I hesitate to post this because I know I'm going to get jumped on but all this talk about "cheating" and "ethics" is just too much. If the pictures look lovely on my monitor (and everyone's monitor displays differently) I don't particularly care what you did with them. I don't care if you took out blemishes or changed them to blue! I don't feel it's "cheating". Photography IS an art form! And there is nothing "unethical" about it. I'd be willing to bet that most professional photographers would be highly insulted to hear such talk. Why on earth do you think all of those tools were thought up and programmed into your camera and editing software to begin with. A hole or a blemish does not tell you anything about how a rose grows. It just says you had a bug or it rained and it got dirty. I don't base my purchases on one picture of a bloom. That just gives me some idea of what the basic color and form is so I can decide if I'm even interested in it. It does not give me any indication of the performance. Performance judgments should be made based on what the grower says about how the rose performs along with further research into that variety. The only exception to this might be full plant shots, which are rare anyway, that could give some indication to the eventual size of the bush. And that's still iffy because it's all about location, location, location! I have and use Adobe Photoshop Elements 6. Mostly I crop, size (8 inches on the longest size which comes out to 560) and brighten a little because I stop down to get truer colors. I used to be the Queen of over exposers. After that if there is something in the background that is particularly distracting and annoying I will darken it out some how. And I edit out bugs! I don't like them and I don't want to look at them except for butterflies and an occasional bee. I also GROOM my roses before I shoot them. Just like I would for an exhibition. A few minutes of checking blooms for dirt, bugs or blemishes can produce much better shots to begin with. I enjoy sharing and looking at beautiful photos of beautiful roses. How you got to that point is of no concern to me. I will not think you are "cheating" or "unethical" or think any less of you if you manipulate the media to produce those pictures. I'll just think you're a talented photographer.

You can scan your photos and use just about any basic photo editing software to change them to sepia tone. Not having a home printer (and feeling that store printers are better quality anyways) I would then save the image on a flash drive or CD and take it to Target, Walgreen's or Sam's Club, etc. to be printed. If these directions seem complicated (they're really not!) just ask a teenager how to scan a photo. Doesn't it seem like they are always more saavy when it comes to technology anyways? Once you get them to help you with the scanning they will certainly know how to change the image to sepia and save it for you. Then just take it to the store and have them print it out!

Samsung has their Frame tv that’s pretty darn cool. I have one in my bedroom, it looks really close to art and the frame is like a real picture frame. I think it would be great for over a fireplace or somewhere you want a tv for occasional use. It’s kitschy and overpriced but it’s fun.

This is quite timely for me as I also recently inherited many boxes of photos, we had two professional photographers in two different branches of the family back in the early 1900’s. So photos galore from them as well as other photos both earlier and later in time. Plan to archive the photos. Looking to find a way to display a number of the photos without them taking over my house and decor. Great suggestions here. I also, wanted to share my experience on exactly how delicate these photos can be. I left a photo out of it’s box for less than a day, in that short time the sun and heat faded the photo significantly and it went from flat to curled edges. The photo was on a table in a sunny room, although not directly in the sun. Lesson learned, thankfully we have other similiar photos.