So Slink in a hushed voice what are you doing now. :0)

Bsteph I have been told its because speakers corner is in one of the Queens parks and you aint allowed to snap on her land. LOL Your right about the Brits they do tend to stop and let you take your pictures, I brought a Billingham bag, its a great passport into events for some reason they think you are press or something. As for beer guess I could just manage another your round Jordy LOL :0)

Jordy I am sat here with my cold beer trying to think of something smart to say. Champion ferrets! is that like the Crufts of the north LOL Azy I think where ever you live it seems there is f**kall to do, at least you have all that fantastic countryside. Have fun at the football I have seen some great crowd shots taken at football. :0)

Thanks for the example Michelle. I really must get my act together or Im going to miss another month. :0)

Yes a nice mini tut there Mitch, I always go first thing to the levels menu after scanning just to make sure I have my black and whites correct, its a good starting point.:0)

Like the feeling of space and your use of the light in these Azy not too sure about the cropped tree in #1 but #3 is a great shot, it would make a great print. :0)

Nice picture Michael, an unusual subject to use this technique, you usually see it done in the street or in train stations with passers by. Works really well and nice to see a straight shot, less the dots. :0)

My friend was asked by the local constabulary to stop taking pictures at Speakers corner in London. My god! its a designated place for free speech, how can they restrict taking pictures? a real shame there are some great pictures to be had there. :0)

LOL, You bloody nut Jordy what do you think your doing working a guy up like, T&A my foot. Nice start to your site, Like the front page took some loading down my wire but all seemed to work Might be nice if the gallery had the same feel. So how you get the puppy up the pole? Chase it up with your ferret LOL (sorry southerner making a joke there) :0)

A very quick how to and I mean very quick, if you want more just shout no problem. 1 copy orig into two layers 2 apply flood filter from flaming pear play for a couple of hours till you get it as you like then press OK 3 on other layer delete the top part all sorts of selection tools I tend to rough out with the erasure and finish off with the magic wand. 4 merge them together and copy into another layer 5 first layer apply filter>blur>smart blur select edges only and med quality play with sliders till you get a nice lines for the edges 6 apply and then inverse, change the blend mode to soft light. 7 on the other layer use the water colour filter love this easy art filter LOL 8 did I say quick 9 merge them together and change canvas size then stretch. 10 make two more copies into layers selected the colour from the thistles and removed the rest turned up the colour and applied a bit of blur 11 on the other layer selected the highlights and again applied blur to highlight the light source still not sure about this move. 12 and lastly new top layer softlight low opacity and painted a bit of vignetting in. There you go hope it helps :0)

Hi Firstorm , let me give you my take on #2 for what its worth. If I had found this I guess you found it and not arranged it, I think I would have seen the nice side lighting and the face in the arrangement and thought great picture and taken it just as you have. Now looking at it, Im thinking great humour picture what if I just draw the rest of the face in the sand might just add another element to it. Some pictures need a little making. LOL :0)

You saying, we are riff raff Jordy LOL :0)

Sounds good Peterke, One of the great things about the forums is sharing ideas and techniques. :0)