Instead of the many thousands we usually get, the numbers of migrating monarchs are sharply reduced, an endangered species. I plant milkweed for them in my yard, and I am grateful I live next to a butterfly preserve where I can visit them during their usual two month hiatus here in Goleta. We have just a couple of hundred this year, but they are such stunning creatures! I love to try and photograph them in flight which is tricky in the low light of their preferred eucalyptus grove. I’ve lightened up the photos a bit to compensate for the light but the rich colors of these beauties need little embellishment.

Hi all,

I'm considering buying a printer, possibly the canon pro 100s, this might not be a good idea.
I love black & white and this is difficult for many printers they tend to mix magenta and cyan inks to attempt to get gray. I day attempt because often there is cyan in highlights and magenta in the shadows.

The best printers will use pigment inks rather than dye, this tends to give long life without fading, it also tends to make for clogged print heads, actually printhead in most cases If you get a clog on one color then you can end up replacing the whole print head.

Some printers can be adapted to run in third party gray inks (epson usually) but inks can be hard to obtain outside of the USA. Inks can be often treated as potential bombs and the post service often may refuse to carry ink (almost as bad as lithium batteries).

Why get a printer at all then?

Well there is the wonder of seeing your print appear before your eyes, its not the darkroom but ...
Of course that assumes there are no blockages, in which case it's an expensive mess.

If I don't self print then i don't need to match paper and ink. The clogged printhead is not my problem, I don't need to invest in the printer ensure I print often enough or buy expensive cartridges. It may be cheaper to get prints made professionally, i'm pretty much forced in that direction for photo books.

For the canon pro 100s it's looking to cost around €450 to start (sales tax bites), So i kind of want to do this but my head is saying leave it to the pros.
It might even be possible to get a deal if i can wait for prints, they have the same head cleaning issues i would face, so a print for me maybe cheaper than a cleaning cycle. Printer manufacturers are pretty shy about the costs of running their printers, the cost of cartridges and how much they will cover. often giving typical document useage (sure lots of pages for text but i'm covering a whole sheet). Apart from the margins, borderless printing will lead to overspray which may reach the waste ink tank or just lightly coat the printer. It may be better to allow for some 'bleed' if you want to crop the paper and not have white border showing, Mats are also a good choice.

So taking all this into consideration do i buy a printer and if so which one?

Christmas is coming and i have a handy bonus in hand :)

I stopped in a salvation army store yesterday and they had just received a Canon EOS Rebel XT and priced it at $39.99. it was Senior day, 30% off. I inspected it and it was in very good shape. So.......I got it for $28. Battery and charger was there, but no computer cable. Charged the battery, all seems ok. Now all I need is a lens to finish checking it out. It even was in the original box. I'm sure it will be ok.

Any way, I have a new toy. Reviews I read says it was a great camera in it's day. We will see....

Hi Folks, me again. I wanted to share these images I took at a Christmas Concert here at one of Nashville's local churches. Again, if these are offensive, I apologize, they do contain content of a Christian nature, so just change the channel if you need to. My lovely wife and several friends of ours attended. I took these photos from the 2nd row back from the front near the center of the sanctuary. The front row was reserved for the church's camera crew and still photographers. On occasion, they got in my shots...I did my best to shoot around them. The orchestra was just ahead of us. It was a magical night for me. I love music and I love photography. Hope you all will enjoy these...it sure was fun taking them. Oh, and I'd like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas while your here. And, thank you for looking and commenting if you so chose. If your curious, here's a link to hear this choir that was made last last year: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1ooVJ5klyc

Camera Sony RX10III, jpegs processed with Photoshop Elements 10 with Topaz Adjust and Denoise. Shot in 16:9 widescreen

DSC07407-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07438-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07446-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07470-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07478-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07503-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07538-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07548-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07580-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07607-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07638-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07740-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07802-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07823-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07865-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07879-02 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07899-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07917-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07940-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07979-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

DSC07980-01 by James Frazier, on Flickr

I am new to self-publishing and I am worried about making the wrong choice. I am interested in publishing a book of my photographs with some text, possibly in the form of poetry. I am thinking about somewhere in an 8" x 8" size. I would like to do a hardcover. I would like to print on a good weight paper. This would enable me to print on both sides. Possibly archival.

I haven’t decided on finish, matte or glossy. Quality binding. I have not decided on how to go about marketing yet.

If anyone has self-published, I would greatly appreciate your input.
Thanks with great appreciation for your input.

barb