Pleas add the links for Santa, the presents and the harness used on the goats to your description.

OOPS!!

Santa's body and harnesses - Gellinger
https://pixabay.com/p-1070829/?no_redirect
Presents - Queen Bee
https://www.flickr.com/photos/queenbeebh/8179594890

Thank you

Nice work but there is just a small problem of shading on the house: it is illuminated by the right while the sun is behind it.

Congrats, very well done

Congrats BW

Congratz with being second!!

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!

nice idea == you need to remove part pf the wood frame from the top -- should not be there

I agree with Alan; how about cloning or copying and pasting part of the frame on the part to be hidden?

The lighting on the reindeer looks weird, it doesn't match the source image. Also the fur on the hat has too much of a red cast, while the reindeer has a yellow cast, neither of which go well with the fully desaturated source. The apple just looks out of place with all the grime and cobwebs. It's too clean and fresh looking. The reindeer would have eaten it...

Nice job with the deer, but Elvis looks like a dwarf!

Very much ontopic and good source find. I like the composition too, though perhaps the sled is going a bit too much backward (I do understand the comic-kinda idea behind it, no reason to change it). But also some critic, the elvis suit looks a bit distorted and it's like he's missing his underlegs. Perhaps you wanted him to sit or something, but someone like him has to shine! So using the suit source as it is (Elvis standing) woud fit here perfectly. Another thing are the reindeers. Sure they look good, but the backpaws do need some fixing. If you can find an image of a running deer or tweak the paws you made already, it would certainly improve the whole image. Overall, welldone but with a few adjustments it can rock! Good luck!

It's quite funny and cool!
But, as Waz said, Elvis deserves a prominence in the image. And deers faces are a bit distorted.

A very nice idea!

Oops! Elvis got a little distorted during the last transformation. Thanks everyone for the comments, I've made adjustments.

HAHA!! Brilliant! And excellently done...

elvis rocks on the sky

Wait...did elvis eat two of the reindeer? Two are missing! Glad you had fun with it.

His head looks kinda big but nice overall image.

Fantastic work author...One of the best in the contest for sure...well done

Great idea. Good Luck