My life in iphone photos

And these are the moments that made the drama, stress, and "will-you-please-just-smile" worth it all. These moments when we're together, happy, and whole. These moments? Well, it's priceless.

Stay Fabulous,
ShahnazM

Good reads : Eat Pray Love................

During my last one and more than half year JOBLESS time one common thing I have heard from my Family..friends and loved ones was YOU ARE FEELING “BAD” COS YOU ARE DOING “NOTHING”…being jobless doesn’t mean im doing NOTHING..not at all…cos so far I know that I am doing the 3 most important thing one can do…EAT…PRAY...LOVE……

Few months back when I went to the book shop to look out for something NEW to read..i come across this book luckily which I was looking for looong..to be exact from the moment I saw the trailer of the movie..YES I haven’t seen that movie yet..cos I didn’t wanted to..i wanted to READ the original book..which I always do…READ…

I could write pages about this book I guess…but im not in the writing mood now...all I'm going to say about it is that it's wonderful, honest and beautiful. I won’t say that It has changed my life..Rather it changed my perception of many things and I'm so glad I've read it…

Here I want to share some of the quotes from the book with some lame pictures I have taken throughout the soulful reading session…

“We search for happiness everywhere, but we are like Tolstoy’s fabled beggar who spent his life sitting on a pot of gold, under him the whole time. Your treasure–your perfection–is within you already. But to claim it, you must leave the buy commotion of the mind and abandon the desires of the ego and enter into the silence of the heart.”

 “There is so much about my fate that I cannot control, but other things do fall under the jurisdiction. I can decide how I spend my time, whom I interact with, whom I share my body and life and money and energy with. I can select what I can read and eat and study. I can choose how I'm going to regard unfortunate circumstances in my life-whether I will see them as curses or opportunities. I can choose my words and the tone of voice in which I speak to others. And most of all, I can choose my thoughts.”

“I think I deserve something beautiful.”

“I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after your death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and I am braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.”

“There’s a crack (or cracks) in everyone…that’s how the light of God gets in.” 

 “In the end, though, maybe we must all give up trying to pay back the people in this world who sustain our lives. In the end, maybe it's wiser to surrender before the miraculous scope of human generosity and to just keep saying thank you, forever and sincerely, for as long as we have voices.” 

Stay Fabulous,
ShahnazM

Learning How to Photograph a Water Splash

Water splashes create some very cool pictures, but capturing them can be a lot harder than it looks. You have to ensure that your ISO is correct, that you’re set to the right shutter speed and that you are focused on the correct thing. And, that’s just part of the entire picture.

So, to help you capture amazing water splash pictures, here are some tips on how to photograph water splash.

Setting up the Scene & SHOOT..SHOOT..SHOOT...

For today's shot i used a Mandarin orange. The set-up is toooo simple. I just kept the half-cut Mandarin under the Kitchen sink tap. When i was done with all the setting (For camera n Safety precautions) i opened the tap and Voilà!!!! (oh i also placed a black cake tin behind the mandarin so the water splash can be seen properly).

As i was feeling too "LAZY" and my additional lights (continuous lights) cheated on me, i had to take this picture with my flash (YN565EX). but for this kind of hi-speed freezing motion shots its best to play with the shutter-speed (which with flash is not possible/or may be possible..i have to check more on FLASHES :-/)..but the bottom line was i simply HAD to take splash shoot today (hmmm i do have some snapping madness like this..some composition n ideas pops-up in my mind n I HAD TO DO IT:-/ )..Dont worry i will definitely show you some more PROPER techniques later ;-)

Avoid Getting the Camera Wet

Whatever you do, test the area to ensure that you are far enough away so that the camera doesn’t’ get wet from any high splashes. You may try tightly pulling a piece of clear plastic across the lens of the camera. Or, use a filter that can take a little bit of wear and tear.

Important things to keep in mind

• Set your camera to a pretty high ISO setting. You can’t use flash since it will just reflect either off the bowl or the water. If a high ISO still doesn’t provide enough light, try adding additional lighting. Lamps or photography lights will work. Or, invest in a strobe that will add a lot of light for a number of seconds allowing you to take a bunch of pictures before the strobe flicks off.

• You may even have to move around your lighting until it’s in the right position. And, try experimenting with your aperture. While you generally want to allow as much light in as possible in low-light situations, you may actually want to make a smaller aperture for water splashes since they will be reflecting a lot of the ambient lighting.

Finally, you need to take a lot of shots. Set your camera to the continuous shooting mode, and be prepared for a number of bad shots. You need a lot of practice to get this right. As you learn, however, you’ll eventually land a number of wonderful water splash pictures.


Stay Fabulous,
ShahnazM