moving the boat more into the image (over the sand bar and closer to the viewer might help).. the boats wake is hitting the horizon in the Hi Res, a bit of a problem.. but Only IMHO good luck and cool image

I think there are a few problems with lighting and implicitly with the shadows.. see the big rock formation in the lower left corner of the image ? well at the top of this formation there is a shadow that clearly puts your light source somewhere center-right over your image's top margin thus contradicting your choice in moving that cloud formation whose well lit margins indicate that they are concealing another light source of an opposite orientation ( look at the rock on the beach in the source image ). Also taking this into consideration there might be some things to ponder as to who's shadowing who regarding the close vicinity of the castle and ( or on itself ) the rock formation close-by. That's just my two cents regarding tweaking to perfection.. other then that it is a good composition and it had a nice feel to it.

Congrats!!

Woman needs a reflection. Otherwise nicely done.

hard to see it, but it is there. i used the same blending mode and opacity as i used for the house, i will play with it and "turn it up" some to see if that works.

Congrats!!

congrats

Congrats!!

looks like a colorful dew drop

wonderful

great, one of my fav, great focus, great lights, awesome!

This is really beautiful! Love the contrast here.

Sharp..

Thanks for the wonderful comments!

Does it taste of lemon?...

lol! yes. it is a tall grass that is used as an herb. i use it in bread, on fish or chicken and in marinades. i was surprised the bubble did not pop, the grass is kind of harsh.

Cool shot. Nice exposure and colors. The bubble is a little too centered. Might crop just a bit off the right and the bottom

Thanks for the comment, i thought about the crop, but i like the repetitive x pattern in the blades and i believe the larger bit of negative space to the upper right helps balance things. the bubble sits a bit low and left, not really centered. I think it works with this image.

wow i love this 1

Thanks Tuckinator!

you must have put a lot of time into this. great job.

Pretty nice work, but the leftt side dark and big boulder doesn't fit into the perspective here very well. There is also a slight problem with the scale of the people when compared to each other. Walking kids and the one fishing could use a slight shadow, you can use the rock shadows as a guide, where the light comes from. To make it even more realistic, you could cast some shadows from the big bushes and trees on the left side of the river bank. (There is also a minor masking error on the left side of the cycling path.

i got rid of the bad boulder. put some shading and shadow on the kids and the fishing kid and fixed the masking boo-boo. but i gotta go to sleep now. i will try to address the rest tomorrow, if work and school permit before the deadline. Widiar, i do appreciate your comments, i really do. but i was so deflated (it is ok, i recover fast and you are right about what you say) in hearing them. I think when i work so long on these things i quit seeing them till you are good enough to point them out. then it is like a sore thumb... sticking right out - blaring at me! but, i do want to thank you for taking your time and giving it a good look over.

Already a lot better with the out of perspective rock removed. You could have blended it in with perspective tool and shadows perhaps, but takes a lot of skill and times, so obviously better choice if you're busy on your life (aren't we all). I'm glad you appreciate my comments and suggestions. And I know how you feel.I think we all sometimes (even best of us) make a picture for hours, then send it with full excitement, how good we did.. waiting some praise and then someone comes and tells how obvious flaws we missed.It is always a good thing to give the image "a rest" and take a new look with fresh eyes and mind.

But it's the whole point of this site I think.. to learn, give and take tips and improve our skills. Would be utterly boring to see 100 perfect chops every night with nothing to say but 'Awesome work dude!111' ..

Widiar, you are so right!!! I have been learning photoshop since january this year, each time i enter, i learn something (some lessons are harder than others!!!) one thing i have learned is that i love it! and another is that no matter how hard the critique is to take - no comments at all is much harder to take!

In high resolution u have big light source issue author...people in the water are in the total sun,and in your image there is no sun anywhere...also u could blend boy on the rocks a bit more,to change his color.Change mode to CMYK and play a bit with curves...i would ton a down magenta for sure.People are to big for the rest of the image,and they need some shadows...Sorry for the nit picks but idea is very nice and this could be good entry...good luck

There is sun where they are, the coloration of the water is the depth (in real life - look at the original in the sbs, note the trees close right no shade in the water, if you look over at the trailer on the far left the sun is directly overhead and the shadow is directly under it.) although even if you were to assume it were the trees the girl is to this side in full sun. i will work on the boy, thanks for the tip. i used some shading as widiar suggested on the kids and the fishing kid. as for the sizes i used the rocks on the beach right by the swimmers to get the size right, and the same for the others. i then used vanishing points to verify them with the distant ones. i also used the items in the original (to the far left) to verify so i have to gently disagree with you on size.

please dont apologize for the nit-picks, it is good that you took your time and looked so thoroughly at this piece. i truly thank you for your comments (and your comments are why i now take the time and such extreme measures to actually measure the people and the perspective now.) my next attempt i will add the steps taken to measure out things to my sbs,

Interesting image. But background image (river, running course) is cloudy, and fishing boy too. Given source and kids in the water are lit by sun.

hey erikuri! thanks for your comments. (btw... loved your "screwdriver"!!!!}

Congrats for your third place!

Congrats! for your 3rd place.

Congrats!!!