Hi prince-andy,
In answer to your questions:
I applied on 6th October 2011. I was very well organised with my application and had my photos ready prior to applications opening.
My photograph was taken using a digital camera and resized using adobe photoshop. I stood against a white background during the original taking of the picture. The background must be white/neutral and you cannot digitally alter the photo in any way (apart from resizing) or it will not be accepted. Thus the background of my photo was not edited in any way.
The process is a lottery so luck is the primary factor but you can definitely help yourself by getting all of your application components right initially!
I hope this helps.
Leah