The MkI 18-55mm is actually quite a good lens, especially when stopped down. It's always possible to get a poor example if any lens.

The MkII will be better, but the real bargain of the moment is the SMC Pentax-DA 16-45mm f4 which is a fantastic lens, currently being phased out it seems.

Try SRS and maybe others for an exciting price on that one.

Quite right too, don't let him get away with it!

Thank you. I think.

I just content myself with being a Genius before my time...

That's a superb image with lots of real impact. Fantastic quality.

You've made the image, but to fulfil your vision, not to rescue a shot.

In other words, it's been done the right way round. The manipulation was done to make the image you wanted in the first plcace. The technique followed the inspiration.

I don't do any more now than when I worked in the darkroom. I was always combining negatives, making mirror images, changing brightness and contrast, cropping and all the other tools that are now available so much more easily in Photoshop.

Not to mention multiple exposures in camera and other camera trickery!

Photography is there, the techniques and equipment are there and what you make of it all is an individual choice.

What drives it is a desire to be creative and to express that creativity.

Generally, heavy manipulation doesn't work. The best images are more subtle than that and probably don't need special effects being added.

My criteria would be - does the treatment enhance the image and is it in keeping with the intent of the photographer's vision.

You obviously saw something in the Egret that made you take the photograph but if it didn't work in colour or black and white then is it likely to be enhanced by painting effects?

Sorry to sound a little negative about the process but it's not really to my taste.

Do you like it?

Just experiment, you'll get massive magnification and better quality than using a lens the right way round.

The best 50mm lenses for this are not the very wide aperture ones, which geberally have poor field flatness. The f1.7 and f2 lenses will behave best.

Try a 28mm reversed and prepare to be amazed...

How about the 16-45mm, a superb lens that is quite a bargain at the moment.

Maybe it's on the way and in due course we'll be able to use iPhoto.

Make that four. It seems there is no PC version of the iPhoto software that is needed, so you need a friend with a Mac to use this facility.

Fortunately my son Mike uses a Mac, so we have been making the books on his machine.

There's no doubt that the Mac has many advantages for imaging.