The disappearing check is no doubt realistic, yet I wonder how small transactions between individuals will take place, such as members of clubs paying their dues. Many folks do not like to carry much cash on them, however club treasurers may not have the means to accept electronic payments.

And re cash, what about the penny, or even the nickel? These coins do not have anywhere near the purchasing power when they were first issued. Think of the time wasted at the check out counter, as the cashier fumbles to get the right amount of coins to make change. Certainly it would be more efficient if costs were rounded off to the nearest five cents, or even the nearest ten cents.

[quote=Jakebrake]Received this in my email this morning. Quite thought provoking.

Ten Things That Will Disappear In Our Lifetime (Surprising!)

I kinda agree with you - liking my pix to reflect what I actually saw. However, I really dislike power lines so do all I can to find an angle where they are out of sight, or maybe can be cropped out in PP. But if there's no way to avoid them in an otherwise attractive scene, I'm faced with a dilemma - to delete or not to delete. Actually often I don't delete, for the very practical reason that they are difficult to delete due to the background that often seems to change pixel by pixel!

Wow, if this is for real, and I suspect it is not - they can afford a wedding/reception for 2000 guests, but cannot afford a professional photographer???!!! Priorities, anyone??

As I noted previously, they are difficult edit out since they often cover a large amount of the pic and there is no way I know of to eliminate them with one stroke. Since the background behind them varies so, one has to painstakingly edit them one very small increment at a time.

>>>Hi there We are looking for a wedding photographer for our wedding that is taking place either mid August or mid September 2015. We cannot afford to pay thousands of dollars, and therefore are looking for a photographer that is trying to build his or her wedding portfolio. We do not require any prints just the pictures on file. As for payment, we can only afford your dinner at our wedding and a small thank you payment. Please do not reply if you are an established wedding photographer or going to expect outragous amounts of money. Visits: 92>>>

Depending on responses on UHH, you might try to contact a camera club near you. That way if successful, there wouldn't be the issue of travel expenses, which obviously you're in no condition to pay, but what likely would be a downside to any would be photographer who might be interested otherwise.

>>>Hi Dick, I didn't know you were a hogger. Gues we have been looking at other peoples stuff. There's no way of knowing when you submit unless you email me? At least I don't think there is.

I don't know if you saw my original post of Morning Walk on Bruns Lane but it had power lines that were really distracting. Sandra Nightsky and Country's Mama suggested they be removed and that resulted in the photograph I emailed to you.

I gues we all will just have to work with the problem as best we can.

Thanks for your input. I always value your comments and your friendship.

Jim>>>

Another small world story. While I've been a "hogger" for a couple of years, I've not been active for several months now. Tonite, I just happened to check out today's submission, and your subject of power lines piqued my interest. Then I read it and saw the reference to the IL State Capitol, and wondered who my fellow "hogger" might be. Was pleasantly surprised to see your name!

Meantime, have a happy new year and hopefully you can resolve your Thursday night conflict and can resume attending camera club meetings.

Dick

Jim: I've toyed with the same dilemma, not only with that same State Capitol but also other pix as well. In the case of your two pix, since there is so much urban items in the scene, I don't know that the power lines add that much more distraction.

However, in the case of some pix I've taken of that building, with only the dome in view, I did find the power lines distracting.

Yet I find that removing them, especially when they are set against a nice sunset, to be difficult and time consuming due to the non uniformity of the background just behind the power lines. But then I'm working with PSE 8 and perhaps more sophisticated editing programs deal better with this issue.

Nice to meet a fellow camera club member on UHH!

Dick

I understand that using ScanCafe would involve mailing my slides to them. I would very nervous mailing them - if they got lost in the mail (accidents do happen!) I'd lose many years of photos. Is my understanding correct? Thanks.

I don't know that those scanners would produce results much better than what I get from my $85 one that I bought a few years ago. That's why I'd be interested in renting a high quality one, if available. I figure even if the rental was as high as $100 for a week or so, I wouldn't be paying anymore than buying one from Amazon, with likely better results.

I have over 1000 slides that I'd like to digitize. I have an inexpensive scanner that works fairly well, except that vivid colors such as sunsets do not transform that well. I've had better success in having a few down commercially, however the cost of $1 per slide adds up.
It occurs to me that if I could rent a really good scanner for a few days and spent full time scanning I could get the job done at a cost much less than having it done commercially or buying an expensive scanner, which once the job was done, would be useless to me. So, does anyone know where one might rent such a scanner? Thanks.

moon too low for me too, at my house. But fortunately, there is a cross street a block away that I walked to this morning, and got this shot, close to total eclipse.

moon eclipse, 10/08/14, Springfield, IL

It would be a funny name if the situation causing it were not so true :(

Thanks for sending them. Brought back memories from a very pleasant trip there of several years ago.

Unfortunately I had little choice in the view. In order to get the full church and its reflection, including the flags st the extreme top and bottom of the pic, I had to include extraneous stuff on the sides.

So my only option at this point seems to be the extent to which I crop one side and/or the other, to better lead viewers to the focal point, without over narrowing the pic. This of course was my initial question, with my hope being a happy medium resulting from all your comments.

If I could return to that spot, perhaps I could find a way to improve it, but that's not possible - way off my beaten track, plus I stumbled upon it while sort of aimlessly walking one day!

It is not an HDR photo - I have no means for doing that, altho I'd like to be so able, as I'm often up against dark foregrounds and bright skies.