Change The Coloring Of Cut Flowers
HOW YOU CAN CHANGE THE COLORING OF CUT FLOWERS
To change white carnation-type petals to green, stand the long-stemmed flowers in water containing a green aniline dye. Other suitable aniline dyes may be used to achieve colored stripes on white flowers.
Place flowers over a basin of water which contains a very small amount of ammonia in a bell glass. The petals will usually change. For example, many violet-colored petals will change to green; red colors will become green, white will turn yellow and dark carmine will turn black.
Violet-colored asters can be moistened with a very mild solution of nitric acid. The ray florets will turn red and will also acquire a pleasant scent.
Photo Composition Tips for Digital Photographs by Al Sanchez
Digital photography success is based on a few primary things of high importance. The obvious first thing that is very important for digital photography is lighting and light. The light is what will get your image exposed and manipulating it properly will give you absolute control over your photographic image.
Another important aspect is your skills level of technical aspects. You see, photography is a good blend of creativity and technical skills. If you can master the technical side you will have more freedom to be creative. The technical side can include things from shutter speed to measuring the distance for focusing the image properly.
Of course, the last and what this article is about is composing your images. Photo composition is basically how you position your image, where you set the camera at, etc. It’s basically what results in what people see in the borders of the image.
The Angle of the Photograph Picking the right angle for your photo is critically important. It’s so crazy how changing the angle of your shot even a few inches can make your photo much better looking. It’s also interesting how a few inches off can make the photo look as if it were missing something.
Here are some simple tips for angles. Being that I first got into film making before photography, this stuff is very easy to know and is used very often to convey the relationship of characters and such.
1. From below angle Having the angle of a character be from below will make your model look much more powerful. This is great if your model is a character of importance such as a person of high status or authority.
2. From Above Angle A photo from above will make the character being shot look much less powerful. It gives the viewer a sense of power over the character being photographed. This type of shot is great for shooting children. It shows them as innocent and infantile.
These different perspectives will create different emotional responses to the image. Obvious above shots and below shots will be quite obvious to the viewer. A good place to work is in a subtle amount above or below. That way the viewer will feel the emotional response but will not quite see the technique used.
Another important aspect is your skills level of technical aspects. You see, photography is a good blend of creativity and technical skills. If you can master the technical side you will have more freedom to be creative. The technical side can include things from shutter speed to measuring the distance for focusing the image properly.
Of course, the last and what this article is about is composing your images. Photo composition is basically how you position your image, where you set the camera at, etc. It’s basically what results in what people see in the borders of the image.
The Angle of the Photograph Picking the right angle for your photo is critically important. It’s so crazy how changing the angle of your shot even a few inches can make your photo much better looking. It’s also interesting how a few inches off can make the photo look as if it were missing something.
Here are some simple tips for angles. Being that I first got into film making before photography, this stuff is very easy to know and is used very often to convey the relationship of characters and such.
1. From below angle Having the angle of a character be from below will make your model look much more powerful. This is great if your model is a character of importance such as a person of high status or authority.
2. From Above Angle A photo from above will make the character being shot look much less powerful. It gives the viewer a sense of power over the character being photographed. This type of shot is great for shooting children. It shows them as innocent and infantile.
These different perspectives will create different emotional responses to the image. Obvious above shots and below shots will be quite obvious to the viewer. A good place to work is in a subtle amount above or below. That way the viewer will feel the emotional response but will not quite see the technique used.
