Glad to see i'm not blind, having voted for the other two winners there :) Congrats on the win Chipka!

Shame there werent more entries - photomanipulation is a great way to explore ideas and improve your photo editing in a general sense as by definition you are learning how to edit a photo... colour matching, masking, and cloning being integral to a good manip are also very good techniques for improving a photo where "manipulation" isnt the principle aim, but to get the best out of what your camera sensor has given you.

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography