I would put a very large amount of money on it that your unidentified tree is a juniper of some sort. I really cannot differentiate between the junipers well. I have 2 junipers and it does look alot like my "Juniperus chinensis 'Parsonii'", I can definitely tell you it is not a "Juniperus chinensis 'Blue Vase'". Both of these are Chinese Junipers that have been selected to look different. Kind of like a black dog compared to a white one of the same species. I have been searching for a site that can help me differentiate the different junipers. I have not found one yet. If you come across a site like this, send me an email (its in my profile). Here are links to look at the two types of Chinese juniper I mentioned above. (photo less than a month) and (photo is about 8 months) As for your lighting. You can find a 18" florescent light fixture that will hold one or two bulbs, its your choice there. Then go to the pet store and get a bulb for aquarium plants. These bulbs throw out huge amounts of the spectrum and are very bright. You could even buy the hood (light fixture) for the aquarium there. It would be more expensive at the petstore ($40) compared to a Lowes/HomeDepot store ($25) for the light fixture. The bulb should run you around $25. I just searched Lowes and found a single 18" fixture for $15. Then at the petstore the bulb is $25. If the fixture comes with bulbs, I would replace them with grow lights, and hold on to them for backups. I would go with a double bulb fixture if you are trying to stay under $100. They are cheap enough. Good luck, hope this helps.

Well, I have an HP Photosmart M525 camera and companion baby printer (also have a big HP printer that will work w/it) Definitely easy to use, has lots of features I'm too dumb to use. My biggest complaint is with the size of the view screen, it is bigger on others. Also, it is very hard to do outdoor photos due to the glare on the small screen. Same small viewscreen is utilized for customization prompts. I can't help but wonder why, why .... if companies are determined to part us boomers with our money, why do they make their stuff so impossible to read with boomer eyes? Sorry, I digress ...... When I plug the camera into the PC, the pics load both to HP Photosmart and the MS My Pictures places. Pretty good double jeopardy, but slows down my computer w/all the storage ...... guess this is where the online photo places like Snapfish, PhotoBucket and others come into play. I dunno! Lastly, to date while I have hundreds of pictures right here on my computer, I've been blocked in all directions from emailing or posting them. It just won't work. And, so far, none of my geek buddies have been able to figure it out either. Grrrrr .........

One of the best digital camera sites around is dpreview.com. You can spend forever reading their reviews and forums. The canons are indeed highly regarded, but there are also many nikon and sony fans as well. Personally I'm a canon guy, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that they're hands-down the best in all areas. There are digital cameras available in all price and quality ranges. It really depends on what you want to spend. I love the elphs like lowspark has, but you do pay extra for the small form factor. Canon has a range that's cheaper but larger, with similar quality in terms of lens and imaging. You should generally plan on buying a separate memory card as the ones that come with the camera are pretty lame. Figure on getting a 512MB or 1GB card. The higher the resolution of the camera the better, in general, however there are some technical issues as resolution gets above 5 megapixel. So a camera with 7 megapixel isn't necessarily always better than a 5 megapixel camera. I'd generally look for a camera with 5 megapixel or higher, and a 3x or better lens in the range of 35-135 or thereabouts. Image stabilization is very nice to have; canon has optical IS, which is generally considered better than electronic IS. Also important is speed in several areas. How long does the camera take to turn on? How quickly does it take the image once you push the shutter button? How quickly can you take multiple photos in sequence? How quickly does it focus? Those are things you can get a feel for by playing with the cameras in a local store. In general, you can't go wrong with canon, sony, or nikon.

Emmie you might like to have a look at this book by Dave Huss. I have this one in my collection of digital photography books. I think you would be very happy with it as he takes you through the fundamentals in a manner which is easy to read and understand. I see he also has another book that looks like it would be suitable, although I'm not familiar with it. I'll put that link here at the bottom. There are many good books for beginners available and if you do a Google search, you'll also find websites with tutorials for using a digital camera. Good Luck. Sharon Here is a link that might be useful: Teach Yourself Visually