Tips For Windowsill Gardening
Tips For Windowsill Gardening
Believe it or not, keeping the green of Spring in you life year-round, is easier than you think. While it?s great fun to get outside and start planting that vegetable or flower garden, many people keep the freshness in their life even during the winter, by starting windowsill gardens.Of all plants that are easiest to grow indoors, herbs are at the top of the list. Not only are they green and decorative, they?re also delicious. And when grown in the kitchen, they?re just a step away from the pot of spaghetti sauce or the stew that?s cooking for dinner.It?s possible to purchase commercial kits that contain seeds for a variety of herbs, as well as a plastic seed bed with a clear hood. These kits usually include a growing medium, and sometimes may also have small pots for transplanting the seeds to once they are growing. Alternatively, you can use a clear, hard plastic box that you bought donuts in, and create you own little ?greenhouse?, purchasing only the seeds you want, and buying small pots and growing medium in the quantity you?ll need.How you set up your ?garden? depends greatly on the space of your windowsill. It may only be wide enough to hold small pots once the plants are established. But if you want more room for the seedling boxes, or a sturdy and safe place for your growing plants, consider fixing a wooden shelf under the sill. These can often be found at craft stores or fairs, in the unfinished wood, so that you can paint or varnish them as you please. Many also come with the hooks for mugs and cups, so they?re a great addition to kitchen d飯r.If you can get one that has a small railing around the edge of the shelf, that?s all the better, as it keeps pots from accidentally sliding off if someone bumps the shelf.Although the kitchen is a desirable spot, your plants will do best in a window that has at least six hours of sunlight a day, to keep the growth cycle moving along. This could be an east or south window. West windows tend to have the hottest sun, which may not be good for tender young plants, especially in Spring or Summer. If the window area tends to be extremely cold during winter nights, you may want to put the plants down on a cupboard or table until the sun comes back up.Be careful of your watering habits, since plants in pots do not lose their water into the earth around them like they would in a garden. Water only when the soil is beginning to dry. But remember also, that your house does not have the same humidity as an outdoor garden, and in winter particularly, indoor heating systems dry out the air. Mist your plants in winter, to keep leaves from drying out, and to prevent the proliferation of certain pests.Herbs are by no means the only ?garden? plant that can be grown indoors year-round. Some annuals and even a few perennials can be grown successfully, given the right soil and temperature conditions. If you have the space, then decorative urns make a wonderful impromptu garden that will yield everything from tomatoes, to spinach, to beans! Give it a try, and see what grows inside your home this year.
Believe it or not, keeping the green of Spring in you life year-round, is easier than you think. While it?s great fun to get outside and start planting that vegetable or flower garden, many people keep the freshness in their life even during the winter, by starting windowsill gardens.Of all plants that are easiest to grow indoors, herbs are at the top of the list. Not only are they green and decorative, they?re also delicious. And when grown in the kitchen, they?re just a step away from the pot of spaghetti sauce or the stew that?s cooking for dinner.It?s possible to purchase commercial kits that contain seeds for a variety of herbs, as well as a plastic seed bed with a clear hood. These kits usually include a growing medium, and sometimes may also have small pots for transplanting the seeds to once they are growing. Alternatively, you can use a clear, hard plastic box that you bought donuts in, and create you own little ?greenhouse?, purchasing only the seeds you want, and buying small pots and growing medium in the quantity you?ll need.How you set up your ?garden? depends greatly on the space of your windowsill. It may only be wide enough to hold small pots once the plants are established. But if you want more room for the seedling boxes, or a sturdy and safe place for your growing plants, consider fixing a wooden shelf under the sill. These can often be found at craft stores or fairs, in the unfinished wood, so that you can paint or varnish them as you please. Many also come with the hooks for mugs and cups, so they?re a great addition to kitchen d飯r.If you can get one that has a small railing around the edge of the shelf, that?s all the better, as it keeps pots from accidentally sliding off if someone bumps the shelf.Although the kitchen is a desirable spot, your plants will do best in a window that has at least six hours of sunlight a day, to keep the growth cycle moving along. This could be an east or south window. West windows tend to have the hottest sun, which may not be good for tender young plants, especially in Spring or Summer. If the window area tends to be extremely cold during winter nights, you may want to put the plants down on a cupboard or table until the sun comes back up.Be careful of your watering habits, since plants in pots do not lose their water into the earth around them like they would in a garden. Water only when the soil is beginning to dry. But remember also, that your house does not have the same humidity as an outdoor garden, and in winter particularly, indoor heating systems dry out the air. Mist your plants in winter, to keep leaves from drying out, and to prevent the proliferation of certain pests.Herbs are by no means the only ?garden? plant that can be grown indoors year-round. Some annuals and even a few perennials can be grown successfully, given the right soil and temperature conditions. If you have the space, then decorative urns make a wonderful impromptu garden that will yield everything from tomatoes, to spinach, to beans! Give it a try, and see what grows inside your home this year.
Choosing the Right Wood for Turning by Jimmy Cox
I can well remember my first approach to woodturning, and the subsequent visit to the timber yard in search of a few suitable pieces of wood. All I knew was that I wanted some hardwood suitable for turning and that it had to be well seasoned.
