I like the concept, elements, limited palette, and Instagram-ish look. The ocean horizon doesn't match the vanishing point of the checkerboard floor, however. What is causing the the blue on the top of Alice's head? Compositionally, I think if she stood in the middle of the black tile there would roughly be a diagonal line from the hill peak to the arch top to her feet.

I admit I don't know all the rules for this contest, but it's naive to think that commercial photographs aren't Photoshopped. If the objective here is to create a photo that could be Photoshopped into a compelling ad, I think this passes the test.

Some cool stuff. The teddy bear is my favorite although the left side of its bow tie seems too skinny. The upper-right light source suggests a lot more lower-right shadows especially on the lamp and genie. I admit I don't get what the below-ground stuff is let alone how it relates to "make a wish."

I really like the compostion and the depth of field. It nevertheless seems kind of flat, but that may be because the green background is as saturated as the purple dress. White text in the open space might mute the green a bit.

I like the dramatic angle and all the empty space available for text. Unfortunately, the license plate is the dominant element with the grass coming in second so the car rates third. Some desaturating and maybe blurring might be in order to focus attention on the product. [I do question the "you can park in a field" message as a selling point, however.]

I like the contrast of the bright Uluru with the shadowed foreground.

Very cool with the colored buildings against the gray background. However, I think I would have straightened the pic relative to the background tower and then done some lens correction to see if the mast could be straightened as well. Then I would experiment with boosting the saturation for a bit more drama.

Black and white can be dramatic, but I wish there were a greater crispness.

Cool. I think I would crop out the feet (and thus the dark edge) in the upper right and the odd T-shaped thing in the lower left plus boost the contrast a bit for more drama.

Night shots are always compelling. The Rule-of-Thirds composition with clear foreground and background elements in a constrained color palette amplified by the reflections in the water while sandwiched between the black trees and sky is especially dramatic.

I like all the blue, but the unlevel horizon and the lower-right-corner thing are distracting.

The background hills and mountains are cool so I wish they stood out a tad more. More contrast on the boat's hull might make it stand out more as well.

I'm guessing you captured a Random Act of Culture http://www.knightarts.org/random-acts-of-culture . I like the muted/constrained range of colors with black as the focus plus all the perspective lines that draw one's attention to the (also black-clad) surprised traveler in the background, all magnified by the reflection. This is awesome serendipity.

I like the concept and the brightness of the green. The brown spots are disturbing, however, and I think cropping out the sky would match the title better. Greater contrast might add more impact.

Intirguing, but in the end I admit I don't really get it. But kudos for having an SBS (even if it's a bit incomplete).

Very fun and fantastical. Horizontally flipping the hummingbird and the jumping fish might match the lighting more. The fish below the dinosuar's tail is casting a shadow but the tail isn't. The dinosaur's feet should have a bit stronger shadow under them to ground them to the seabed so the dinosaur doesn't seem to be floating. The brightness of the fish under the dinosaur seems a little odd. The lighting of the lizard on the dinosaur's back seems a bit off as well.

Fun concept. Excellent cut-out of the foreground but in hi-res the red shawl and its owner's hand have some noticeable edge issues. And the odd edge of the white T-shirt that is from your source nevertheless contributes to a fake feel here IMO.

Intriguing concept. His reflection in the countertop is stronger than that of the vase, however. And his hand on the vase is disturbingly vampirish and weakly shadowed IMO.

Interesting concept. I wish you had an SBS as I'm too lazy to figure out what you've done otherwise. The text adds nothing IMO and the intense bluishness seems odd. With all the interesting elements positioned in the left side of the image, I would be tempted to crop out the right-hand third.

Very fun! Great use of the bows. The floor and wall discs are cool and nicely amplify the primary design element: the circle. I do wish she stood out a bit more from the backgournd and didn't seem to be floating above the floor, however.

I like the stark landscape with some odd elements and an enigmatic title. (I wish there were an SBS [especially with the use of brushes], but I really appreciate that your source list at least identifies all the separate elements you chopped together because I'm too lazy to check out each source.) I do find this 'flatish' with just a foreground and a background with nothing in between. The nearly-centered foreground elements reduce the drama IMO.

