Try to remove the white outlines. (Select/modify/contract/clear) You distorted the kid's head when you warped him into the new posture.

this is so cool!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A few masking fixes on the bottom cutouts and this is top notch. Good luck!

EDIT: Looks Good!

Nice Job well done

Chalty, after a good night's sleep, I see the MESS that foreground crowd was. Ugh! Sorry to inflict the pain on your eyes, all you early viewers, LOL! I did a complete re-do of the foreground crowd, starting with fresh originals rather than trying to repair the "template" crowd, which had already been made smaller once or twice. (Rule I ignored: You can make an element smaller, but you can't resize it bigger again afterwards without pixelation and lost definition... unless it's a smart object, which, of course, this wasn't.) Whew! Thank you, all!

Lovely, stunning work beautifully realized! A definite fav for me!!! Your lighting is exceptional!

Thank you, arca!

This is great, concept to finish! Love the color choices, gives a softness to the image!

very very niceeee!!!

Simply perfect! A show!

Fantastic job. Very creative.

Great work!

wow

Fabulous!!!!

YIPPEE!

Great entry....GL!!

wow great imagination!awesome

donot know what changes as this is my first view -- great work on building the figuire and ropes -- both foreground and background are very well done give noce depth to the overall image -- only one thing is the bulbs seem a bit flat -- glow is there but the bulbs need a touch of something to add some extra dimension

very nice !!!!!!!

Very nice work.

great work and use of DOF.... well done

brilliant job

Excelent creative entry, GL!

Awesome piece of work author...Very well done

Congratulations!

Congrats Elemare, wonderful work

Good One!

Congratulation on your 1st place!

Amazing!!, great work with lights and DOF!!

Congrats!!

Thank you, everyone!!

great image. Congrats

Congrats on first place Win

Terrific!! good luck

The contest description seems to imply that literal, not figurative, meanings are to be visualized, but since there's no explicit limitation, this figurative representation is technically on theme but maybe not as interesting. What is the light source for the bright spot on the boy?

The overall feel of this is great. There are a couple of problems with masking though. The palm trees would probobly have a sharper line when it meets the sand. Also the wave seems to just fade into the woods. I would try to skew that end so it matches the horizon of the sand. Nice reflection from the palm tree though. Good luck!

i like itttttttttttttttttttttttt,good luck

ok changed the light on the boys chest, and the palmtrees, and erased a bit of the wave in the trees, couldnt let it fade away on the beach end, cause the beach is rounded and then the wave got smaller

good luck

Very beautiful work on this author.. I love an image that is so light and airy (and yet it was a TON of work... good LUCK)

ye very good, i really like and u did a good job, petty this balloons smelt like corel... but nothing to do with your work that is very nice good luck

the right ones a little blurry

I think it's allright... dof i guess... But i suggest you blur some of the birds near your right balloon, only some not all... And I know this is out of context, but my playlist is playing "Mamma Pappa Barn" right now... I don't understand that song, but for some reason it cracks me up...

Very detailed, nice work!