy and low self-esteem. Cool.

With 13 ratings, better than I thought this image would get. If these are my final scores, I will have posted 9 photos with a lower overall score than this. My photography must be improving.

* Relevance: 3.20
* Impact: 3.00
* Composition: 3.29
* Technique: 2.43
* Quality: 2.43
* Overall: 2.87

King, sorry, nothing much to tell. Just a silly association (made sillier by being posted twice by the silly system). Your image simply reminded me of Scotland, and -- blam! -- the line about the clans (from Stevenson's Kidnapped?) came up in my head and wouldn't go away.

Folks,

I have succeeded beyond my wildest expectations. I don't exist. I had forgotten how to be anonymous on WeeklyShot and now I've rediscovered the trick.

Question is, if my usual tormentors are not going to click on this image (one hopes because they can't imagine it was posted by King), then what's the point?

On the other hand, I'm learning lots of tricks on how to make a photo look old (e.g., from Subjectiv), so my time is being well-spent, although I'm don't have the opporunity to chat with as many fine people as I would if I had posted something with higher photographic values, something controversial (easy) or something more King-like (harder).

In fact, I'm going to take some of the things I've learned this week and reprocess this photo...I think it will look very good.

I had cropped out a gray sky from the original image. If I "age" the photo, it may be beneficial to put the sky back in because it will have a texture the original lacks.

Let's see it!

King you are so funny... the lack of dialogue from any of your nemesis' has made you just talk to yourself. :-)))

Oh, I found you, but I didn't know it was you....

(And still this image has far more comments than some people will ever receive, even on their best images.)

@SeekingFocus...you are implying that this is not one of my best images?

@mtmartini...Thanks!

I have this mental condition akin to Asperger's syndrome (although I don't have Asperger's syndrome). I'm rarely bored, I'm content with my own company (except that I adore my wife) and I, too, think I'm funny. It is easy for me to amuse myself, even without an audience.

King,

I wasn't, though I believe you have no pretensions about the overall success here. I'm just saying that you have the ability to garner a bit of a commotion (albeit a quiet one) even with your experiment in anonymity. Conversely, others here who try hard to evoke any response at all fail to do so much of the time!

I'll wait for the updated version to make my final judgments. =)

@Jason...you *must* know that I'm pulling your leg. This is a mediocre image posted for the reasons described above.

I wonder why more photographers don't simply talk to themselves, as I do, to get their comment counts up?

I had already planned another self-portrait for this theme, but it was going to be a bear to accomplish...calling for a complex setup and some acrobatics on my part. Simply modifying this image and resubmitting it has a lot of appeal. I have one photo left to run upthat flag pole. That may as well be it.

Funny...I have lots of images in my archives of old places (e.g., Rome), but I just don't have any interest in digging them out. I think it is because WeeklyShot participation has been so low these past two weeks--uninspiring.

The more comments the more conspicuous the image becomes, so I am sure that it wont be too long before Mooch and Andrew show up with their 2 cents.

I too am rarely bored but instead of talking to myself I just talk to my animals, and not quietly either - the neighbors think I am quacked. ;-)

Quack!

Oh, did you say something?

I must be hearing things.