Grand daughter, by Ron Clarke:

See the previous POTD from Friday, 15th Dec.

Apparently, the engaging soft focus monochrome portrait featured in today's DPNow Picture of the Day is: "really just a family snap shot of my granddaughter," according to its creator, Ron Clarke, better known on the DPNow forum by his user name, 'lumix'.

Ron adds: "I have now added the original to my gallery so that you can see how it started out. As it is not often that she smiles at a camera, I had to make the most of what I could get."

"The original has been cropped and converted to B&W using Picasa2 software. I then opened the image in Microsoft's Digital Image to clone out the background. Once I was happy with the result I re-opened it again in Picasa2 and applied the soft edging to the image."

Grand daughter, by Ron Clarke:

Click on the picture to see a larger view in Ron's gallery.

(Free forum/gallery registration required)

And what about the curious user name? Ron owns and uses a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ20. He insists: "I'm really just a keen amateur now adays, but back in the sixties I did own a photographic studio and camera shop."

"After a long break from photography I have only just got back into it. Being retired and with the introduction of digital, I now get loads more enjoyment from this fascinating hobby. Digital and computers are a completely new thing to me and I am learning day by day from all the helpful members on your forum."

There is plenty more to see from Ron, both in his gallery and on the DPNow forum. Are you up to the task of being selected for the DPNow POTD? All you need to do is exhibit your pictures on the free DPNow photo gallery and maybe we'll be in touch!