Magnifique!, great source choices and very well executed.... and I always love your hair
Well done and very best of luck, high hopes for this one

It looks good, and you made a pretty cool SBS, but one thing I don't agree with is the color of her hair & dress that gets lost in the colors of the sky. I understand that she's a force of nature and therefore there's a reason for the blending, but somehow she should step out more - at least a darker hair and dress .
Happy New Year!

Love the picture. My only issue that lightning wouldn't cast a shadow on the ground.

NOTE: IMAGE HAS BEEN EDITED AS PER SUGGESTIONS ABOVE
@Gino, thank you so much for the lovely comment and fav!
@ pingenvy - I searched for a long time to find out if lightning cast a shadow and could not find an answer. All I know is: Lightning is Plasma (neither a Gas or a Solid) and does have Mass. So I thought that perhaps it would cast a shadow. I prefer the picture without and your comment encouraged me to remove it. Thanks!

@greymval - I darkened her dress and hair and changed the sky's colour a bit. I am out of time to do more but think this helps. Thanks for the suggestion.

Author I have to agree with Greymval on the hair color...Think any other color would made her stand out a little more....And the lightening issue IMO for this image is a bit out of place along the side of her arm and with that being said, I think causes the "issue" of shadow or no shadow...It's the color of the lightening, it just doesn't fit....Still get high marks from me for fantastic work!! Best of Luck

@Christy - Thank you for the feedback!

Nice chop! GL!

WOW!!!!! You did really awesome on this! Love the blending and colors... just makes me more jealous of ya'll that can work with PS!

Wow, the sweet little fairy's hair and plumage are on end

Very nice execution.....Well done .....G/L Author.

Congratulations!

Congrats on your 2nd place!

Congrats!

Thanks to everyone! Hugs!

congrats ... nice imagination....

Congrats on the second place..

Congrats!!

Congratulations for 2nd place, stunning piece.

Motion effect should be on the entire object, (wings too) not just one part.. Interesting use of source.

Very interesting approach...maybe u could use some color adjustment layers to achieve more dramatic result...with colors like this i suggest dark blue overlay layer,dark brown color layer, maybe gold-ish color layer and at the end blue/gray soft light layer...Of course all layers must have adjusted opacity...just an idea author...best of luck ...

Beautiful...

I can't make out what is flying. It looks like either just a bird wing, or a dead bird. Now that I studied your SBS, I can barely make out the woman, but the wings are too large and overdominate the woman, making the image very hard to "read" without seeing the SBS...
Perhaps you could give her face and hair a bit more contrast.

Even if i don`t understand what`s happen in this pics it looks beautifull.....

EDIT DONE ... changed so much that the SBS is not very applicable to this image. Sorry about that, I did not have time to change it. It still shows that I did the work and gives details of my first image.

Author I have to be honest that it took me 5 minutes too to actually see what was flying there (and I watched the SBS a couple of times and wondered how you used the sources). Somehow you have a kind of visual illusion here, either you see it or you don't

Nevertheless I really like this entry, visually it is good, has some mystery in it and makes you want to look again. The motion could be a bit better, looks like she's photographed with a stroboscoop now, if there would be anything you want to improve I'd say have a look at that again

Okay ... tried some changes. I think it is better but I believe Rob is right. When you look at something a long time you have a vision of what it looks like but it only you can see it. Sometimes it is not a good vision LOL!

Please let me know if you think it is better???

think it is more recognisable now what is flying there

Hey Rob! Thanks! Just one question, is the motion blur better? I worked on that too!

To be honest If I were you I'd keep the original entry for my personal portfolio (I liked it better) but also think you made the right choice to change it for this contest. Think you have to search for a photo which has got motion blur on it and see how that looks like on a photo, it will give more a blur trail.

Much better! You can clearly make out the woman, and the motion looks more "moving," to fit the statement.
Great improvement!

I could be a "stop-motion" image, or a "slow-motion". Very beautiful, and it makes our imagination fly away...

oh, very nice one...

Fantastic entry author...i did not saw the previous version/versions but this one is powerful...well done

Thanks Nator. I was unsure about the changes so it is really great to get positive feedback now that they are done.

i should have seen this earlier..., beautiful job

Great. Love how you achieve a painterly effect.

I had a feeling about the author.... And I was right..,
Great Job again

love her wings

beautiful work author...... im very impressed with your background its stunning
Would look great on a book cover if you ask me

Simply superb!

fantastic .............

love the mood and shape, good luck!

wooooooooowwwww...explicit art...very well done ..gud luck

CGR.!!!!

Gongrats

congrats acra, beautiful as always

congrats..lovely work

Congratulations for end place - very nice

congrats!!

Congrats!!

Congrats!!

This is such a beautiful image and makes me feel like I am up there with that bird. Bird could maybe use some motion blur so that it doesn't seem to be motionless. Your SBS is SOOOO outstanding. Would like to know what program you were using. My Adobe 6 doesn't seem to have all the options you described. High score!! GL

very soothing image................

very sweet work, good luck!

Artgirl ...I am working in CS5. What options doesn't 6 have? I used to work in PS6 and may be able to suggest alternate ways to do the same thing ... PM me if you want

Re Wing Blur - I know what you mean. I did try that when I was first working on the picture but it never looked quite right. I could perhaps blur the wings a bit? I did have the teardrop hanging more straight down originally but thought that having it flowing backwards helped to give the sense of motion.

Once again.., beautiful job

Very nice Author I like this alot

Fabulous work author...animated part in SBS is nice touch,,,good luck

Simple but amazing! Very good job author, i love the perspective and the colors overall!

I imagine the bird carrying our dreams in that bubble... Very beautiful image, and the colors are so nice!...

I was SO looking for a coconut in the bubble. My first thought was, "Is it an African swallow or a European swallow".
Back to the point, its painterly and VERY nice!

animated sbs is very good

very pretty, I like attention to detail on your mountains

Pingenvy ... I am pretty sure it is a North American Wood Swallow but I changed the colour to match the image better...it was originally; a great iridescent blue on the back and lower part of the wings, white belly and brown/gray everywhere else ... tee hee, sneaky me! Oh and sorrry about the coconut ... I will consider it if I do a revised edition someday

Very nice image.

Congratulations!

Thank you all so much for your comments and support ... I am certainly loving my new home! Many hugs to all!

Congrats

congrats

Arca, wonderful work!!! congratulations!!!

Congrats!! Sweet image!