Amusing. I confess I don't get the red eyes. I think a stronger lipstick color would focus the viewer's attention more. Also, the fiery text that escapes the boundary of the outline doesn't really work for me. To my mind, a more compelling composition would be to move the cow to the left (think Rule of Thirds) and move the text to the upper right corner in a much bigger font size for a clearly diagonal arrangement.

Cool image with the dramatic contrast between the flower (with its bold white petals) and the out-of-focus background. The dripping nectar is even more blah in hi-res, however, and I'm not getting any obvious "bass" element.

I'm not sure using a sculpture's head instead of a real human head really captures the band name, especially when the sculpture has a lot of distracting elements. That said, I would note that the radio casts a much weaker shadow than his pecs and that the radio is parallel to the image's plane even though the sculpture is angled away.

Interesting, but the hunter is hard to see and he doesn't seem to be aiming at any of the basses. The lighting on the bass at 4 o'clock seems opposite that of the background (i.e., from the upper left instead of from the upper right). That bass also needs to cast an appropriate shadow. The even light across the scene makes it hard to know what to focus on besides the biggest element, the central rock formation—but it's not the point of the image.

Compositionally, I think looking over the shoulder of a hunter in the foreground in the lower left corner aiming up the hill would be more compelling.

I have to agree with chookobot. For me, the delicate foot and ankle don't conform to my more manly image of Lemuel Gulliver from Jonathon Swift's "Gulliver's Travels."

The blending of the fortress into the source is very well done.

The lighting is odd, however. The bright upper left sky suggests backlighting, yet the foot and fortress appear to be lit from the left. (The source seems to be lit from the left and slightly back.)

I would expect his chin to be closer to the pluot than his neck and thus evince a stronger shadow there. (Actually, I would expect his chin to be above a pluot stuck into the neckline of his jacket so his chin wouldn't have any pluot shadow at all while his neck would show a strong shadow, even at 6 o'clock where this pluot casts no shadow.)

Cool idea. I like the non-traditional use of orange, but the sky seems kind of blah and in need of more-dramatic saturation. Compositionally, the centering of the sun, city, and foreground UFO is also kind of blah. (I'd move the sun left and the front UFO right for a diagonal composition—which would require a sun reflection in the water since the UFO shadow would no longer block it.) The identical blurring of the lights of each of the UFOs regardless of their distance from the viewer/photographer weakens their impact IMO.

Interesting and pretty realistic, although I don't get the 'rafting' reference. The figures blend into the background too much IMO. Perhaps a narrower depth of field would help. (In hi-res the edges of the older guy's back and cap are fuzzy.)

Cool concept. I would horizontally flip the background so the clouds are on the left to create a more diagonal composition instead of having everything on the right-hand side.

I'm curious how a letter-box format fits into your dreams. The Rule of Thirds (i.e., move her to the right) would yield a more dramatic image IMO.

Disturbing elements dramatically presented via the strong color and high contrast, but I confess I don't get it. (Nevertheless, I did learn a new word/tradename—specifically that 'pluot' is a plum variety and not a misspelling of 'pluto' as I initially suspected, not to mention that 'Raspberry Jewel pluot' is a particular example leading the pedantic me to recommend a hyphenated title of "Raspberry-Jewel-Pluot Heart." ) There does seem to be an inconsistency between the hard shadow cast by the aluminum spraying thing and the the weaker shadow of the pluot.

Very cool and the toe ring/tiara is an inspired touch (although its shadow is maybe a little weak). However, the toes are lit from the left while the chin's shadow would suggest light from the right.

Creepy and disturbing--which of course is the whole point. The unsharpness of the clown's head weakens the impact IMO. I also think the open book pages are too white/bright, notwithstanding that the book source has surprisingly white open pages (but I'm willing to accept the accuracy of that image while I, perhaps naively, question the realism of this more complicated image).

Very cool. I do think there should be a lot more stars, however, and an orange tinge to the background planets would differentiate them from the foreground planet to create more depth.

The first entry usually isn't the best [generally because it's too quick], but this may be the exception that proves the rule. A high standard has clearly been established.

The 'before' model's fashion choice was perhaps not exactly age-appropriate (if one were judgmental), but the 'after' model rocks it!

Great job of cutting out the pieces, but for me, the uniform lack of saturation (except for the birds which are curiously flying away from whatever is happening here) results in just 'blah' with no real focal point. It's a struggle to make out the hands. Relative to the tree, the balloon seems too small and the birds seem too big.

Very fun. I like the simplicity. I think the 'everything foggy' approach results in a loss of focus, however.

