the bird is really nicely made but i dont think it fits well with the background . the background is way sharper, where the bird comes across very bright and really cut out. You can see corners all arround the head of the bird in high res. Also it seems theres an white kinda outline on the head and wing. on the birds back is a darker outline, the shadow you placed is not only on top of the flower but also casted on the leaf behind/slightly above the flower and everywhere inbetween those. The birds position doesnt seem right to be able to put its beak into the flower. try turn it.

The bird just looks like a CBR that could have been made from any source image. There's nothing to really distinguish it as being the contest source, and it's not very well made to go with the background. It's just a lumpy hummingbird.

Eladine-thank you for your constructive critisism...greatly appreciated. I knew when I did this that it wasn't by any means perfect but I truly enjoyed creating it. It's all a learning process and I enjoy that as well.
MossyB-YIKES! Wish I was a pro but certainly a novice and am trying to learn from all the excellent and talented people here. Sometimes MossyB, the fun of trying something I haven't done before is worth the critisism. lol.

Author, if you take the humming bird on a separate layer, and duplicate it, then blend the top layer with OVERLAY or MULTIPLY, it's definition might come out better and get a bit more detail (you can also play with HIGHPASS or HDR on the top layer and contrast and brightness will help it pop more) the construction is quite nice, very pretty picture for a very difficult source

Good Luck

thanks Drivenslush...unfortunately I don't have photoshop and am using Microsoft Digital Image Pro10 so I don't have all the bells and whistles I wish I had. lol. I have been editing it and will put up the new one....not sure it is any better though.

ooh i never heard of that program so I cant rly even help you there with the tools to use n how and what o.o; kinda cool there's still programs out there that i never heard of that are decent enough to photoshop with

Would love feedback as if it is looking better than the unedited version. lol.

I think your hummingbird looks pretty good, Maybe make the eye a little more defined.

Author, I hear that Gimp(free program) has a lot of features similar to Photoshop and that, for a free program, it is very well liked.

I persinally would have turned the bird n not the flower