For all kinds of reasons, what seems to work better is practice and observing something you like and trying to imitate it. That's a good observation. In this case, the image is very well done, and the lighting is excellent, but the unfortunate thing is that there's a lot of crap in the galleries and a lot of newbies see it, think it's the height of art, and then churn out hundreds of huge-titted Vickies or muscle-popping Mikes or cuter-than-cute Koshinis or whatever. (Again, I'm not ragging on the image that started this thread; I do like it, other than being distracted by, well, you know :-) bonni

"When a man gives his opinion, he's a man. When a woman gives her opinion, she's a bitch." - Bette Davis