So, without further ado, here are your top three results as voted by the employees of SoftwareMedia.com:

3rd Place: This image submitted by Arturs has likings to a the type of dark horror films that give yours truly nightmares. But it certainly is a thought-provoking photo. Arturs’ comment about the photo, “taking soul”, leaves us with just a hint of the creator’s intent, but at the same time is obscure enough that this story is left to be told by your own imagination.

2nd Place: This captivating image sent to us by Samantha takes a beautiful ocean photo to the next level. We like how the creator makes you feel as if you’re in this gray world and then you have this giant colorful photo sort of spilling out into it. Very compelling.

1st Place: Brian sent us this image, which we call “Dandilion”, for obvious reasons. What a cool depiction, and we can’t help but wonder whether this is what the person who coined the name “dandelion” was thinking of. Can you imagine seeing this guy the next time you picked one of these perennial weeds?

The three lucky winners will receive a free copy of Photoshop Elements just for submitting their favorite Photoshopped image. Keep an eye on our software contest category for future contests where you, too, can win great prizes!

Just hit the “browse” (on FireFox or IE) or “choose file”  (Chrome) button towards the bottom to add an image to your comment. Click on the image to your right for a bit more direction.

Okay, a bit more in depth…

• Be sure to tell us why that photo is your favorite in the comment text. A simple sentence or two will suffice; we aren’t looking for novels or short stories here.
• Submit a valid email because if you win, that’s how we will be contacting you.
• All images must be in JPEG format, as you won’t be able to upload other formats…
• Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2010.
• Enter as often as you’d like! Just make sure you are following the above guidelines for each submission.

That’s it! SoftwareMedia.com staff will be vote for the winners by April Fool’s… we thought it’d be a fun tie-in for April 1st — tricky images for a tricky day. We’ll have three copies of Photoshop Elements ($99.99 MSRP value!) to give away. Start showing us those entries!

Oh, if you know the details, crediting the original artist(s) is encouraged.

Congratulations Brian! Your design won over the SoftwareMedia.com office today. Check out Brian’s winning design and the three following runner-ups. Careful not to stare at it all too long — there’s a whole lot of animation going on all at once below here.

Brian

Daniel

Dave

What’s your verdict? Do you agree with the SoftwareMedia.com office? Hit “Comment” and tell us your thoughts!

Thanks to everyone who entered! We look forward to utilizing the above favorite designs to promote SoftwareNewsDaily.com and gain more readers. Keep tuned via RSS Feed, Twitter or Facebook to learn about upcoming contests. Perhaps we’ll be upping the ante even more!

We’re in need of a few banners to help promote SoftwareNewsDaily. Think something similar to: http://www.softwaremedia.com/link-to-us.html, but animated to give it more pop! There are just a few guidelines:

1. Image must be 180 pixels in width and 60 pixels in height.
2. Promotes SoftwareNewsDaily.com.
3. GIF file size may not exceed 1MB (original PSD file may exceed 1MB).
4. Animated GIF file must be viewable in Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.
5. Original work only.

All entries must be received by January 10, 2010, a bit after the New Year (so not to cram your holiday partying, of course). Keep these things in mind when you enter:

1. Include your name in the email with your entry.
2. Also, please tell us how you found out about the contest along with your entry.
3. Submission of artwork automatically grants SoftwareNewsDaily permission for use. Author may retain rights to artwork, but SoftwareNewsDaily has any and all permissions to use the image for promotion.

Submit all entries to SND@softwaremedia.com.

Here are a couple of examples to get those creative juices flowing:

Feel free to reference the animated GIF video tutorial that Ryan created: How to Create Animated GIFs in Photoshop CS4. Good luck! We look forward to receiving your designs.

Photoshopped image:

Original images used to composite entry:

Check out these other two great images from our runners-up.

Halloween by Daniel.

Autumn by Kim.

Which one is your favorite? Do you agree with the SoftwareMedia.com office? Hit “Comment” and tell us your thoughts!

Many thanks to everyone who has entered. Be on the look out for more contests from Software News Daily! In the meantime, keep your browsers tuned to http://www.softwarenewsdaily.com for software news, deals and info.

The author is Jordan Konkel of Boston, and the photo is entitled, This Way to the Cafeteria Sir. It is a composite of two pictures, with himself as the subject in the picture, then photoshopped into a picture of an alley way. He was kind enough to let me post the original photos (below.)

This photo with it’s title, I thought, was pretty damn funny. Please note however, this is solely his interpretation of the guidelines, and not in any way indicative of the preferred theme or content for the contest. In fact, narrow as my expectations were, I wasn’t anticipating a humorous submission, but there you go. Anyway, thanks Jordan. Happy choppings everyone.

(Originals below)

Here are the originals:

Click for Contest Details