Voting will run from 25 July to 31 July 2007. Deadline for votes is 5pm EDT.

Only those that entered the contest may vote. All other votes will be deleted. If you did not enter, but would like to comment on an entry, please post your comments in the July 07 Contest Discussion thread.

Vote for the 5 best entries in order.

You cannot vote for your own image. If you do, your votes will be deleted.

Example Vote:
Pick the top five contest entries and list in order...

1. Entry X (First Place)
2. Entry A (Second Place and so on)
3. Entry Q
4. Entry S
5. Entry P

This thread will remain closed until it's time to vote.

And as always, when you vote try to include some things you especially liked about your choices…what made them stand out, what impressed you, etc. This is a learning experience! :)

To help with voting here is a temporary link to the entries in Photo Album format:

July Entries (http://www.retouchpro.com/contests/source_images/July07/index.htm)

Here is my vote.

1. ajcutler - hands down this was the clear winner in my mind.
2. Karini - superb job
3. Linus
4. Swampy
5. shikhavig

Enjoyed playing with this one. Congratulations to whomever wins.

Janet

Here are my choices, they were all very good.
Had lots of fun doing and watching all the others.

1. CathyH
2. Lonk
3. Linus
4. Pixeltek
5. PeteyB

1) Cazubi
2) k.Gimini.M
3) Traethasia
4) Linus photo
5) YMS

1 LonK

2 Janet Petty

3 karin I

4 Swampy

5 linus_photo


Janet Petty
This is very nicely balanced with regard to colours, mood, and action. The viewer’s eye goes to the energy and colour of the frolicking girls in the foreground while appreciating the stillness of the onlooker in the background. The sword holds its own interest. Good job.

shikhavig
The girl really suits her glowing wings, and her “greenery”.

cazubi
Beautiful colour effect in your background. Wow, we can see what goes in the brain of that mantis. Clever and creative.

TraeThasia
Nicely abstract. Really nice use of colour especially in the foreground with that hot pink, and the yellowy gold higher up.

karin I
A really believable image. Great use of the mantis for the wallpaper pattern. High impact from the choice of colours, and the glow from the original girls makes a nice piece of art. Cleverly framed.

1ST LITE
Good use of brightness, and colours to direct the eye. Mask woman’s face looks quite different when reduced to just the features. Neat trick. Silver glow is effective behind the dummy.

linus_photo
This looks wonderful, and so vector-like and sophisticated-looking. The darkness really emphasises the bright and clean colours of the rest of the image.

Ms Bay
You have a good texture effect over your image. The sword has a nice extra sparkle and shine. Luna park face dark and set back like that is particularly impressive.

splata
The warm colours and the “action” are very evident here, right down to the recoloured girls in the background, right and left. Good job of reducing mask woman’s face to the butterfly shape.

juggler
Best part for me here is the sparkle coming off mask-woman (and the colour change you’ve given her). Looks like she has it in for the mantis, though. Luna park face is very effective separate like that.

CathyH
The whitish dummy overlays look so good here. Mask woman’s head definitely suits the girl bodies.

K_GiMiNi_M
Really like the red and silver tones of this one. The sword looks so elaborate included with this much emphasis. How clever of you to overlay the mask-woman’s sequins over the sword.

ajcutler
(I almost missed seeing the mantis high on the right.) Good additions to the posters on the park building. Took me a while to see the stabber! (A smart use of the sword).

PeteyB
Great motion effect in the background. The eyes win in this image. The mantis is given so much personality (and cuteness). The sword lapel broach is the perfect touch.

pixeltek
Very nice night-like, brooding tones, and silhouette effects. I like the overlay of the mask on the tree trunks, and the black figure of the dummy looking on mysteriously.

emilylt87
Got to love the bright flying girls and their reflections! Wonder what the group of mantises (manti?) are planning at the base of that tree…good idea to group them like that for more impact.

Cassidy
The right hand side of your image is very dramatic with use of the sword, dummy, and girl. Really rich-looking with the combo of the red and black.

Skyopal
Wow, you have a real painterly look going on with this one – good job. The guy’s amulet is particularly intriguing. Really like the monotone/earthy colours.

elohssa
Lovely rainbow colour effect going on in the background. The purple-winged golden glow of one of the girls is eye-catching.

