Thanks all.

Thanks for inspring me, I've never used the clone tool before. This doesn't bear close inspection, but once resized it's not bad:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/IMGP3492b.jpg[/IMG]

(before anyone says it, yes I should have cloned the cone out as well). I'm quite impressed with the clone tool, need a lot more practice to make it not look like a BBC3 transmission stutter though.

Then the mono bug bit:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/Imgp3481b.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/Imgp3494b.jpg[/IMG]

Thanks, I need to learn how to use cloning. Well, I need to learn how to use Photoshop really, I have boosted contrast on the lamp and the nameplate in Paintshop Pro, perhaps not far enough but I didn't want to overdo it.

Had a quick trip down the road this afternoon, here's a few shots. I was trying out a polarising filter that I got off eBay, I'm not entirely sure it isn't affecting clarity on 1:1 of the images before I resize them for the web.

Lamp:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/Imgp3496-web.jpg[/IMG]

Nameplate:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/Imgp3476-web.jpg[/IMG]

Pulling out:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/Imgp3492-web.jpg[/IMG]

Can never resist an obvious montage:

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/Llangollen2012/montage1-web.jpg[/IMG]

With locations like this it's always difficult to get decent photos without people in the way, unfortunately there's not much to be done about it. I don't feel that I want to be editing them out, even if I could figure out how to work Photoshop to do it properly.

As always, any comments appreciated.

OK, thanks, I think I must (should) have read that somewhere before.

They're very sharp indeed, sharper than I seem to be getting with my Kx. Would you imagine that's the lens (I'm usually on the kit 18-55, or Tamron 70-300) or my reliance on autofocus?

Not sure why the forum has gone wide here, sorry if it's my fault, pictures are shrunk to 1024 pixels across, someone tell me if I've posted incorrectly please.

Having got into position for the steam special about an hour too early, I amused myself by watching the ducks.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/General/Imgp3387a.jpg[/IMG]

(It's not dead, just washing itself off) The other one was a bit close, unfortunately there
wasn't time to move as it flips over and back quickly, then they obviously got an attack of
modesty and moved away after this.

I was amazed at the noise these things make - I heard a loud whooshing noise, when I
turned around it was two mallards (I think) flying in for a landing on the canal. It's
strange I've never noticed before. Way too quick for me to get a photo, unfortunately.

And this plane must have been taking off, perhaps from Liverpool.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/General/Imgp3393a.jpg[/IMG]

Both are with the Tamron AF70-400 Di, not a bad lens except it's a bit slow at focussing
sometimes and can get confused and focus off to infinity and back. Took a load of
dandelions that all look pretty much the same, except for this mutant one. On all
the others I took the time to move any stray grass shoots so as to get the
flower, on this one I forgot. Must have been the excitement.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/General/Imgp3417a.jpg[/IMG]

I think you're right about monochrome, unfortunately the sky was about the same colour as the steam. But I've lost a bit on the trees by rotating it to get things a little more vertical.

[IMG]http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a149/hpfirenza/General/Imgp3426a.jpg[/IMG]

Cheers, I'll have a play with that. After I posted them, I realised that neither is anything particularly special, just record shots really. Neither has had any post-processing done.