@alun lambert: Thanks very much Alun!

@Ana Lúcia: Thanks Ana!....I think that wet pavements always make for more interesting urban photos at night.

@Ron: Hi Ron,

To answer your question, I don't think I do anything special. This Sigma 10-20 lens however is really special and when I put it on my camera I see photo opportunities and compositions that I don't with my other lenses. It has very good contrast compared to my other lenses and I think that's part of it as well as the super wide angle obviously.

In post-processing I use a digitiser tablet instead of a mouse and do a fair bit of selective dodging and burning.....sometimes to accentuate a feature of the photo and sometimes to tone things down.

On this one I accentuated the shiny pavement from the foreground to the doorway by boosting contrast just on the pavement area.

When I first started taking photos with this new Nikon D40 in November '07 I was lucky enough to meet on-line at DPReview a very talented photographer and graphic artist called John Leech ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/leechypics ) who gave me some great tips about post-processing.

He encouraged me to make a statement with my photos and to use them to express my feelings......that's the goal that I set myself these days. I'm lucky, like most of us on this site, to be an amateur so I'm taking photos for myself and no-one else. If others like my photos that's very pleasing and flattering but ultimately it's for my own pleasure and fulfillment that I take them.