Well, one situation that I remember using it at -3 (the highest setting) is this: I was outside, there was a lot of snow everywhere, and I wanted to shoot this block of ice on the river. Early afternoon, so everything was really white, but I wanted the smaller aperture effect.. put the shutter at 1/2000 (my fastest setting), and f/22 (the smallest aperture on my lens), but the "needle" (it's actually a LCD in the viewfinder) was at its lowest and the minus sign was blinking. Turning down that dial was the only way I could get it in the middle (I was actually aiming for a little above the middle because it was snow and I read about light meters reading the world as gray on another website). And I always put it back to '0' after shooting a picture.. at least that's a good habit. :P Another thing I tried, was if I wanted the large aperture effect.. I'd put the aperture to f/4, try to find a good shutter speed (not too fast and not too slow, depending on what I wanted to shoot) and then use the compensation. Thanks, everyone, btw. :) And that black cat in a coal mine example will come in handy.. my youngest cat is totally black and he enjoys sleeping on black stuff (resulting in me sitting on him by accident more than once). Now I'll know how to take a pic of him without disturbing him. :P - darkpen

Very nice! - darkpen

Nice pics, though. The highlights really come out nicely. :) Now, if only I could afford one of those new Murciago. Or at least get around to having my car cleaned and waxed. grin - darkpen

Very good results, PC.. I took a microbiology class back in college, and we had equipment that was supposed to be specifically for stuff like this. Except the technicians could never get it set up for us to have pictures sharp or crisp enough for our reports, so we ended up drawing everything by hand for the whole term. :P - darkpen

What an odd Christmas tradition.. making cat repellent.. You're all weirdos. grin - darkpen

I really like that first one - it's got that Millennium style going on (the TV show). :) - darkpen

I saw it too, before reading.. I like it too! - darkpen

-40 C and -40 F is actually the same thing. :) It gets that cold here sometimes in late January/February (probably not this year though, winter's pretty warm), and sometimes with high humidity (60%+). You just don't stay outside and hope your car starts. :) - darkpen

One of those Ferrero Rocher chocolates? :P - darkpen

It's neat! Doesn't remind me of ET as much as it reminds of the 'Grey' aliens, though. :P The eye in the bottom middle is cool, too (or is that alien genitalia? :P ) - darkpen

That Genuine Fractals plugin really gives good results - thanks for the link, Slynky! Wish I'd known about it earlier. - darkpen

Yeah, this one just looks like the PS2's controller... did you try another color on the first one? Maybe something less vivid would work? - darkpen

... and I'll get him to shave, too. grin - darkpen

Very nice.. I love how it turned sepia and the depth of field is just spectacular. Plus, you almost can't see the snow.. it's like it just adds some extra detailing on the trees. Excellent. :) - darkpen