@scribler Using that merging step will give you a fair indication of what happen when everything below it is merged......... and it will to a certain degree look different to what you see on your screen. I am glad that you continued to play with your photo though and tried some other filters, it really does come back to the photo itself, no two black and white photos will ever work in exactly the same way because of the 'data' within the photo itself, the depth of field, shutter speed etc etc. So you do need to experiment and tweak your settings......... maybe I am a nerd that way but I love doing that part! lol!