yeah the village is lost in the shadows a bit. its really quite ugly thats why i want to hide it with mist. the jpeg compression goes someway to explaining why they are crappy. should I move them into the "sun" a bit more? The sun is actually a spot. i found i couldn't mauniplate it enough to get the right effect. i got my inspiration from my early morning rides into work through the country lanes of south manchester/north cheshire i really wish i had a digi-cam for reference....... John