Autumnal Outfits

*three outfits that I wore this week*
                     

XXO -Fi

Taking Slightly Better Photos

By Shana  

I’m not going to pretend I’m an amazing photographer. I’m no Annie Leibovitz or Ansel Adams. Also, you may already know this stuff, but in case you don’t, here are some things you should know about photography that you can use with pretty much any camera:

ISO
Changing the ISO on your camera (and I can’t tell you how to change it because it’s different on every camera) will make the photo lighter or darker. The numbers are in hundreds, and the higher the number, the lighter the photo, as you would expect. However, if you raise the ISO, the photo becomes noisier (or grainier if you are using film). If you are using a film camera, you can change the ISO by using certain rolls of film.

Shutter Speed
The shutter is the part on the camera that opens up to let the light in when you take a photo. The higher the shutter speed, the faster the shutter opens and closes. This means you can take photos without them being blurry. Unfortunately, when the shutter speed is faster, it lets in less light so the photo is darker, and this can often be a problem. You can also purposefully make the photo blurry by using a slow shutter speed.

Aperture
Adjusting the aperture changes how much the shutter opens when you take a photo, so that more or less light is let into the camera. This makes the photos lighter or darker, and changes the depth of field so you can add blur in the background. Aperture is a little bit more confusing than the others, because when the aperture is higher, the photo is actually darker, because the shutter doesn’t open as wide. A lower aperture (or a brighter photo) is more likely to have a blurred background.

Rule of Thirds
Imagine there are four lines on your photo: two are horizontal and two are vertical, dividing the image into nine equal parts. When you are using the rule of thirds, you try to line up the objects or scenery in the photo with the lines. This is somehow often more visually pleasing than a random or centered picture, though that is not always the case and this rule can be broken with good results. On some digital cameras, you can change the settings so that there is a grid on the screen which makes it easy to follow the rule of thirds.

(rule of thirds)

Keeping the Camera Still

This may seem obvious, but keeping your camera still can make a big difference if you don’t want a blurry photo. You can hold the camera still against your body or you can set the camera on a flat, sturdy surface. You can use a timer so you don’t move the camera at all while hitting the button. You can also get hold of a tripod or monopod if you’re willing to lug it around with you.

Lastly, don’t forget to focus. Or you could forget everything I just said and keep your camera on auto.

DIY Sock Bun

Hellooo. Here's a quick and easy hairstyle. Enjoy! 

XXO -Fi

Song: Nobody by Eliza Doolittle

Food Adventure -- Asian Food Market

                 Food Adventure -- Asian Food Market

              *some friends and I try some new edibles*

I recently visited the Asian Food Market in Albany, NY with some friends. The market had displays of cool looking spiky fruit; dried octopus; tanks full of live fish, crabs, and eel; and aisles full of candy. 

We spent most of our time in the sweets section... of course!  

The aisles were long, narrow, and filled to the brim with fun colorfully packaged treats. There was such a large selection but we managed to pick out just a few things to try. Our decisions were almost purely made on how marvelous we thought the packaging was... and we were not disappointed!  

 We found Lychee Gummies that tasted like flowers, Melon Gummies shaped like hearts, and Yuzu Gummies that were fresh and lemony.  All the Gummies had a light powdery coating and were really fragrant. We tried Choco Baby tic tac shaped chocolates, Lychee Fruit, Meiji Apollo strawberry chocolates,  Pocky (chocolate covered pretzels) which are very onomatopoeic and such fun to eat!  High Chew had a super strange texture.  It seemed like really hard gum at first, or soft chewy plastic. It eventually dissolved and tasted faintly like a green apple.  And we ended with thick creamy ice cream balls covered in rice dough, called Mochi. 

Overall the trip was yummy and we found some scrumptious new food favorites.

 I challenge you to try  a strange new food!

XXO -Fi 

                                  

3 Outfits

Photo credit Elisheva (my sister).

Interview with Mumzy

Fi: What were some of your favorite statement pieces of clothing?

Mum:  Umm, well, I remember I had this wonderful shopping trip once where I went with a friend who was purposely trying to dress me a little more fashionably or daringly than I normally do. We ended up getting me three black and white pieces. Black jeans with white polka dots that were very fitted. Then two great dresses. One was an A frame with capped sleeves and these wide black and white diagonal stripes.

F: What was a hair style you remember? 

M: I used to roll my hair in high school so that I had hair that was... how do I wanna say it... It smoothly came off the top of my head and then curled all the way around to the bottom. BIG CURLS. So when I was in gym class everything would just bounce.

