alive
by bspurgeon

Comment:
I like the long exposure. It's like the ocean is remembering the surfer. Very dreamy. My verdict is real.

Carrion Comfort
by Bear_Music

Comment:
Heavy processing, perhaps some tone-mapping? It's not overdone.

I'm having a hard time determining if that fly is real. If you put that in there, then it is a really good composite. Final answer: real.

Bubble Love
by missysue78

Comment:
Definitely digitally manufactured, but well done. Also, if that bubble over her eye was not added in PP then it's really good timing on that capture.
My only technical suggestion is to notice how clear the other bubbles are and how cloudy the heart bubble is. If you used the lens flare tool, I'd suggest maybe trying to clone an actual reflection from another bubble. I think it'd come out sharper that way. Still, nicely done and great idea.

Technology Properly Implemented Is ... Magic
by Dr.Confuser

Comment:
Real. Fake. No, real. Ok, not a real see through laptop, but a well done creation of that illusion. You lined these up really well.

Magical Night
by Brin

Comment:
So wonderful. I'm in awe of the beauty in this shot. I do think it's real. What's interesting about long exposures of water is you begin to see reflections that aren't there in person, in this case, the reflection of the aurora. Really pretty shot.

Set Her Free
by sjhuls

Comment:
Nicely done. I think you might see the front page with this one. Now, I definitely think it's composited, mainly because of the way her hair and skirt are falling; they seem to be pressed to the ground (gravity) as opposed to floating. Also, as my wife pointed out, where are the bubbles from her feet coming from? Also, I think the color matching is very well done, she really seems to be lit from inside the tank. It is a bit revealing to me, however, that she seems to be lit *as well* from her head to her feet; as in, the natural fall off of light in water (which is more than in air) does not seem to be affecting her.
Plus I know you wouldn't want to risk damaging all that coral! :) Still, extremely nice photoshop work. Like I said, I think we'll see this on the front page.

Look Harder
by toddhead

Comment:
Very nice. This is reallly great compositing work. I might sugggest cleaning up some of the "identifying marks" in the extra digit. For example, change the pattterns of the hair or skin using the clone stamp toool. I do see a bit of transparency/soft edge near the wrist, but loooking at the transition on the back of the hand where where it would normallly end, the extra digit is composited *very* realisticallly.

All Aboard!
by mbrutus2009

Comment:
This is cool and definitely heavily photoshopped. I think the lighting on the track is slightly different. That doesn't seem to be real world shading and light variation on the underside of the train and top side of the track. The track seems to be lit uniformly no matter how far under the body of the train it is. My guess is the "smoke" is some sort of mask. And the lights were added in PP. I'm assuming this is a model train of some kind? Cool shot, nevertheless, and I think it'll be a top finisher.

Beneath the waters surface
by Judi

Comment:
Perfectly shot and executed. This is one for the books. Reminds me of Three Worlds by Escher. I definitely believe there is some compositing going on here, but it's very unique and very well done.

Neverland
by elsapo

Comment:
Nicely done. Very ethereal. I'm assuming this is real although certain aspects of the processing are catching my eye, mainly your right hand... If I could figure out exactly what was making me curious about it, I'd probably figure out that it was nothing. :-D

I'm wondering if this is just your processing style. Some kind of noise reduction or something making me think too hard.

Still, nice image and we'll probably see this at the top!