Another issue is that if you are sniping for shots like that, and come away with close ups of people, it's actually much more intrusive. If you get caught doing that, you may end up with a black eye!

If you are shooting with a 50mm or wide angle, people are aware of your presence and if they do not want to be photographed, will usually keep out of shot.

My technique is to focus on some scene, and wait for people to pass into shot, and then click.

That's probably pretty accurate! The Daily Hate / Hellograph screaming for action on issues like data protection, and then usually turning round and criticising the govt for responding to the issue. Wish the govt would grow a spine instead of being reactive to the 'pitchfork brigade' on every issue.

And you are right in that our law enforcers in the UK have a remarkably inflexible attitude, so there's no point expecting new laws to be interpreted with any degree of common sense - everyone's out to cover their backs.

Its great to welcome another Pentaxuser from across the pond, especially such an active Pentax supporter. I hope the rapidly growing number of K-x users check out your site!

Huw, those panoramas are great. There is no sign of overlap, even on the waves. Did you do a lot of cloning or is the software just that good? (I got a book of Peak District panoramic photos a couple of years ago for xmas. Apart from the fact most of the shots were taken in boring light, with uninteresting skies etc, they showed obvious signs of photostitching and I would have rejected them as falures. I won't mention the photographers name!)

Amazing! Even KNOWING it is an optical illusion, my brain simply will not accept it is the same colour.

Neither issue has anything to do with terrorism. The first issue is a relaxing of the copyright laws re unattributed material published on the web. I don't think the current law is enforced or enforceable anyway, and whether you live in the UK or not, the only way to prevent web-theft is to follow Martin's advice.

The second issue stems from our paranoid obsession (sometimes justified) with identity theft, or data privacy. The legislation is there to protect our private data from misuse, and there is nothing there about photography.

That can be interpreted as an outright ban on street photography if you wish, but I see it as a ban on egregiously photographing someone against their wishes, which I think is fair enough. And in any case, it's not clear whether his letter represents the proposed legal position or was simply advice. I can't see anything in the proposed legislation about photography, so I suspect the latter.

No... just the f-stop, as I recall there was a previous assignment on aperture

But wow, 1600ISO!

It all looks pretty sharp. What f.stop did you use?

Brilliant, well done. I especially like no. 2.

Cloning. But there comes a point where its not worth it, eg if the droplets are big and out of focus, making most of the image blurry. In that case i'd either go for an abstract shot and enhance the blur, or give up! Would be useful to see your shot.