Thanks for everyone's attempts at fixing the problem. VirtualSite-I don't know much about alpha channels but I guess what you're saying is this is just the way it is... Prodag-The image looks almost identical to my original and you didn't say what you did to it... hogwardenwork-I'm using bryce 4... EricofSD-You have the sharpness I was looking for and you're right about moving the tree away from the camera but I think I tried that and couldn't get the desired effect... I would have preferred to have long branches hanging down from either side with the moonlight and sky barely visible but I couldn't achieve this with the presets...oh well thanks for your ideas guys