Love the retro advert for a tuturistic product. However, I think "Rad" and the dirty-towel background for the (oddly pointed in random directions) products detract.

Fun concept, but I think a hotter (brighter) landscape would be more appropriate for a refreshing beverage and would bettter play on the competing notions of a hot environment and a hot chick (unless your message is that hot chicks should get drunk so they lower their standards). Making the glass the biggest element would make it—and the beer inside—clearly the focus. I also don't feel like the label matches the contour of the glass.

Awesome overall, but it's not clear why the lower portion of the front shark seems more under water than the uppper portion. The tatooo is a nice touch but I'm not quite convinced it matches the contour of the arm. I think I would have cheated on the lighting a bit and brightened the teeth to make the foreground shark more menacing. I personally find the background sharks merely distracting. I also don't get the point of the little orange fish whose bright color distracts from the central figure IMO.

I love the strong saturated colors but I think the big fish ends up coming across a bit bland relatively. Also, a more-whimsical title might be "Yoo-hoo."

Dramatic, aggressive, disturbing with an appropriately moody color palette. The double-exposure thing happening in the skyline background visible in hi-res is odd, however. Also, I don't think a fish victim is going to be all that threatened by being thrown into the water; a cat victim might be more appropriate as an enemy that can't swim—and an adorable orange tabby kitten could accentuate the evilness of the foreground figure. (Would "sleeping with us fishes" be a more relevant title?)

If that's the actual lyric, I don't get the "misheard" part that's the point of this contest.

Truly interesting and unique, but I don't see fish as the real focus as the contest requires. I also find the mini tree disturbing.

Quite amusing, except the amusing elements don't really stand out—maybe amp up the contrast on those elements? I think the plants in the pond detract from the amusement [they wouldn't pop up like that after being trapped in the tin IMO] as does the grass on the tin's lid which is not consistent with the notion that the pond is totally artificial. More fundamentally, I'm not sure the fish are the focal point as required by the contest requirements.

This is much better IMO. I like how the cool green/blue/neutral palette of all the background elements makes the warm orange/yellow fish stand out more. I also think the title revision with the new exterior view that's under water creates a more coherent story (or tale, if you will ).

Very intriguing in its flatness and its juxtaposition of the terrestrial with the aquatic, but I don't think this meets the theme requirement that fish be the focal point. Moving the middle fish to the right over her face more and amping up the saturation of all three fish might shift her to the background (which shift could be accentuated by blurring her some). A young woman looking into her aquarium would seem to fit your title.

Sweet, but the child doesm't look like a fish (as it has a distinct skull oriented 90 degrees from the neck) and what's with her headgear? The orange flame-like thing in the background distracts by being the same color as the central characters.

Dramatic but overwhelming because I don't know what I should be focusing on. And I don't get why the green fish is in a bubble (which I would think would distort the view of the background more)..

Interesting. The leg shadow seems excessive and doesn't seem to follow the contours of the shark. I also think I would like to see his air bubbles reach all the way up to the surface.

Surrealism is a good approach for this theme. I'm not sure what tale the fish is telling, however. IMO eliminating the distracting wallpaper so the windows and baseboard are just suspended in space would be more surrealistic and would give a lot more attention to your dramatic background photo (which has erroneous lightning reflections in the water but those should not be visible here). I think the fish that is supposed to be the focus would then stand out a lot more. Even if the window pair were centered, I would consider deleting the right one and moving the left one so it's centered on the Rule of Thirds' left vertical line. The table and chair have different perspectives than the floor. The scale of the chair is odd given that it's in front (not way behind) the table. Nothing seems to be casting shadows. [Surrealistic does not mean totally unrealistic.]

Kudos for actually looking retro--and compellingly so!

Cool image even if I don't get what the message is. Some greater contrast on the rocket might add more punch. The crowded top and barren bottom of the image creates a disturbing imbalance IMO. A bigger orange moon thing moved to 5 o'clock behind a crisper rocket ship might be more compelling.

