An early experimental shot with my *expensive* new digital camera. While its brethen suffer from many afflictions, this photo #106 and its amost-twin #105 came out beautifully, with a wonderful mood and clarity. Due to its lower resolution, this image is suitable for smaller prints and cards only. If I had thunked of shooting this still life at max res, it would be a fantastic HUGE poster. This was also taken with a long exposure time, I think it was 10 seconds at f/4.0 or so. Only the fire and some ambient light from another part of the house lit the scene. Note the ball's brass holder, with three dragons holding up the ring in which the orb rests. With the backlighting of the fire, it might not be obvious they *are* dragons. So, who do you know that likes crystal balls and cozy fires?