Great idea. It is too bad that the original image wasn't better quality but the idea is lovely! I do agree that the shadow could be a bit more subtle though.

The "shadow" of the heart shape in the bush is too solid of black, and looks obviously painted, rather than natural. You would achieve a much better effect if you cloned in the shadowed foliage from the area to the right, with a bit of the area below the "heart," then making a selection and gently lowering the brightness of it, than trying to paint it.

There's more manipulation than enhancement here IMO. The swan pair that are not perfect mirror images of each other is a nicely believable construction. However, I think the vaguely heart-shaped void in the brush could be manipulated into a stronger, more obvious heart shape than shown here. Cropping the image so the swans and heart come closer to the focal points suggested by the Rule of Thirds might be more dramatic. Then you could apply enhancements to the result to magnify its punch.

I like this version, the old one had too much noise for my taste...
I don't care much for the way the lettering is kind of faded at the beginning, though.

Nice improvement. This came out well!

Fun, except the wavy stripes stand out more than the boat and (especially) the text. (Try greater contrast for the latter two elements.)

nice shot.

Better illusion, now it looks like the wind caught it!

Really blurry, and the umbrella would be facing the other way if the wind was blowing it as illustrated.

Nice shot... I love the trail left by the tail

Author - no amount of tweaking will recover information/detail in the highlights that has not been recorded in the first place.

poor bull

cute piggy,,, : )

Just a suggestion author...you might want to crop and slightly rotate the image so the line created by the tail begins exactly in the upper right corner...I think it would create a very nice leading line towards the subject...

Its a bit better now author...there is now at least some detail in the blown out parts of the mother's head. I understand what you are saying about some photos having BOH, I use the hi-key method quite often, but it certainly is a matter of having the blown highlights work with the image, not against it...

Author: although it's a wonderful pose and on-theme...your highlights are terribly blown. I would suggest finding another image that's more properly exposed before the voting begins....just an opinion, but as it stands, I'm afraid this particular image will not do well in the voting...

Sorry Author...as touching as this image may be...first, i think the focus (due to the title) should be more on the grave than on the person to the left. Second, according to the contest guidelines; "Present a large portion of the graveyard for this contest. No shots of a single graves or headstones."

EDIT: so I don't appear too stupid...the author changed the entry after my original comment....LOL

The top of the 'e' is missing it's depth, and the 'i' looks wonky where it intersects the leg of the person, but otherwise, the lettering looks very dynamic and fits the image well!

hey you got a nice shot for this theme..

Interesting shot author, but, it could stand a bit of straightening.

Good on ya for giving this a go. The above advice is excellent and the only thing I can add is that you doodle. Got a few extra minutes? Use a pencil and any kind of paper to draw what you see. This will help train your eye to see shape, proportion, shading and all that. Doesn't matter what you draw... a stick, a lamp, a fork... with practice you'll get better and better.

After you make the sketch try making a pen tool shape on top - you can manipulate that easier, and the pen it's a quite user friendly tool for drawing ( make a path & stroke). I use that since I don't have a tablet.

Congrats on first place Win!

Also add some contrast. His foot is just lifted up

You should have straighten the horizon and crop it to avoid having the head of the seagull just in the middle of your picture.

Looks like he's missing his foot - bummer

Now that is a classic. Haven't seen a knob and lock like that for about 30 years.

mystical atmosphere
i like it..

gl author

Shouldn't be too hard to find an other lock.

love the changes author. Think your eyes have brought life to your owl .

I look forward to future entries.

This image reminds me of being up North in early September... it is quite light until very late ... this feels like it would be around 10-11PM!

Nice work ... it has improved from your first uploaded image... although it would be nice to have a Hi Res

its really great that u submitted an entry regardless ur experience in ART. keep it up author.i would suggest that rather than jumping upon drawing tutorials, first explore it all yourself..draw as much as you can of whatever you see and you feel and you wish to.. ART is not some boring fundamentals to learn..tutorials are necessary too but far more necessary is getting inspired..find some inspiration here
http://www.deviantart.com/
looking forward to see some great entries from you
good luck author

Great idea, but framing and focus could be improved, suggest you reshoot.

great shot!

Congrats on taking the big step to DD . Love the colours you have used.

Did you use a mouse to draw? if so always harder than using a drawing tablet/drawing pen.

To develop your skills there are many tutorials for beginners. If you wish to expand your skills save up for a drawing tablet - a must for DD artists in my opinion.

To improve your drawing (my opinion only) explore how owl eyes look and see if you can add some life to the ones you have at this point in time. You have a whole week to play.

GOOD LUCK... PS: feel free to message me with any questions you may have.

IMO - In My Opinion.
Feather - A technique to smooth the edges of an object.. or to reduce the hardness of the edges..

I totally agree with wazowski. This looks like dusk at best. A snowy background is a good choice for maximum reflection of moonlight—except I see the (half) moon is in the background, so let me change my observation to 'mountains make for a dramatic silhouette with heightened star-light shadows thanks to the snow.' I think the rear vehicle's headlights could be stronger. And the angle on the front vehicle's headlights should be higher. More white in the headlight light would also be warranted IMO as would more feathering of the edge along the mountain ridge.

I think your source pic has a lot of potential and there's still lots of time to realize it. Note that the pole thing in the foreground needs to cast a shadow consistent with the primary light source.

The lights from the car is a nice detail, but something tells me that the sky can be way darker. Good luck!

Looks like a UFO

nice and inspired idea for a travel agency but work more on the logo itself... jmo

Nice idear

The green font color is a bit to greenish, maybe you could pick a green from the crocodile that would make it more harmonic.
The background is a bit strong and kind of make the crocodile disapear a bit, for example would a plain white make it stand out more.

GL Author

well done

amazing

Author, if it isn't saving a full-res image, its probably because your original image isn't big enough. Try making your original image bigger, maybe 1200 or 1500 pixels wide or long. I've discovered that usually does the trick. BTW, I understood the meaning of your logo and thought it was very clever for a travel agency. I agree with Chaltry in that you might reduce (or even eliminate) the color overlay. Good luck.

I understand what your trying to achieve, but only after you explained what it was in front of the alligator. With no high res image to look at the suitcase looks like a brick to me. Another suggestion would be to lower the color overlay you applied to the crock and let some of the natural color shine through.

I think logos need to be more compressed so they fit on business cards and at the top of correspondence as letterheads. I confess I don't get how the apparent business name relates to travel..

definitely a nice place to chill out.

stunning

cool idea author...best of luck

nice work author but some parts demand a bit more work...there is clearly visible black halo around the dices...also u could try to create some feel of the movement on them cause they are dropped in the air...i think that usage of motion blur can cover that...best of luck