Swampy
Nice surreal look to this one; especially like the inverted? treatment of the trees and the sword (and the inclusion of the bleached little mantis guy).

PhotoB
This is a very creative version. (I would never have thought of this gallery scene!)

LonK
So many great effects included here … the reflecting water, the molten ladies, the “dripping” sword, (just noticed the mantis “victim!), and the menacing park face looking out over all…

Gary Richardson
I am a fan of the glow behind the guy’s wings. Bet he means business with that sword at the ready. That’s clever the way that you have repeated the park building faces in the background.

Peter S
Nice use of the butterflies (moth). The see-through dummy is suitably eerie.

Out_Of_Focus
The blue focus brings it all together. The winged girls fit so in well.

Icramer53
Wonderful use of the mask to front the park building. The swords added to the blue panels are a nice touch.

Doug Colwell
Really love the foreground interest from the “statue” – good use of the sword handle.


.

Before I cast my votes I'd like to say just how difficult it was for me to make them. Everyone's entry was worthy of a vote, and in the end I could only use personal preference as criteria of judgement.

Getting it down to 5 was really hard, and I changed my mind several times before choosing those below.

1st 1st Lite loved the dreamy ethereal feel of this picture the bubbles and the colour burst just hit the right buttons with me.

2nd K_GiMiNi_M this would have made a great poster. The B&W theme just set of nicely by the red. It really was nip and tuck between this and 1st Lite's entry as to which got 1st from me.

3rd Lonk the sheer amount of work that must have gone into this one blew me away. However it didn't seem to have a single unifying theme, which is why I made it 3rd. Loved the "chromed" figures.

4th Peter S another dreamy one, in the running for a higher place for a long time. Finally it was the unrealistic placing of the mantis (front legs don't look right) that decided its position from me as 4th.

5th YMS just loved the humour in this one. The use of Park and Luna as necklets, and the "glasses" on the mantis just had me smiling for ages.

For everyone else, I'm just sorry I couldn't vote for you all.

Hi all
I loved this contest, partly because the images were all so varied that they were hard to combine in a way that worked. Most of the entries have a surreal and/or dreamy look, which I think is almost inevitable when combining such disparate images.
My favourite was Linus' entry, because it created something totally other and also plausible, which I don't think any of the rest of us really achieved.
I think photob also had a great concept, one of the best ways to combine so many different sources that I can think of.

my votes are as follows:

1 Linus (works really well, good balance, good use of colour, excellent interpretation)
2 Janet Petty (good colour and mood)
3 KGiMiNi (good colour and mood, unusual interpretation)
4 1stlite (nice mood - the dreaminess works well in this one - I think because of the lighting)
5 pixeltek (composition and detail blend well, good use of tone, found this one quite ominous)

some of the others that I like elements of are:
lonk (nice metallic figures, good reflection in water)
Ms-Bay (excellent placement of cave mouth and good colour blend)
Out_of_Focus (lovely colour and texture)
Emilylt87 (good colour, good blend)
photob (love the concept, nice detail of neon light above frames

Linus - Love the way you use the elements to create this. Great composition.

Peter-S - I like the soft colors and over all feel.

YMS - Cleaver use of the elements, and you did a great job of cutting out the girls and dressing them all up.

K_Gimini_M - Very nice color choice.

Out-of-foucs - I like the colors and the filters you used, one think I might have moved the dummy off to the side so he wasn't right in the middle.


I really liked the way the color modes were used and how the splashing water and leaves combined together in TraeThasia and Swampy's.
Everyone did a great job. And thank TPaul for the photo album.

my votes.....


#1 TraeThasia
#2 Linus_Photo
#3 CathyH
#4 Janet Petty
#5 Cazubi

Wow... I could probably do as well voting on these by drawing names from a hat. They were all so good!

1. PhotoB - Loved the Art Gallery take
2. Linus
3. Trae Thasia
4. Cathy H
5. Lonk

Here are my votes:
1. 1stLite
2. TraeThasia
3. Janet Petty
4. K_GiMiNi_M
5. PeterS

PeteyB
YMS
Skyopal
emilylt87
shikhavig

A fun contest

Here are my votes

1. PhotoB --Very different from the other entries -- creative
2. Linus -- Would make a terrific poster.
3. YMS -- Imaginative. I loved the glasses and the girls' outfits
4. Lonk -- So much happening here
5. Swampy -- Dreamlike


Pete

This month the voting was very difficult because all of the entries were so good. I was looking for creativity, imagination, compostition, compositing skills, and mood. It seems that all of the entries possessed a good deal of these elements, so it just came down to personal preference.

