Thanks all for the positive feedback. Wow Misha, that's killer!!! Looks like you inhaled some of the smoke! They surprised me too, and yes Alpha, this morning even before I hit the Internet I converted them to B&W with a slight contrast boost. They looked much better (put a couple in my gallery), and I will certainly take your advice on my next session. As to what I did, I was almost hoping nobody would ask! I have a variety of lensesfilters and whatever with my SLR, which I always use for my more serious work, but my digital camera is almost a toy (although I LOVE it dearly too). It's a Kodak DX3500. Point and click. Fixed focus, but it does have a "close-up" option, which has a DOF from 9 to 12 inches (22 to 30cm). All I can get from the book is a change from f/4.5 (normal) to f/8 (close-up). But it does have a fairly nice size, 1800x1200 pixels, and prints real clean up to the 16x20" range. Anyways, for these shots I used my digital in the "close-up" setting (film would be WAY TOO expensive). Set the flash to the weaker "fill" setting, held the camera the required 9 inched back, and shot upwards just above the flame of the torch - one of those basic Citronella fuel deals. The smoke is supposed to keep mosquitoes away. The stupid book doesn't even give the camera shutter speed, but the smoke off the torches moves really fast, so I'm thinking at least 1/125 or maybe 1/250. My back porch light was also on, but I don't think it had much impact, if any. Wish I had something more sophisticated to report, but that was it! marshall