help me select a photo to enter in the state fair

[rtphokie]

http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/175232885-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/102809197-M-1.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/102809122-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/122382439-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/gallery/2338888/1/122382770/Large
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/136312640-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/103278458-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/156708707-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/188177154-M.jpg
http://rtphokie.smugmug.com/photos/114357426-M.jpg

[DVC Jen]

I like the tomatos

[Disneynut322]

Definitely the one of the Thunderbirds in the diamond formation! I love it!

[NostalgicDad]

Polar Bear!

[Geoff_M]

One guy's opinion, your results may vary...

I went with the tomatoes.

The Thunderbirds may be "cool", but they are also heavily photographed.
You want something that's somewhat "unique" instead of a "me too" image.

A couple of the images I throw out due to "dead-center-itis" (windows, ferry, red leaf). Basic photo comp no-no's. Think rule of thirds.

Kid in pool. If the subject were in focus, this would be my choice. But in-focus background is a distraction.

The Polar Bear is a nice shot with good composition... it just doesn't do anything for me. The same goes with the sun/plane tail photo. "What's it about? Why do I care?"

The tomatoes photo is visually interesting, has nice color and is nicely composed. The only tweak I'd make is to crop it tighter (keeping the "chevron" out of the image center) to get rid of the empty corner. The empty space keeps drawing my "focus" when I look at it.

I good place to study what people like is here: http://www.sportsshooter.com/contest/clip/index.html Look in the "Feature" category. You can use the controls at the lower right side of the screen to view previous month's winners. This contest is purely "peer judged" by the site's membership.

[Sha]

I really like that last one... seeing the light reflect on the clouds... can just make out a bit of a rainbow like area to the upper left quad.

actually liked the last 4... :goodvibes best of luck!!!

[jann1033]

i like the last one although it is a tad to dark in the foreground imo..i like the tomatoes as well
but just as an aside...we went to our local fair yesterday and i was shocked at the photos that won...in every case i saw some that imo were much better and didn't even place( ie the b&w that won first was a butterfly on a leaf.it was in focus but has no contrast what so ever,was all a mid range gray, the butterfly was dead center, the background uninteresting, while a really nice group of 3 palm fronds with great contrast and sharpness didn't even place) since i've never entered i don't know anything about the background of the contest but, obviously, i am not a good judge of what the judges like in that one:)

[KarenAylwood]

I voted for tomatoes. It's a great shot- and sort of fair-ish. I had a scratchboard piece of baby ducks win at a fair one year. I think it was partly because it tied in with the fair (baby animals).

Just curious... where is the historic windows pic taken? It looks like Colonial Williamsburg.

[miss missy]

Great job!!! I picked Polar Bear!