A lovely sunny Autumn evening here in Surrey. Just right for a stroll along the River Wey.

The first is very nice.

Number 3 for me. The way the eye is drawn into the picture first by the narrowing banks of the lake, then beyond by the valley and through to the mountains beyond is superb.

Wonderful craftsmanship , well documented

Very photogenic. Difficult to do justice with under harsh daylight. It is crying out for a polariser to darken the sky. Perhaps a lower shooting position and getting a bit closer with a wider angle might help.

Fascinating place

Nice, I keep looking for tarzan in the trees!

5/8/10/12 work very well for me. Certainly captured the isolation.

Why was I never allowed to smash a cake ?

Nice set.

Stick one of these on your Christmas pressie list Nigel http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/collapsible_backgrounds/lastolite_lb56gb_collapsib...

Saves re-arranging the curtains !

Trying to darken the background when the subject is a portrait is a nightmare, especially when the subject has dark hair. It is so easy to overdo it and you end up with the unreal look around the hair margin as Gareth mentioned.
I have had better success using the burn tool without a mask/selection tool. Use a soft brush, select shadows only, and set a very low number for the exposure slider when working on the margins...say 5-15 %. This method works best with dark background/light haired subject. The dodge tool (select highlights) works with a white background/dark haired subject.