F: What was something that set you apart from your friends?

M: I was always known for having a very positive attitude. Very energetic.

F: What were some hobbies you had?

M: I loved making things that i designed myself! I would just come up with gifts for someone. I loved knitting and sewing. I was a cheerleader... 

F: One of your fondest childhood memories? 

W: Well, there’s a whole lot of little ones that rival each other. All kinds of things with my sister and me. The radio shows. We used to play the Catalina sisters and we would each put a dress up skirt on and we would sit on top of the TV cabinet and sing Twenty Six Miles Across the Sea. When I was little we lived in Italy and we would picnic in the ruins. We would go to the beach and my brothers and father would build these enormous beautiful detailed  sand castles and all the little kids would wander over and watch. I was young enough that when I was there I learned Italian and apparently spoke it more readily than English.

F: What is one of the most mischievous things you’ve done 

W: I don’t know that I was very mischievous. I took a pencil once. Hahha                     

F: What?

W:  I took a tiny little pencil from girl scouts and it was really traumatizing... not traumatizing but like... whoa.

XXO -Fi

Night

Night  

The Karni Mata Temple

By Shana

In the town of Deshnoke, which is in India, there is a Hindu temple where thousands of rats live: sleeping, eating and drinking the food that is given to them, and just crawling about doing whatever rats choose to do in their free time. The rats, called kabbas, are not considered pests, they are supposed to be there. They are sacred.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/19429963@N00/2281682645/

The legend is that Karni Mata, the incarnation of the goddess Durga, asked the god of death, Yama, to give life to the dead son of a family member. Yama refused to do this, so Karni Mata made it so that all of her family would be reincarnated as rats until they could come back as part of her family again. The rats at the temple are supposedly these rats.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/yaatra/258383801/

People who visit the temple hope to have rats walk across their feet, because it is a sign of good luck. It is even better to see a white rat. People also drink or eat the leftovers of the rats. If someone kills a rat, they must buy a figure of a rat made of gold or silver to replace him or her (I really do not like calling animals “it” if I can avoid it, because they are not things in my opinion.)

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/owen-pics/2559023409/

As a person with pet rats, I love that there’s somewhere in the world where rats are not considered gross. Some people have this idea in their heads that all rats are scary, unsanitary, ugly, spread diseases, and that everyone else in the world agrees with them. Rats are adorable, and I wish I could visit this amazing temple.

Galactic, Guurrlll!

If you haven't noticed, galaxy patterns have been hoppin' this year. People have been sporting them  everywhere, from their computer backgrounds to their nails. But it seems like the prices for these cool clothes have been outta this world. So if you're like me and you just don't want to spend 70 dollars on a pair of leggings then this is the tutorial for you! Let's get galactic!

The materials for this DIY are:
1) an spray bottle
2) bleach
3) a sponge
4) a small paintbrush (or something along the lines of a wooden skewer...)
5) black, and white fabric or acrylic paint (I recommend having a few different colors to play around with as well)
6) a darkly colored item of clothing (go for black, blue or purple)


We did this DIY outside so we wouldn't get bleach on anything. If you do decide to bleach inside put down some newspaper first, and open a window so your house doesn't end up smelling like chemicals.

The first step is to mix one part bleach with two parts water in a spray bottle.

Make sure the top of the spray bottle is screwed on tightly, then give it a shake and test the amount of mixture coming out of the nozzle. Then lay your clothing out flat and spray it wherever you wish. 

Leave the item in the sun. The bleach should start working almost immediately. When the DIY is complete the places where to bleach was sprayed will look like gasses in an outer space galaxy!

Feel free to go over again with the bleach until you are satisfied with the  results.

When one side is finished flip the clothing over and do the same thing on the other side.

When the bleach has dried you can go in with your paints. Sponge on color to the bleached places to add to the outer -space-gasses look. I recommend doing this with a small pallet of colors to the edges of every bleach spray. Also  try blending the colors into the unbleached sections. Don't be afraid to sponge black into placed that need more definition or where the bleach just doesn't look right. Sponging in different dark colors helps to add more spacey-ness to the clothes as well. 

When your happy with the gasses part of your galaxy add the stars! Take either a small paintbrush or a skewer (we used some kabob skewers) and, using white paint, make small dots, star shapes and shooting stars .

Let the paint dry, though the clothes in the wash, and then wear them! This is how my galaxy leggings turned out! I LOVE them to death!


xoxo Mae

Amongst Loosestrife

Photo Credit: Mae, Shoshana, and Fiona

Thanks to Victoria for modeling