I Tried quickbooks..very old version was o...k new version is linked into all sorts of stocks and shares,printing god knows what and is more work than you need.you can only track your money how IT wants you to. We use excel if you're good it will link in with access for your customer database etc. Try your Bank...Barclays and Midland Bank (HSBC)has business advisors and they used to produce an excel spreadsheet on cd which had all the basic columns and rows ready formulated. good start point if its available.

Thanks for your kind comments. We have lots of flood soaked fields around so most nights are a little misty at the moment. also moon is out late afternoon for a while. will try larger apperture and faster speed and ISO when it gets full again. thanks again.

I took a photo of the moon, as suggested in the main forum using 10s f10:iso100:1/100 with a sigma dg70-300 5.6. on a tripod. it came out decidedly egg shaped. it is reasonably sharp (for a 300mm) so moon movement wasn't the problem. Is the moonlit bit occaisionally egg shaped when not full? my eyes wouldn't see it that well and it was quite a few days after the full moon. Hey ho it was my first one with the grey bits showing, rather than being an amorfous blob.

Apparently we had those hanging on London bridge.Mind you, Londoner are a funny lot. they still blow smoke at the tourists.

consider this:
I run a home maintenance business - i don't want to travel out of county.....30-40 miles for a three hour job charging £15 - £20 per hour.....I put advert in local hardware newsagent shops £3/month...most jobs are local(10 miles) and repeat business. done this since 2001

wife runs a health and safety consultancy...she charges £150 for three hour training sessions she has website(£150 set up)...not many out of county jobs come from it...most of her jobs are local and repeat business from word of mouth. done this since 2007. she gets lots of spam and nuisance calls unrelated to what she advertises via the net.

It aint photography, but how far do you want to travel. decide this prior to deciding where?how to advertise.

NB - do not put adverts in so called trade magazines that phone you....they are expensive scams. buy a magazine that you see free/sold locally...then decide if you want to advertise there. also look at 'free ads'magazines, church mags etc

Business isn't a rush...it takes time and mistakes. do you have a small business advisor at you local council/town hall. use them and network with other local businesses.(they need adverts and staff photo's etc)

You are working alone. look at lone working advice..if not in the US look at UK..be safe first,second and last. if you don't like the look of the venue or area go home. have a friend that knows where you are and will call you once you have arrived at a venue. read the advice make it a routine.

Business accounts in UK cost more money in charges than 'Free' personal accounts. If you can get away with opening a 'personal account' till your business takes off..do it.
accounts are two columns in a book...money paid in money paid out. balance it each week when you laugh more than cry then you're in business.

keep an eye on what you are spending...be realistic..you can go bust real quick and Nikon won't shed a tear. buy what you need when a job is confirmed, not in order to get a job. My tools are cheap and i have lots still 'shiny'from jobs that never confirmed.

good luck and may your god favour your enterprise. Fortune favours the foolish just the same as the wise.

Not sure that a home owner needs to put a sign up (in UK) but I was told filming kids damaging cars outside my house could not be used in court as no warning had been posted. (filming kids is a huge no no here...When our Housing Association (social landlord) put cameras outside a tenants flat who was being targetted for 'racial abuse' the company used had to put a large sign up saying they were responsable for filming and give a telephone number to contact. Same as at work we have a contact number posted on the sign saying cameras used. This is UK law....we have the most survielance cameras in the world....official. we probably have the most laws too!

He got in the car like that....couch is white leatherette - it wipes down, the same as the rest of the house.....

Yes...., wouldn't beat him with it. He just will not even walk under a sprinkler. needless to say he gets held and sprayed just about every time we go out. he comes up clean

I like the repeating out of focus blobs in this. Not as distracting as a large DOF would have created and colours are subtle - no highlights.

sorry should make my mind up as to description befor typing

Pip: 4 year old Springer Spaniel loves puddles - hates hosepipe.
Taken today canon 450d and 18-55 kit lens. cropped, adjusted curves slightly and sharpened.

Hi Hogs,
I've acquired a couple of old OHP's (actual light boxes - not acetates) They have huge convex lenses and good optical mirrors. My thoughts are :
how can i shoot photographs using bits of these ?
will probably use one as light source and cannibalise the other.

thought silhouette, smoke, shadows or even backgrounds.

anyone experienced playing with one of these - ideas?

Great photos : clear crisp and worthwhile taking

curious though, how do you work out your level 'horizon' in those scenes?
#3 looks 'true'#2 looks slightly off (i'm not saying it is...I wasn't even in your country...#1 makes me lean. Had the same problem in Switzerland: I was stood upright pictures had altitude sickness.

Hi Dave,
If you were working in the late 90's then you are probably in your 30/40years. Firstly forget how you did at school....everyone has baaaad memories of school learning. At school you are taught information facts to remember.(don't think - just parrot) At higher education you are taught skill facts to remember.(applied / argued with particular work based experiences) At Degree level you are taught to forget what you learned as facts, they don't exist, and learn perspectives that you pick and choose to argue your answer whether you personally believe it or not. I hated Algebra, till I was shown what the letters meant ie what the equation meant in real life (not as an exercise). I had to use Statistical analysis: another yuk till you are shown what it does and how one stat can prove and another stat can disprove depending what you want to call 'a fact'.. Good init. As an adult you need to forget saying 'I can't'.
Dont look at the equation as a whole, see each bit and understand what it equals in real terms...the rest is pure +-and /

NB. most people who take a degree in the UK, do not work in any field related employment. A degree merely means that you know how to learn that which you need ......

PS if you are taking the course in order to be a 'proffessional photographer', better read the previous question on "how to make a living out of photog...."

In the UK any surveilance camera has to have a sign saying who is running it....kind of defeating the object (or added disincentive to not hang around)Don't know about your state or Fed laws. worth a quick search as you may not 'prove' your case in law with unlawful use of cameras under UK law....

Unless you've a mind like a vice, reading computer programme books is hard.
First decide what you want to do in post processing.One thing....not 'make it better'...
look up a few PSE alternative ways of doing it from ezines and web sites and print them out. (there are two/three ways of doing almost everything in PSE.
Try it with your pictures. Dont pick the best one(it changes with every picture)
file it where you can find it.

Its slow, but you understand more and don't get flumaxed by mental overload or computer memory glitches.

You can't usually skip to doing things at the back of a book because it often referes you to earlier chapters...Utube ant Ezines do step by step instructions to achieve a goal.

Give it a year and you will have changed your camera, probably using another programme or decided that a few tricks does what you want and cease post processing for camera techniques... spending £40 on a book thats outdated in a year isn't great....have fun