Beautiful results!

Perfect for this contest, RIGHT ON TARGET

Beautiful !! Having in mind that is night time, shadow that girl is casting is too strong IMO

Thank you all for your nice comments. The remark on the shadow could be right, although knowing how bright a night is with a full moon shining on snow covered land I'm not sure.

PS: sorry, wanted to give you the gold thumps up and clicked the wrong color. So please accept two more points from my heart.

I definitely agree about the strength of the shadow, but then again with surreal lighting, surreal shadows are to be expected :P

Really nice fantasy scene

You should remove the shadow with clone or simply soften it. Very nicely done.

thank you all. Had to replace Santa as he was an illustration which is not allowed to use. So now there are doves that come with Photoshop. Also changed the title as "I saw Santa Claus" now does not fit anymore. Also worked on the shadows as you recommended. Hope the mods now approve and you still like it.

Appologies to the mods for using an illustration, I was not aware of that rule. Surely enough I could not find a PHOTO of Santa.

You Mods do a great job here and I truly thank you for that.

oh wow! This is sooo beautiful! Nice work

I like this idea very much. I liked the sleigh w/Santa so I searched on flickr and found this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/borrowed/2071281749/sizes/l/ Should be easy to mask the shape, a little clean up and it should work and you'll keep your original idea! Couldn't hurt to try.

The rule regarding use of illustration has been changed slightly. See http://www.pxleyes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=2956&p=39727#p39727 for details.

Like the creation. A bit of shadow angle and blur. Like the idea and choice of source.

The doves just don't work as a substitute, since doves don't fly at night...Maybe some bats or owls or a jet in the sky...

right, thank you spaceranger! I used the image of mammadepants and now the image is back to the original idea and title. Sorry for all this back and forth, but my idea at first I liked best and so I'm very happy to be able to show it to you again the way I did at first.

The shadow is about 10 degrees off from the light source...just draw a line and see. Not bad otherwise.

i love this picture. however acording to the rules ""Basic rules: -You cannot use complete night skies -"" this is the perfect image for a Christmas card. i love this

thank you, CMYK46. You are right, I am aware that the shadows are a bit off, since the sun was not in the same place as the moon. Tried to move it but didn't like the outcome. I wanted to express a dreamy Christmas feeling and I hope the 10 degrees off shadow do not hurt that.

@ Dragonside: Thank you! But I did not use "complete night sky", did I? I integrated the clouds as part of the night sky and placed a shining full moon there, see it?

yeah im agree with Dragoncide , You cannot use complete night sky , cuz u placed the night sky on the original sky ,IMO , but this good entry , Good luck

text is unnecessary!!! you have a box called TITLE!!!

Thanks everyone! I updated the entry using screen mode on the sky and I also put another step in the sbs with a print screen on it. I hope this helps now. The sky is now slightly brighter, which actually I like better. The entry follows completely the rules as far as I can judge that.

@ ShiZa: why are you yelling at me? The title of the image is: I saw Santa Claus, I do not want to change that. Read the description: "I turned an image taken on a sunny afternoon into a Christmas Greeting Card." So the text is just fine where it is. O.k.?

Author nice job imo and you should send this to friends and family next Christmas
They will love it and the fact you made it for them.

The theme states "-You cannot use complete night skies -You can use moons, stars and clouds cut from night shots - some of what you use can be shot at night but only minimally -" This entry fits this description, only parts allowed are used.
@ShiZa, normally I don't like text on entries either however this is a greeting card and I agree with cabldawg71, it's a very nice one!

Very very good job author...I love how u created dark here...and the great thing about your entry is your bright night feel...Its hard thing to achieve great result like u did...best of luck

Nice job Would be nice Christmas card

Great work and wonderful Christmas card ... IMO spaceranger is right ... image complies with the guidelines. I like the shadows as well ... the whole image has a great night mood!

Interesting, but too dark. It looks like he is wearing giant weird shoes, because it's so dark you cant see the boat... :s

Sky light (ambient lighting) illuminates everything, not just your subject...

oh well, I can see the boat,...maybe it is just your monitor that is not in cooperative mood with your eyes hehehe....and the water, the sky, the boat and the figur are all the subject to me.....

I've got a calibrated Eizo monitor and I too had to look twice to see the boat in the small version. In the full res I can see it well though. Folks, full res are here to be looked at!

Really nice work, like the light, the fact that it's mainly on the subject adds to the eerie look. Unfortunately the boat is too blurred and does not meet the focus of the rest of the image . Maybe due to enlargement, the source seems rather small. Might have been worthwile to look for a better fitting source. Have look at this: http://www.sxc.hu/browse.phtml?f=download&id=1216047 Just in case you want to give it a try.
Good luck!

I have to agree with Derivatix about the boat ...it does seem a bit blurry compared to the rest of the image but all that aside great work. Love the way the light catches on the edge of the sword! Overall a fine image (lighting works for me ... in hi res with a calibrated monitor)

Very nice composition author...Its better now with the fix but it was great work before too...best of luck

Well I can see the boat on my super deluxe pooper scooper monitor I bought on sale from the little old lady that lives down the road who mashes cherries into a paste to rub on her cheeks to make herself feel pretty... shish kabibbles.. when did the world get so Uptight? It's a really smart and nice image author.. good luck

nice effects .......

Nicely done, love the monochromatic look to this, it gives the image a kind of eerie feel. My small monitor is nothing special and I can see the boat just fine.

very cool work author...she looks wicked...best of luck

I would've liked to see the whole arm and orb in focus, other than that really nice. Good luck!

Thanks for the advice Chalty..i removed the blur to leave the orb and arm in focus..hope its better.

Yes! I think that looks much better, I like the details of the orb. Good luck!

Nice job, the only thing I would suggest would be to desaturate the house a little more. The yellow is still quite vivid, and it wouldnt be this bright in low light.

Interesting work author...gl

What happened to the lights in step 6? I kinda preferred them, but maybe you had a reason for changing them. Good luck!

good work

thanks

I'm sorry that my comment come too late, but the side of the house standing opposite of the moon should be much darker...

Very nice feel author...u used good techniques to create illusion of the dark,and u made it...best of luck

No sky at night is as "bright" as that". The shadows are too though.

Very good work author...U achieved transformation from day to night in best way...maybe is shadow under the child a bit confusing but that's a big + from me cause that is the game of shadows in the forest by night...best of luck

The mood is set nicely here. Although it's always tricky to do such night shots with everyone's monitors set differently. On my monitor it's kind of dark...but when I brighten the monitor's luminence...it's perfect.

To all: make sure you're brightness is set well for this contest. Originally I thought this image was too dark, but then realized my monitor is a bit dark. Nice job, author!