I am not sure if the second place entry had legal sources. You may move to third place if so. Check it out RT.

lovely

congrats to you

Oh my.. what a face. Love it!!

Congrats rturnbow

Like its face..... and hair...

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwweee... I WANT ONE!!!

Full on shot this and full of action,well taken photo

I think if you divide the size of the mill/helicopter shadow by 5 or 6, it would look more like the shooting altitude of the spruce forest that appears in the background... or so... these are bonsais!

HA HA HA HA HA....I love this and why in heaven's name do I want to kiss him? Thank you for bringing a laugh to my heart this morning. This is a good photograph because sometimes in photography one not only sees an image, one can feel it....and his warm breath is what I can feel!

Interesting...

Interesting how spinning rotors cast stationary shadows...

nice, Pix xx

Congrats again Randy

Congrats Randy

Congrats again Randy, nice work

Congrats Randy, well done ... creepy is right

I like this as a fun shot

Yes to this. Love the softness but sharp on eyes. Love the off centered placement, the gentle look on the face, the warm warm warm colours. REally a very lovely portrait....I hope you gave her a copy of this.

Nicki, you are one sweet looking young lady! You are following HC BRESSON who used to amputate heads, limbs etc. The white cast on this is distracting.

Ohhhh I like this. I love the closeness one feels upon looking at your portrait the mystery of why and all the technical elements are well done too.

Well I had the idea of a guitar when I saw the pic, but you've done it first! and probably better than what I would have done

So much fun!

Naw, not so creepy! Well OK OK OK ...maybe a bit. You did a great job of blending, you did fool me and that means photoshop work WELL DONE .

Yes, I agree, those sensor spots do detract from those electrifying eyes coming out of your head! Great imagination and I really like this one.

EXCELLENT!

Yes its a nice portrait,i like it as it is,all to often we see a facial photo where the character is central,so this makes for a change,although it is negative space as such.

Congrats Randy!

Lovely portrait. Great skin 'tone' and fabulous eyes and great use of light. I am one for symmetry so would have preferred to see more cropped from the right of the photo to put the face central in the image.

Nice and mouth-watering
You should just take off the black spots from the dome picture, on the upper left side.

Standard portrait - well done. Good light on the right part of the image - the face. Enigmatic.

Fabulous deep eyes - they really draw you in and burn out at you. I also like the subdued palette; it adds to the mystery of the image. There has been a distance travelled by this person - you can feel it.

Nice portrait. Good soft face and direct eye contact. I would have preferred to have the top of the head in the image as well as hair each side of her face.

I really am drawn to the chiaroscuro effect of this post. I think even a tighter crop would work to really pull us into those gorgeous eyes and curls. Have you considered lightening the eyes a bit to open the "gates to his soul" and thereby mesmerizing the viewer?

BTW, what method did you use to make the strings see-through?

I'm a little slow sometimes. At first I was like "What does Billy Jean King have to do with it?" Then the lights went on and Billy Jean *KING* made sense. I smiled and chuckled a bit.

My critique. Try to blend the mouth, and eye. Maybe feather them in SLIGHTLTY w/ a mask? Maybe just some small amount of dark or semi dark, brushing, or maybe even an outer glow? Something similar for the chess pieces too. Sorry but I am such a stickler for details and some of the masks have some fringing. The Quick and Dirty way to do it is "Layer > Matting > Defringe" which take about 1 second. You can also clip a layer on top of them. Sometimes a Normal, Soft/Hard Light, Overlay, Multiply Layer will do. Then either sample some colors with your brush (via alt+left click)or even clone around the edge to "paint out" the fringing. Slight reflections on the ground may work too. Good shadowing under the hats.

Bwhaaa haa haa haa

This was my favorite

He'd never be able to drive that car if it has a clutch... FLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE (couldn't resist)

The road brushing I suggested should be done under the shadow layers.

Not much of the source was used but I do think some elements of this chop are strong. The car is pretty much perfect. The lighting and tone fit right in. Honestly it doesn't even look Photoshopped - it looks pretty real. My biggest problem is the chest, shoes, and crown. They are too warm in tone and do not have that "hazy" look of the rest of the shop. A few things that may work. Put them all into a group if you can. Then clip an Exposure Adjustment Layer and mess with the "Offset" slider - probably to the right to make it hazy. Be careful, this slider is WAY sensitive and you may have to do it very little. Now, since the crown is even less hazy, you may have to do another Exposure Offset on it alone. Then try to maybe make it more blue or even blue-green in tone. A color Adjustment Layer may do the trick. If you want to get nit picky, you may want to flip the hat horizontally so that it's properly aligned. If you don't or can't do that, maybe some warp may make it fit better. Really good job with the shadows on the car and chest - plus points for that. Since the ground is wet, maybe some reflections from the car and chest? I really don's know how they would look but it's worth a shot even it they are VERY subtle. Also if you want to get even more nit-picky, take a dark brush sampled from a dark color in the road. Brush it ever so gently at a low opacity to take out some of the shine in the road that is around the chest. I am suggesting this because the light is being filter in through the trees and the chest would block that light some, so you would not have that road shine.

The human hands are disturbingly fantastic

I like the details in the eye lashes. It looks like you added some eyelashes (or the caterpillars hairy stuff) to the "white parts" of the caterpillar. I know what I am saying but it may not sound right. You are the author so perhaps you know what I mean?

Congrats Randy

Well deserved win. BWR approved.

Congrats Randy, nice work

This is really good. Very good use of source as well as being imaginative.

I love this one too... I thought.. maybe... first...? You really did a good job....

Congrats, this was my favorite

Congrats Randy!