Cool concept (even if I weren't a Discworld fan). The awesome turtle is the only sharp element, however, so it becomes the focus with Discworld itself fading into the background. I don't get the white band around Discworld. The froth at the bottom of the waterfall could better match the contour of the turtle (most especially on the neck). In hi-res, whitish edges are apparent on the elephants (especially the rear ones) and the lower rear portion of the turtle.

Very creative to go beyond the confines of the van with your graffiti. But I think your intention of 'hidden van' (which you've achieved) is misguided. 'Blend in' would be more appropriate and realistic IMO, so instead of a ghost van (what this looks like), a clearly physical van parked in just the right place would be more compelling.

Cool concept. The fairly uniform lighting makes it all rather blah, however. A lot more shadows would make it a lot more dramatic. Some green (for example) interior lights might convey both "open for business" and "eccentric."

Dramatic and a welcome departure from the same old same-old. Nevertheless, I'm not sure I really get it and I feel like the contest source is secondary at best (i.e., virtually any source could have been squeezed into this).

Intriguing image, but I'm not sure that having the floating island be secondary in the background demonstrates a full commitment to the theme. Overall, the image seems a tad flat. More shadows/contrast would add more drama. I just don't know what I should be focusing on (the title suggests the hand, although probably that's really just an allusion to what the hand is holding--but the image itself should provide some guidance).

Very creative literal take on the theme (which would be emphasized if the title were "World Balloon". I like the calm, restful mood evoked by the muted color palette.

While greater depth is a good objective as a general rule, I like the uncluttered simplicity of Step 10 which I think already shows a lot of depth starting with the front-plane clouds in the lower right corner and then going diagonally back to the balloon floating over the cloud "plain" in front of the cloud "mountains" in front of Saturn in the far distance.

Cool, but I wish the gargoyle stood out more from the background (e.g., was more silhouettey).

Nice magical feel. Moving the bubbles and castle a bit to the left might be more consistent with the likely bubble path given the direction she's blowing plus would conform to the Rule of Thirds. Having the castle amidst rather than behind the bubbles would be more compelling IMO. I feel the castle is leaning back too much; maybe some Lens Correction would help. And perhaps change the size of the castle or the canvas so the highest spire doesn't go off the edge.

Interesting. I kind of wish the brightness/saturation of the "V" element matched that of the "N" element. I'm also not sure why both letters need to be in the same leaf trough.

I like this because I got it thanks to the hint in your title. However, I do think the baseball cap's contrast and shadow should be bumped up so it registers visually equal with the other two elements of your rebus--and maybe move it closer to the top edge for a more diagonal composition..

Lot of cool stuff, but it all comes off kind of flat with no focal point to attract the viewer's eye due to the rather uniform lighting. More shadows would add depth and drama while helping the viewer focus on what's important (which I suppose are the mango grapes).

Very appealing magical, fairy-tale feel even if I don't get the title. She seems lost in, and thus irrelevant to, the image. A bit more variation between the three main houses would better evoke a handmade quality IMO. The lens flares on the brightest stars seem overpowering, especially when her lantern and the houses' attic lights don't even flare at all.

The lighting actually seems a bit odd. The upper left sky is the brightest yet the right sides of the roofs are illuminated. One would think the house directly behind her would be rather shadowed regardless of the location of any overhead light source. The modest shadow on the vine holding up the middle house is especially inconsistent given the strong shadows on the bushes.

Nice idea and certainly apropos for Kate and Wills' wedding day. I'm going to have to disagree with MossyB about the lighting, however.

There are two visible light sources—the lantern (strong) and the moon (weak)—both of which are behind the couple which would make one expect them to be largely a silhouette. She is in fact largely a silhouette, but inconsistently, he is not. The strong lantern light seems to cast weak shadows of the couple, of the lower stair steps, of the rocks in the wall. Also, one would expect the wall to be very bright where it's only a foot or so from the lantern. Furthermore, you would think the far end of the overhang would get some lantern light while the near end would would be in shadow (as the lantern top is not clear) which is the opposite of what we find here.

The visible light sources cannot illuminate his face and hands, the top of the lantern, the wall above the overhang from which the lantern hangs, the ground immediately below the lantern (as its base is not clear). There are apparently other light sources, but it's odd that the brightness on his face doesn't result in any shadow on the steps, for example.

More generally, the large, dramatically lit wall distracts one's attention from the real focus of the kissing couple. Shadowy edges with lit center would be more compelling. Deleting the lantern and imagining a streetlight behind the viewer might be more effective.

Very clever and amusing.

I don't get how all of this would be used as a banner on a Web site. The apparent reflection doesn't line up with the 'real text' (so the reflection doesn't look like a true reflection) and I don't understand why the below-the-base-line portions of the 'real text' have been cut off. Furthermore, I would think "pxleyes" should be the most prominent element, not the tag line.

