[Kombisaurus]

lol.. well thanks Irma <blush> Sorry G..
Maybe this is exactly the kind of shot I should be using to try to pick up girls after all! Maybe that's where I've been going wrong all my life?

Peto, Rufus.. Thanks for your kind words, and yeah I agree there is a definate similarity to the look of Jamies shot.
Certainly I never meant there to be (his shot never crossed my mind at the time), but I've seen that shot of his so many times on the front page of shuttertalk that it is well entrenched in my brain, so it may have subconsciously influenced me.
After I posted my first pic above, the thought did occur to me that it was similar to his shot and I went and had a look at his pic to see just how similar they were. I certainly wasn't trying to draw any comparisons though, and happily I think (hope) the shots and techniques are far enough apart to avoid such comparisons... but there is still a definate resemblence. Sorry Jamie!

At the same time, I could probably name half a dozen other sources that have influenced me in some way which also have a similar look to these shots. The second shot in particular reminds me of the music video for the Smashing Pumpkins "Bullet with Butterfly Wings", but that didn't occur to me until after I'd done it either (although it was one of my favourite music videos back in the mid 90's).

*sigh* I think it just goes to show how difficult it is to really come up with an original idea. Everything we do is just the result of the sum of our experiences. :/

But I'm just happy that I achieved the look I was after and developed a new PS technique to add to my arsenal. Its all part of the learning curve for me, and this is just one more small step forward.

oh, and Peto, yeah that second one does appear a bit too dark - I think because its on quite a bright web-page (in a non-colour-managed environment in IE). I'll lighten it just a touch to compensate and change it back in its original post.

Thanks
Adrian