To me, at that time, it all looked alike, but after buying lots of useless pieces, I soon formed my own opinion about turning requirements; perhaps you learn a lot quicker by your mistakes. I certainly did. One big advantage of woodturning is that we need not have the wood prepared for us, and all sorts of off-cuts can be put to good use.
Practically any hardwood is suitable for turning, in particular maple, sycamore, walnut, beech, oak or any other hardwood with close and beautiful grain.
Walnut is, perhaps, one of the most used timbers in turning as it answers all the necessary requirements in appearance and texture, and it is sweet to turn and easy to polish. A simple wax polish will quickly give a really beautiful finish.
Oak, on the other hand, can be quite tricky to handle and the various species vary a lot in texture. American oak works and finishes well, but the pinkish colouring is sometimes difficult to match up. English oak is very hard and finishes well but sometimes it is rather open grained and requires quite a lot of filling.
Sycamore, beech and maple all turn very well, with lovely long shavings coming away from your gouge and chisel. Sycamore and beech will probably require staining as they are so light in colour, but maple is best left natural.
You may have timber offered to you which has been kiln dried; that is, the timber is cut to different thicknesses and stacked in a heated room, for a predetermined period, the object being to drive out the moisture and sap by prolonged gradual heat. From time to time the timber in the kiln is checked for moisture content, and when it has dropped to the desired level, the wood is removed and stacked outside in the air.
Some kilns are not operated properly and the wood is spoiled, although externally the wood appears to be all right. However, in cutting into a 2in. square, for example, you will probably find quite large splits right in the centre of the wood.
For this reason, I prefer to use air-dried timber and although the seasoning period is much longer, the resultant planks of wood are much better. For air drying, the tree is cut up into suitable planks and stacked one above the other, with small sticks in between each plank to allow for air circulation. The drying period is reckoned as being approximately twelve months per inch of thickness, thus a 3 in. plank would take three years.
This period can be reduced, if the planks of wood are cut to nearly finishing size, that is, in 2 or 3 in. squares, or 7 x 1 in. boards. When the boards are cut into squares, they are usually stacked in short lengths and these are most suitable for turning table legs, etc. Each stack of squares usually carries the date it was cut up, so it is quite easy to tell when it is properly seasoned. In this case, you can reckon on six months per inch for seasoning time.
To prevent splitting and end shakes during seasoning, the ends of the wood should be painted with tar or wax. I hope this will give you some idea of what to do if you have some freshly sawn timbers of your own to store.
Short-grained wood should be avoided, if possible. It is quite easily recognizable by the grain running diagonally across the sawn board. For some forms of carpentry this would not matter a lot, but when an article is turned, the grain must run lengthwise reasonably straight, or otherwise the finished article will be weak and easily broken. Also, it will not retain its original shape.
With these pointers you should easily be able to find suitable wood for your projects.
To me, at that time, it all looked alike, but after buying lots of useless pieces, I soon formed my own opinion about turning requirements; perhaps you learn a lot quicker by your mistakes. I certainly did. One big advantage of woodturning is that we need not have the wood prepared for us, and all sorts of off-cuts can be put to good use.
Practically any hardwood is suitable for turning, in particular maple, sycamore, walnut, beech, oak or any other hardwood with close and beautiful grain.
Walnut is, perhaps, one of the most used timbers in turning as it answers all the necessary requirements in appearance and texture, and it is sweet to turn and easy to polish. A simple wax polish will quickly give a really beautiful finish.
Oak, on the other hand, can be quite tricky to handle and the various species vary a lot in texture. American oak works and finishes well, but the pinkish colouring is sometimes difficult to match up. English oak is very hard and finishes well but sometimes it is rather open grained and requires quite a lot of filling.
Sycamore, beech and maple all turn very well, with lovely long shavings coming away from your gouge and chisel. Sycamore and beech will probably require staining as they are so light in colour, but maple is best left natural.
You may have timber offered to you which has been kiln dried; that is, the timber is cut to different thicknesses and stacked in a heated room, for a predetermined period, the object being to drive out the moisture and sap by prolonged gradual heat. From time to time the timber in the kiln is checked for moisture content, and when it has dropped to the desired level, the wood is removed and stacked outside in the air.
Some kilns are not operated properly and the wood is spoiled, although externally the wood appears to be all right. However, in cutting into a 2in. square, for example, you will probably find quite large splits right in the centre of the wood.
