Mark.

Having looked at the photos, you clearly make some valid points, but sometimes creating true reality may not look as appealing as a pseudo reality. Whilst the images are clearly photos of glass orbs, if you created near identical illustrations, I suspect they would look a lot less natural, and certainly less appealing, than the less true to life illustrations you often see.

All illustration is just an illusion, if the viewer see's what the artist intended, then the image is a success.

Of course you'll probably now go and create an example that will prove me wrong, we'll see. http://www.talkgraphics.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Sark