Thank you for a wonderful idea Esther. I think I'm going to have to try that. It would be much cheaper than trying to print my own on an inkjet printer.

Please what?

You could check out what's available through various printers, both online and locally.

I think that's a little harsh. There are just many different opinions available here. When I ask for a group's input, I don't necessarily want them to make the decision for me, but I'm looking for other viewpoints that I might have not seen. Then, when I'm fully informed, I can make my own decision!

High schools back east must cheap out on lighting. Here in Montana I'm able to get decent action photos without having to go to ISO 3200. Right now I'm shooting with a Nikon D3000 and the kit 18-55 zoom as well as a Tamron 70 to 300, neither one of them is especially fast. I would like to upgrade to some faster glass in the future.

The first digital I used to try to shoot sports with was a Canon Point & Shoot. I shot my nephew's U16 baseball team at a tournament and got some surprisingly good shots. I was right on the at the edge of the backstop and in order to get shots of the batter or pitcher in action I would try to anticipate pitch and start shooting in continuous mode a second or two before the ball was thrown. I ended up with a lot of extra shots that just got deleted, but I also got some keepers.

Here are a couple of the shots I got with my Nikon:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5206/5369669765_b9d31cbc64.jpg

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5291/5426349934_78b8dacd3f.jpg

How big were the files originally? Did you resize them this time?

They uploaded fine as far as I can see. What seems to be your problem?

I'm not against doing some work for free as a favor for a friend, but I'm also against giving away my efforts when everyone else is being paid (unless it's a charity that I support whole heartedly and then I get a letter from the charity that I can show the IRS stating I donated $X.XX to said charity).

A former boss helped me form this policy years ago when I worked for his radio station. We would have many groups come to us asking for free "public service announcements" then turn around and pay big bucks for ads in the local newspaper. Most people had no problem coming up with some money for radio ads if you politely explained that they could have as many free ads on the radio as they got from the newspaper.

A standard photo credit, in small print, that says "Photo courtesy of Joe Smith" is NOT an effective advertisement for your photography business.

It would be interesting to know if this calendar is one being done for the city or a business or if the OP's neighbor is simply making a couple dozen calendars for friends and family.

There are companies which employ pilots and photographers to shoot aerial views of farm & ranch homes in rural areas. They then print proofs and send teams of sales people out to go door to door and sell framed prints. I don't know of anyone who's called these companies "creepy". But I would be selective of who you decide to give your prints to. I can see how some would see this as an invasion of their privacy.

I've got PS Elements 9, but before I purchased that, I used The Gimp and I was able to remove some distracting elements some of my photos.

Here is a before & after of one of the photos I cleaned up:

http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5190/5615223853_60f9cdee45.jpg


http://farm6.staticflickr.com/5261/5652037963_ec649edc8b.jpg

Tbone, I found the photo used on another website by searching for your name.

The website you were trying to remember which searches for photos is http://www.tineye.com

Also, check your Flickr settings to make sure you don't have Creative Commons permission checked. If it was, then the use of your photo was above board.

Thanks Spaaarky...I knew there was an online site to check shutter count, but couldn't find my bookmark.

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1593750

They're talking about the specs of one component manufacturer's camera, I'm not sure if it's the same one in your Casio Brigade, but I'm guessing it may be very similar.

I first saw blurred water photos in a magazine put out by Pentax when I bought my K1000 in the late 70's. By definition a fad is:
Noun:
An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, esp. one that is short-lived; a craze.

30+ years is not short lived in my book.

You may still be able to use the flash, but it will have to be fired by a remote trigger.