For this reason, I prefer to use air-dried timber and although the seasoning period is much longer, the resultant planks of wood are much better. For air drying, the tree is cut up into suitable planks and stacked one above the other, with small sticks in between each plank to allow for air circulation. The drying period is reckoned as being approximately twelve months per inch of thickness, thus a 3 in. plank would take three years.
This period can be reduced, if the planks of wood are cut to nearly finishing size, that is, in 2 or 3 in. squares, or 7 x 1 in. boards. When the boards are cut into squares, they are usually stacked in short lengths and these are most suitable for turning table legs, etc. Each stack of squares usually carries the date it was cut up, so it is quite easy to tell when it is properly seasoned. In this case, you can reckon on six months per inch for seasoning time.
To prevent splitting and end shakes during seasoning, the ends of the wood should be painted with tar or wax. I hope this will give you some idea of what to do if you have some freshly sawn timbers of your own to store.
Short-grained wood should be avoided, if possible. It is quite easily recognizable by the grain running diagonally across the sawn board. For some forms of carpentry this would not matter a lot, but when an article is turned, the grain must run lengthwise reasonably straight, or otherwise the finished article will be weak and easily broken. Also, it will not retain its original shape.
With these pointers you should easily be able to find suitable wood for your projects.
Fixing Lighting Problems in Digital Photographs by Al Sanchez
Have you ever taken a picture, loaded it into your computer, and realized that you should have done something different when taking that picture? There are many different ways that you can change your lighting during the photo shoot in order to make it better. But what do you do if you already took the picture?
I’m sure you have a good deal of photographs that you wish you had lit better. I know I have. It’s so frustrating having a really good shot but realizing you lit it poorly and thus the photo is ruined. Well, because of the advent of digital photography it is not very easy to edit your photos and improve them. I remember back in the day when doing crazy photo editing like “blue†screen effects took a lot of work. Now, all you need is any simple photo editing software and you can do an even better job than the manual way and in much faster times.
If you have Photoshop and want to edit the brightness and darkness of the image then you can use the Histogram in it. This tool will help you greatly with the light levels in your photos. Simply go to it and increase or decrease the values of the light. To get to the histogram simply get your image in Photoshop and you will be shown the histogram. It’ll show you the brightness values and the darkness values. It is shown in a graph like fashion and is very useful. You can see if your light in the photo is balanced through bright to dark or only dark or only bright. Then you can manipulate it to make the light more even or whatever effect you want.
On the far right of the graph is where the brighter lights are. If you move this to the left it’ll make the bright lights darker. On the left are the darkest lights of the image. Move that to the right and you’ll lighten the dark areas. Also, there is the middle tab that you can move as well. This’ll manipulate the middle light intensities. If you move this to the right it’ll get lighter and to the left it’ll get darker.
Another way to manipulate the light is to go the image, adjust ,and then brightness and contrast. This’ll affect the overall average of brightness and you can make it darker or brighter. This is not as precise and flexible as changing the levels but it still works.
I’m sure you have a good deal of photographs that you wish you had lit better. I know I have. It’s so frustrating having a really good shot but realizing you lit it poorly and thus the photo is ruined. Well, because of the advent of digital photography it is not very easy to edit your photos and improve them. I remember back in the day when doing crazy photo editing like “blue†screen effects took a lot of work. Now, all you need is any simple photo editing software and you can do an even better job than the manual way and in much faster times.
If you have Photoshop and want to edit the brightness and darkness of the image then you can use the Histogram in it. This tool will help you greatly with the light levels in your photos. Simply go to it and increase or decrease the values of the light. To get to the histogram simply get your image in Photoshop and you will be shown the histogram. It’ll show you the brightness values and the darkness values. It is shown in a graph like fashion and is very useful. You can see if your light in the photo is balanced through bright to dark or only dark or only bright. Then you can manipulate it to make the light more even or whatever effect you want.
On the far right of the graph is where the brighter lights are. If you move this to the left it’ll make the bright lights darker. On the left are the darkest lights of the image. Move that to the right and you’ll lighten the dark areas. Also, there is the middle tab that you can move as well. This’ll manipulate the middle light intensities. If you move this to the right it’ll get lighter and to the left it’ll get darker.
Another way to manipulate the light is to go the image, adjust ,and then brightness and contrast. This’ll affect the overall average of brightness and you can make it darker or brighter. This is not as precise and flexible as changing the levels but it still works.
วันอาทิตย์ที่ 2 มีนาคม พ.ศ. 2551
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