1. PhotoB- Very creative use of photos.
2. YMS- Humorous, imaginative.
3. 1stlite- imaginative, good compositing, nice fantasy image.
4. karil- nice use of images.
5. Linus- creative, nice use of images.

I wish that I could have voted for more...well done everyone.

Cathy:)

Here are my votes for the July contest

1. Peter-S -- Beautiful Pastel colors
2. Skyopal -- Nice Center of Focus and Sepia/duotone effect
3. Swampy -- Excellent mystical feeling
4. emilyIt87-- Like the color choices used
5. photob -- Most unusual image very creative

Regards,
TraeThasia

You know you really can't appreciate how great all of these pictures are until you see them side by side in the gallery. Everyone did such a wonderful job that it was really hard to vote on just a few. The colors, imagination and moods could really be "felt" on all of them. Great job everyone!! But, sigh . . . sigh . . . we could only vote on five, so here are mine.

1. YMS - Clever, clever how you used the sword and the way you did the
girls shows a lot of imagination.

2. Janet Petty - I liked the way the colors blended and the wings of the
dummy looks so good, really creative.

3. 1stlite - Such pretty pastels and so dreamy.

4. Karinl - Love the wallpaper!

5. Linus - Your lighting effects are great! This is good even without a story.

Too short a list for such great work, kudos to all the entrants!

Ms Bay

ABSOLUTELY freakin gorgeous entires in this contest! And it was lot's of fun too! I agree at this point it is mostly personal preference. SO hard to choose! But since I gotta -
Here's my vote...

1 - LonK - When I first saw this is absolutely took my breath away. The trees, as you have used them, look reminiscent of Stonehenge or something - add in the reflectiveness of the water below, and added the same effect to the girls, the story behind the slaughter of that poor mantis... This is deep, man - really deep!
2 - PeterS - Beautiful, mysterious, smooth as freakin glass. Just gorgeous!
3 - Swampy - I can't way what this reminds me of specifically, but is is beautiful for sure. I look at it and think ancient, and the texture I can almost feel!
4 - YMS - WONDERFUL how you used all the parts to make this! Extremely interesting!
5 - Linus - I have no idea how you did this, but I'd sure love a tut on it! lol Very different! Love that you made the story of it, nice touch.

Great job, everyone! I wish I could vote for all of you!!!

Great entries!

1. linus
2. karinl
3. photob
4. LonK
5. YMS

1. YMS -the butterfly clothes alone would have rated top 5.
2. LonK -a tricky concept expertly pulled off.
3. Swampy -colours, patterns just seem to work.
4. PhotoB -best 'outside the box'. Great job compensating for the fuzzy people (too bad not enough res in the orig to provide convincing focus).
5. PeteyB -mezmerizing! Could have done without the kermit.

Here are my votes:

1. Linus photo
2.YMS
3.Swampy
4.Doug Colwell
5.Ms Bay

This was very difficult.
I have not been about for a while (no internet), so had to look at a;; these in one go, and not as they were posted, and time is getting short to vote.

All chosen in the order I liked them best, boy it was hard, all very good.

Peter

1 TraeThasia
2 Swampy
3 Gary-Richardson
4 karinl
5 dcolwell

I love how the renditions progressed!
1-Linus
2-photoB
3-Swampy
4-Cazubi
5-JanetPetty

Very difficult to pick just 5. Everyone did great!

1 - Janet Petty
2 - 1stlite
3 - YMS
4 - Peter-S
5 - elohssa

I hope to announce the winner tonight. Sorry for the delay, but I am having some internet connection issues.

I hope to have the winner announced by tomorrow night. :)

The wait is finally over!

Congratulations goes to linus_photo!!!

The prize is a copy of LightZone 3, donated by LightCrafts (http://www.lightcrafts.com)

Top 5:
linus_photo: 49
YMS: 36
LonK: 26
PhotoB: 25
Swampy: 24

Kudos to all that entered! I really enjoyed viewing all the creative entries. :)