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1st place
The place where stories and legends comes alive by Inkeri

mesmerized: What a quaint and charming little cottage...exactly what you would expect in a fairy tale...great entry, Erja...best of luck.

danika: Such a quaint & lovely cottge & perfectly captured, Erja. Love how the red geraniums contrast with all the green. Best wishes in the contest ... definitely fairy tale.

Inkeri received a 2 month membership in the Caedes Cadre.

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2nd place
Night Dreams by coram9

Roseman_Stan: Excellent work here Chris. You got all the creative juices flowing well with this one.

Logun7: Congratulations!

Jimbobedsel: Congrats on the 2nd place. A well deserved honor!

Tootles: I looked at this for a long time. :-) At first I didn't even notice the fairies (what does that say about me??) I looked at the girl and wondered what the light in front of her was.... then I saw the others. The drop shadows make the fairies look a bit 2D, but I understand they wouldn't have been distinguishable from their own glow without it. Very difficult. Perhaps the fairies themselves could be white shading to blue at the edge of the glows? Or maybe one or two could have been bigger (closer to the camera) so that it was clearer what they were... then the others could just be specks of light bobbing about in the darkness.

The best bit for me is the building in the background, particularly near the gate, with the soft night lighting... very atmospheric and detailed! A high level of realism that I can't achieve in Bryce right now. Nice work and a difficult subject. I hope you do well in the contest!

coram9 received a 1 month membership in the Caedes Cadre.

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3rd place
Isle of Wanderers by Akeraios

lmass: A wonderful fantasy image.

Starry173: Very magical.
Tom

Logun7: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.................

Outstanding work!! Best of luck to you in the contest:)

Tootles: Beautifully done... I love the addition of the dolphin, which I didn't see till I opened it up full size. Has the boat's owner really vanished forever... or is she living happily in the tree? The best of luck in the contest. :-)

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4th place
Dragon at the Gate by Tootles

Jimbobedsel: A well deserved placing in the contest. Very nice.

rotcivski: Great entree. Well worked-beautifully put together.

Victor

casechaser: Excellent contest entree.

Joanie: Cool work girl!!! You've got a great imagination and I wish you good luck :-)

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5th place
...in the Forest of Ever After... by lilu103

gerryp: Lisa....

This is very nice...seems like a lot of work put into image...I do wish you luck!!

Gerry

Logun7: Very nice! Best of luck to you in the contest:)

purmusic: Nice work, Lisa.

And I can only imagine the creative time involved to composite an image as yours here.

Proportions/relative sizes and perspective for each of the animals, birds, butterflies, mushrooms.. are done well. And their placement within frame in the various visual nooks and crannies and overall, on the notes of Composition and that of Balance.. is good good.


Caveats?

The base forest image has some.. some, being the operative word ... exposure problems. In that some of the shadowed areas are just that. Details are blocked to a degree. What gives it away to my eyes is the Colour Balance leaning towards the cooler side of the spectrum (blues, magentas, et al.. a lil' bit more on this to follow).

Could be.. the White Balance setting selected in conjunction with how you set the Exposure for the scene.

Suggestion?

If your camera supports Auto-Bracketing.. shoot away to capture a few photos with the Exposure already changed automatically for you (or that of White Balance, ISO, etc..).

If your camera does not support Auto-Bracketing.. employ the Exposure Compensation option/function that I am sure your camera does have ... and shoot a few shots this way. Under/Over.. can then select the best or blend a couple (i.e. one is better exposed for the ground, one is better exposed for the sky).


Colour Balance.

As mentioned; the blues, magentas, etc.. are a bit more prominent.

Nothing wrong with this, nor to a large degree or extent.

My thoughts are that your image here is a great desktop/wallpaper for kids.. and adults that have not lost touch with their inner child.. and 'warmer' might be a tad better.

Suggestion?

Here you go, I simply googled these terms.. 'free Photoshop action Curves' and came up with these hits:

"Add-ons and Tools for Photoshop Elements" (the 'how to use actions' stuff can also be found on this linked page)

"30+ Must Have Photoshop Actions For Photo Touch-Ups"

... and a refinement with the search terms could probably produce better and more exacting results. (Russell Brown's site is quite good as well ... russellbrown.com ... might have to dig around though to find the stuff for older versions of Photoshop.)


Simply put (you may be aware of what actions do, I am merely elaborating here for the uninitiated), actions are preset various adjustments (could be Curves, Levels, and more complicated adjustments towards the end of a creative aim/technique ... i.e. 'vintage look').

A good good and fast way to edit your images, till 'you' (speaking generally here) become familiar with using the editing tools/options available to you. And many actions allow you to make further adjustments as they run.


Right, coming back to the point of 'warmer' colours.

Personal preference.

Well, add to that ... that 'we' attribute a 'feel and mood', given the overall colour palette that 'we' perceive. (<--- Think this is self-explanatory?)


Alllll that said..


Well done.. and best of luck with your entry here. :o)