A lot of interesting ideas. But I don't think the banners would ever be displayed against a cranberry background, so it's hard to evaluate their true impact in a real-world application.

Creepily odd, which is a good thing. The hand on the top of the picture frame should be deleted as it merely detracts IMO (especially when it's identical to the far-right hand on the bottom of the picture frame). I would also delete the birds from the background as they strike me as just distracting space fillers. The stars are probably OK but likely wouldn't be missed if you left them out. I don't get the rounded-rectangle thing just inside the image edge that can't be discerned on the right side. The title is enigmatic, but so is the image, creating a good match.

The far woman is this side of the streetlight (as evidenced by the direction of her [oddly distended relative to that of the {even if unusally short} guy behind her] shadow), so she should be largely a silhouette like all the figures in this scene.

Creative and amusing (unless you're a dog person, I suppose). The cat seems to be floating above the ground, however, and I don't get why there is dust behind the cat.

Very creative. Everything is so colorful that I don't know what I'm supposed to focus on, however. The screw heads cast shadows (of oddly varying intensity) but the pics they're holding in place don't cast any shadows at all. I don't get how the flat horizontal gray bars that cast no shadows fit in on apparently the middle plane. (BTW text in all caps is hard to read.)

Very creative and convincing.

The straight-forward, non-ironic approach is OK (recognizing that the use of the hyphen in the headline is exemplary). The aqua text on magenta rectangle seems out of place (clashes, perhaps?) with the black/white/yellow palette of the background, however. Also, right-justifying the instructions makes them hard to read and strikes me as a fruitless attempt at sophistication after having centered a Helvetica [or knock-off font] headline.

More amusing (and thus more compelling to my mind) would be making it seem like 'Hard-Boiled Egg' [singular] is a sophisticated, gourmet treat that you can have at home if you follow these three or four steps (which are a revelation to your air-head audience). Contemporary fonts in an interesting layout in front of an elegant background of an egg in an egg cup would help convey how chic an addition to one's menu this would be.

Layout is very nice with the right-justified text in the semi-transparent rounded-corner rectatangle overlapping the photo of the dish. The photo is a bit bland, however, and might benefit from more saturation and contrast. [The recipe is not exactly gourmet or realistic, but that's not relevant to the contest.]

Very attractive (aside from the wine-stained tablecloth). I think "Chocolate Covered" should be the same color as the rest of the headline so it's visually part of the whole (and it should also be hyphenated BTW). I also think "Charmed, I'm Sure" needs to stand out more.

Fun title and colorful image (albeit mandated by the contest theme) which always grab my attention, but this may ultimately be viewed as too simplistic by the voters. Perhaps less is not always more.

Right on theme with an upscale-magazine layout. Unfortunately, the glare on the pork chop hides the central ingredient. I think making "Lamb Chops" and "With Asparagus" bigger and having the former slightly overlap the latter could be more dramatic. Also, traditionally the ingredients come first (i.e., on the left side here) followed by the instructions (i.e., on the right side here). (I suppose alternatively having the ingredients higher than the instructions might visually convey the traditional ordering arrangement even if the physical arrangement is non-traditional.)

Unique and colorful (I like colorful). I think shadow intensities and shadow contours given the shape it's falling on (e.g., the big red sphere which ends up looking like a big red disk here) could be refined, however.

Very striking and intriguing. I do feel like the flowers and the center bell hanging off the hem need to cast more shadow, however.

Lovely still life. The grasshopper and butterfly need to cast more shadow. The vanishing point/horizon line for the vase seems to be much lower than that for the background or even for the table the vase is sitting on. Moving the vase to the right to create a Rule of Thirds composition structure might be more dramatic. Or maybe just making the vase bigger would eliminate some of these concerns.

You've done a lot of cool work here which would be easier to appreciate if you included an SBS. I'm not sure I agree with the relative simplicity of the foreground/midground against the complexity of the background. The perfectly horizontal panels in the door are at odds with the tilted horizon in the background.

Disturbingly appealing. Somehow the eye hole seems too flat to me like it's an eye patch rather than a hole in the skull. I don't know if the edges are just too clean or if the black is too solid/uniform—or maybe both. Also, the scale of the bird strikes me as odd. Bigger (going outside the frame) would be more threatening IMO.

Very creative and amusing. The nozzle restoration tool is my favorite part. I confess I don't get the rectangle around the battery or why only the printer output is casting some sort of shadow. Repeating the product's name in the feature list is probably unnecessary. Emphasizing that this is a "Totally mobile printing solution" might be better use of the space.

Very cool!