Convincing and disturbing. I have to admit, however, that reaching down is not the first thing that comes to mind when I hear "reachiing out." And I wish the eyes were more disturbing (color and glow, for example) to be a clearer focal point.

Intriguing, but I'm not sure I see the retro element. The text seems very contemporary so I'm guessing that's not it. Compositionally, I find the Joker mask bigger and weightier than the Batman mask which doesn't suggest an equal battle. And since I read from left to right, I interpret the Joker as more important. Text on the Batman symbol seems almost sacriligeous.

Very compelling retro graphic with contemporary text that cooly matches the movie's setting yet with modern sensibilities. I wish there was an SBS. As for fine tuning, the line and "The First Avenger" text should be exactly as wide as the "Captain America" text above them, IMO. The text at the bottom is quite amusing for highlighting that no one ever reads it!

I understand the intent to be inspirational, but I'm not sure this achieves that. Compositionally, the near-center text column is kind of boring and seems to encroach on the tiger's space—so move the column to the right. As for the text, I think it should be centered vertically, the first word is illegible, two or three fonts should be the limit, and it's odd that the least serious font is chosen for the word 'Christ' (and how do the title and text relate?). Assuming the imagery supports the title/text (which I personally fail to see), why is the larger tiger portion much less dramatic than the tree-branch portion?

I like this a lot more as well. The title tells us who she is and her scale seems reasonable. If this weren't meant to be fantastical, her front lighting might seem odd but I'm very willing to get caught up in the moment (although a little more shadow where her towel hits the water might add some faux realism). I wish the light reflections in the water pointed more clearly to the moon as their source. I would crop out the right half of the image for several reasons: The resulting composition would be more compelling. The light source for that cliff is inexplicable. A night scene suggests cool light yet the cliff's light is warm.

Interesting. I wish the title provided more of a hint as to who this giant goddess is. Her tatoos are not realistic (odd brown outer glow, for example) and overdone IMO. I think the soft black of the foreground trees tones down the drama. The bright blue of the moon seems like a distraction from the mood and color palette of the goddess who should be the focal point; a white moon would fit in better.

The new bigger, clearly-foreground chef is more realistic to my mind. The grid-like thing over his face is inspired. I think putting that over all of the chef would hide the fact that he's not real. And bringing back the target symbol in the perfect middle of the image would provide a context for all the text. [The shooter (viewer) is still in the process of aiming so the crosshairs need not be perfectly on target.]

Dramatic. Cool texture and color palette. The angled horizon doesn't work for me, however. The sails blocking the view of the skull's mouth seem to imply added meaning but I don't see what that might be (and the title provides no clue). [Why not move the skull to the right so nearly half of it is outside the frame?] I also think the waterline at the base of the skull should be ever so slightly curved instead of the perfectly straight line seen here in order to be more realistic since the neck should be jutting out into the water.

Creative concept, but I don't get why the simulator and the PXLeyes figure standing on top blend into the background. (You haven't provided an SBS, so I'm guessing that what I see as background blending you consider arty texturing of the image but I think 100% of the simulator should be crisp with all texturizing constrained to the background so the simulator really pops.)

Striking and enigmatic, i.e., very compelling. Very cool font for the text. If the butterfly is supposed to be the focal point, I think it needs to be a tad more intense. Alternatively, muting the butterfly and adding a near-candy-apple-red clown nose might create a more disturbing focal point that taps into some people's [not unjustified IMO] fear of clowns.

Cool image. The guy may be a tad obscure. Overall, I don't get it.

Fun. I think a hint of hoof on the steering wheel would make it clearer that the giraffe is driving since I don't see any other driver—but maybe a driverless car in control (like Herbie, the Love Bug?) is the point and explains why the giraffe is less crisp than the car.

Creative idea. However, the small chef seems out of place with the size of the background and gets overwhelmed by the text. And why isn't the target symbol centered in the image if this is the view through the aiming scope of a weapon? The font for the text is cool except it doesn't fit the stereotypical Courier-type font I've come to expect computer-aided weaponry to 'talk' to the user in [based on the movies I've seen], but then you haven't used the classic (tired?) green night-goggle look either.