Randoms I..

Hey there!

I hope you have all had a great week so far and are super excited for the approaching weekend!

Since my inspiration took off for a few days I didn't really know what to post this Thursday.

So I figured I should show you some shots I have published on my flickr stream

These photos were shot for the weekly challenge FlickrFriday challenge. The theme was "Something Gold, Something Blue".

Also for FlickrFriday. "Getting Closer" was the theme.

My selfmade fairy lights (made of egg cartons).
You can find a tutorial at this website. There are lots of great ideas for "upcycling" ordinary stuff/trash.

My most recent photo is following the theme of TwitterTuesday of the 28th of January 2014 - TEA.
I tried to form a tea cup out of tea as you can hopefully see. If you're wondering how I edited this, don't hesitate to ask, I'd be happy to inform.

And the last photo for today is showing a denim button-down shirt. I decided to make use of the macro setting. I wanted to highlight the way it is worn nowadays by almost all youngsters.

I enjoy taking part in all sorts of competitions on platforms like flickr or twitter since it encourages changing up the standards of photography.

Thank you for reading!

xx, Steph

Happiness..

Hey there!

This post is dedicated to the people who make me smile.

These people I have photographed are close to me, friends of mine and strangers. No matter the connection they have all brightened up my day with giving a smile.
To reveal a smile can be flirty, encouraging, comforting, ice-breaking and so much more.

So I will share these smiles with all of you to hopefully light up your day.

Thank you for participating!

And to top it off, I'd like to share a poem from Edward Estlin Cummings that I have added to my list of favourite poems lately.
Here it comes:

"I carry your heart with me [ I carry it in my heart ]
 I am never without it [ anywhere I go you go, my dear;
                                     and whatever is done by only me is your doing my darling ]
 I fear no fate [ for you are my fate, my sweet ]
 I want no world [ for beautiful you are my world, my true ]
 and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
 and whatever a sun will always sing is you

 Here is the deepest secret nobody knows [ here is the root of the root
                                                                     and the bud of the bud
                                                                     and the sky of the sky
                                                                     of a tree called life;
                                                                     which grows higher than
                                                                     soul can hope or mind can hide ]

 and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

 I carry your heart [ I carry it in my heart ]"

Thank you for reading!

xx, Steph

My HDR Production..

Hey there!

As I've told you a few posts back, I have recently looked into HDR Photography.

I have read loads of articles and tutorials in order to be prepared for my next shoot at the beach so I'd have good photos to work with.

I will now describe my steps I took from capturing to editing.

THE SHOOT

- use a tripod [ no great outcome without these 3 legs! ]

- use aperature priority [ I selected f/5.7 ]

- automatic shutter speed

- shoot in RAW + L [ more editing flexibility ]

- auto-bracketing mode [ will shoot 3 or more photos with different shutter speed resulting in different exposure ]

- take more than just one series

THE PROCESS

-take a look at your photos and choose a series that you'd like to edit

0 [ shutter speed: 1/100 ]

-3 [ shutter speed: 1/400 ]

+3 [ shutter speed: 1/25 ]

- the editing probably works best with the programme "Photomatix Pro" [ I did not use it, since there's another great programme called "LUMINANCE HDR" for free

- then add the 3 [ or more ] photos you selected to Luminance [ all need to be the same file type, in my case RAW ]

Adding the photos to Luminance

- you'll eventually end up with this:

Ready for tonemapping [ adjusting certain parameters ]

- there are nine different types of tonemapping which can be selected + adjusted [ I used Fattal, since I wanted to end up with a dramatic photo ]

- I used the parameters [ alpha: 0,15 / beta: 0,88 / Color Saturation: 0,65 / pre-gamma: 0,79 ] advice on adjusting parameter were found here: http://www.hieronymus41.de/luminanceHDR.pdf

Adjustments

- then save the LDR and maybe edit later on [ I liked it this way already, so I didn't edit it anymore ]

And here's the finished HDR Production:

I would love to recieve any sort of feedback, since I have just started learning a bit about HDR Processing.

Thank you for reading!

xx, Steph

For all these Christmas lovers..

Hey there!

I thought I'd share a lovely winter dessert with you. It's traditionally meant for Christmas, but it tastes just as good in January!

It's called "Bratapfel" (engl. roast apple) and is made from [who would have guessed] apples.

Ingredients (serves 4):

~ 4 relatively big apples

~ 2 oranges

~ chopped almonds

~ marzipan

~ honey

~ vanilla bean

~ any sort of chocolate cookies [I used gingerbread]

~ butter

~ vanilla custard

~ cream

Kitchen utensils:

~ an oven

~ a knife for coring the apples

~ 2 pots

~ measuring jug

~ cake tin

~ orange squeezer

1. Core the apples and get rid of any stains.

2. Fill them with marzipan/almonds and put them in the cake tin.

3. Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. Chop the cookies and put them on top of the apples.

5. Then "close up" the hole with a little bit of marzipan.

6. Squeeze out the oranges and put the juice with a small piece of butter into a pot.

7. Bring it to the boil, let it cool for a little while and pour it over the apples.

8. Cut open the vanilla bean and extract the vanilla seeds. Sprinkle half of it on top of the apples.

9. Add a bit of honey and put it into the oven.

10. Prepare the custard, let it cool and then add the rest of the vanilla seeds + 200ml of cream.

11. WHISKING TIME!

12. Check on the apples occasionally and take them out once they look golden. They should have opened up a little as well. [mine took about 35 minutes]

13. Most important step: ENJOY!

I hope you liked this post and let me know if you tried out these great roast apples.

Thank you for reading!

xx, Steph

White Beauty..

Hey there!

I hope you have all had a great New Years Eve and lovely Christmas days!

The other day I went to the beach nearby and took some photos of lovely swans.

I really love these animals since they look so elegant and fluffy!

























Lately I have been trying to compose HDR shots, but I haven't completely figured it out yet....
If you are familiar with HDR please let me know down below in the comment section!

So I'll keep studying that and will show you my results, as soon as I manage to compose a good one!

Thank you for reading!

xx, Steph