I thought it might have something to do with being imprisoned by the modern obsession with beauty, because the frame reminded me of a mirror. But her expression and clothes don't quite fit this reading!

As i-berg says, the lighting is wonderful.

These are beautiful crisp shots! I'm guessing the purple is from the Tamron, which is famous for purple fringing. Easy to sort in most raw converters, or in PS.

Been planning to in to Noah's Ark Zoo myself. Looks an interesting place

Lovely shots.

Another good idea is to turn the camera off when changing lenses, if possible, so that the CCD isn't charged while exposed (no doubt someone will tell me this is an old wives tale lol).

Does anyone use one of those nylon bristled lens cleaning brushes (the type with a built in blower)? I've thought about using mine before but shied away from it, although I can't see how it would damage the sensor.

Lol it's all getting a bit too confusing for me now!

Well that's in itself quite a boorish way to express yourself (losing sympathy fast here).

I haven't seen any comments on your photos because you have deleted them.

That's an outstanding image John. The framing works great. Why the shackles though? (Is there a side to your photography club you haven't told us about...)

Yes, there is a small minority of arrogant twerps on this site- just look at the comments on Xeoboy's uploads. Just plain boorish.

I am cruising my narrowboat down the Avon to Tewkesbury, in bright sunshine. Possibly my last journey as the boat is going there to be sold

Don't forget the boat!

Ah but what I mean is that the noise which may have been apparent at 100% is reduced in size more in the 15mp image than the 10mp image...

To take an extreme example, say you had a 5mp image, and a 20mp image, and at viewed at 100% the 20mp image had twice as much noise. If you then printed both at A3, the noise would still be far more apparent in the 5mp image, because you are viewing it at closer to 100%.

Perhaps I will have another think about this tomorrow when the effects of this pinot grigio has left me!