Thank you to all the photographers that shared their best composite fantasy shots in A Fantasy World Photo Contest with chances to win a Vello Shutterboss Version II Timer Remote Switch, Blackrapid Sport Shoulder Sling Strap, and more!

A special thanks to our friend and professional photographer Jessica Lark for her collaboration as a guest judge. Jessica Lark is Internationally Published and Acclaimed, An Educator and Mentor. She has taught with American Photo Magazine, The Arcanum Academy of Artistic Mastery, WPPI, PPE, PPA, Focus NY, CreativeLIVE Spotlight, Photographer's Ignite, and has collaborated with industry leaders such as Sigma, Finao, Pocketwizard, Smugmug, Triple Scoop Music, Fundy Software, On1 and more. She is the Author and Artist of the 9 Book Ennealogy: The Reliquarian, her current labor of love.

Grand Jury Winner

"It's unique to anything else I've seen, and it is hard these days to find new concepts.  I love that you have the repeating shapes, angles, and colors from the origami cranes into the dress, I love the light accentuating her features, the jewelry, and that it softens outward and away.  The matte finish works on this image without dulling it.The image is about the model without her overpowering the photograph and other elements.  Everything about it works.  Room for improvement:  Her hand is a little awkward holding the lantern, turning to the side and flicking the wrist would have been a better line for that arm, and I'm not completely sold on the closed eyes, The flame in the lantern isn't believable but other than those small things I don't have much other critique... this is a print I would by for my home.  Well done." - Jessica Lark

Runner Up

"I love the concept of the photograph here, I think its well executed but the fantasy fades.  The model's styling leaves much to be desired and it goes from a sort of painting quality of textured retouch to photograph.  Would love to see this redone to its full potential." - Jessica Lark

Runner Up

"I love the styling, the edit, the interaction of the models, you lost it with the blue wig... it's the only thing not fitting into the monochrome and the model is sharing space with the other girl equally so it is making the hair stand out and not the girl... had you gone with a less saturated and bright color this would have made it into the the next circle of finalists for me.  Well done, its a gorgeous concept and well executed." - Jessica Lark

Runner Up

"I LOVE the concept of this, its unique and it of course fits us as photographers, I'm particularly enthralled with the fact that you went the extra mile to include the portrait on the wall as well, the image wouldn't have been as strong without it.  The scale of her in the room is a bit off to me, and the open door catches so much of the light that it pulls my eye from the subjects comparatively, but overall very well done." - Jessica Lark

Runner Up

"Why it Almost Won: It's incredibly striking as an image.  I love the color and the blackness, the dichotomy of the subjects play off each other in a powerful way, and its unique from other images I've seen. Why it didn't Win:  I think the main model left something to be desired in the expression, I'd have liked to see more emotion from her as she is the forefront.   You had a few hotspots with light, particularly highlighting the fly aways of her hair that I find visually distracting, and some specks, dust and light spots.  Most of the things detracting from the image are able to be cleaned up in post, make sure that you are not getting lazy in the final stretches of creation... a lot of times I'll sleep on an image and look with fresh eyes the next day to see if I missed anything.  This is so close to incredible, but definitely edges on exceptional as it is currently... go the extra mile " - Jessica Lark

Runner Up

" Why it almost Won:  It is a done concept to have the tea party little girl theme, but you made it your own by bringing the animals to life instead of having them stuffed.  You did a great job of having her interact with the giraffe, and the eye contact lines up well between the two, a problem many struggle with when dealing with composites.  I love the soft girlie colors and matted look. Why it Didn't Win:  The matte vignette is a little too heavy for my taste, I think you could have backed off just a bit.  The branches between the girl and giraffe are still a little dark and stark, and pull the eye back between instead of on the subjects, and the spots of the Giraffe are so saturated compared to anything on the girl that I think it ends up competing for the staring roll instead of sharing the limelight with her.  Overall I'd say you were 98% of the way there, and I really went back to this one a few times as the overall winner." - Jessica Lark

Amateur Winner
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"Night Fury" by Mack_Photography

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