#don’t be surprised if I change my user theme and delete everything!!

[meoanii]

when it’s the new year and you have the urge to revamp and mass delete everything.

[satsuki2406]

OPEN SKY Bakugou Katsuki x Reader

“…And never, ever forget that, your dreams are the wings that’ll help you fly.”

(L/N)(Y/N) has always been forced to live according to others’ expectations. As a member of the powerful and influential (L/N) Family, she has had to live with the heavy weight of seeing others write her destiny with no choice but just obey. But when (Y/N) finally decides to risk it all to take the only opportunity to regain the control of her own life, everything ends up going horribly wrong. Surrendered and disappointed, she receives one last chance to prove to herself and to U.A, along with some unexpected help that this was not a crazy and meaningless waste of time.

Maybe this plan could work after all…

PAIRING: (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

GENRE/WARNINGS: Romance, Fluff, Angst, Mentions of sex (nothing explicit tho), dark themes, My poor attempt of comedy, family dysfunctionality, toxic relationships, Strong language (Courtesy of King Lord Explosion Murder 💥), Manga Spoilers.

STATUS: On going

Masterlist \(￣︶￣*\))

6- Have We Got a Deal?

✒A/N:

I rewrote this chapter like three times, and hopefully, now it turned out better. I read my progress again a couple of weeks ago and it was simply, not right. I hated it so much that I decided to delete it and work again on it. The essence is the same of what I planned for this chapter and although it is a bit longer now, I took the chance to get into more detail about certain things and express better about others. The conversation between Reader-chan and Kaguya may have become a bit deeper than it used to be, but I really liked the outcome and gave me more ideas for the future plot. That's all for now.

Hope you enjoy it! q(≧▽≦q)

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So, my dear sweet cousin, do you accept or not?

“W-Wait a minute! You can’t be serious, do you- do you understand the implications of what you’re saying?!” You said incredulously.

“Of course I do, why do you think we are here?” Kaguya said while she took another canape and bit it. She chewed slowly while you watched her attentively, the dread in your stomach growing by increments, exasperated for her to continue. She finally swallowed and took a sip of wine.

“So? Would you care to explain what on earth is actually happening, because you don’t expect me to believe that the cause of such an unprecedented change is because of some internet gossip” You said in a demanding tone.

“Of course it’s not, but if you are patient enough I’ll explain it to you with pleasure, so you better watch your tone with me, brat.” She hissed.

You puffed out your cheeks but nodded in cue for her to continue.

“Approximately three days ago grandmother convened a last-minute meeting in her abode to discuss this problem. At first, I thought she was overreacting about this whole ordeal, after all big corporates and companies are attacked and critized all the time, but after a long, long discussion, we all agreed that the situation should not be taken lightly and it needed to be addressed as soon as possible.”

“That bad it is?” You asked slightly concerned.

“Unfortunately,” Kaguya answered. “Walls covered in graffiti in Kyoto, people protesting and messing with the employees at the ER main entrance in Hosu, broken windows in Deika and thousands and thousands of emails and nasty messages in all our social media accounts. We had to hire the services of a whole publicity agency so they could deal with the problem, hardly. It has been difficult to contain, but it paid off because it hasn’t been leaked into any important newscast. Internet, the origin of the problem, has been another story, unfortunately, in these cases, it can be very difficult and unforgiving to work with; once something enters, is nearly impossible to pull it out and if you succeed there’s always a risk it would pop up anywhere when you least expect it.” Kaguya said while she rubbed her temples.

“Internet is a huge source of news and information for thousands of people nowadays, even millions, fake or not, and also the main responsible that this situation slipped out of control faster.”

You contemplated your next words as you soaked in all the information you just were provided with, so you could express your ideas and queries as clear as possible. “Okay…but why is everybody so angry about our current family situation? I get it’s messed up, but why go as far as vandalize privite property and nag about it on social media?” You asked slightly hesitant.

“As an institution, we had always presented and preserved ourselves as a family, working to, and for the Japanese families generation after generation, no matter where we went, we always went together, always radiating the image of a happy, healthy, and unified family. Throughout the time several members of our family had made multiple presentations in public inspiring kindness and charisma, earning the trust and love of the people, which is impressive considering the heavily hero centered world we live in. Now that there are strong rumors putting all of these apparent facts into question, some people feel mocked, disappointed, and cheated… besides other things.” Kaguya mumbled.

“Sorry I could not listen the last part Kaguya.” You said puzzled.

“Don’t worry, I was just talking to myself, the important thing is that the problem is been solved, millions will be invested but is necessary. We have already started a huge ad campaign, a lot of important heroes will be involved so we can reassure and remind people why we have been their number one choice during over a century, that we still the same and will always remain the same, that we do not change, we improve.”

“I see, but you haven’t explained what does this have to do with me going to U.A-”

“As I told you she decided to make exceptions, due to the unusual situation we are going through right now we need unusual solutions as well and as part of our ad campaign and for the sake of our image she decided that two fortunate souls would have the chance to pursue a carrier of their choice, you know to placate the masses.”

“ Of course, a different series of factors would be taken into account when examining the option chosen and its potential benefits for the interests of the company, if these results are not satisfactory, the other alternatives will be analyzed to find a more suitable one and the aforementioned process will be repeated. Once we find satisfactory results, grandmother will proceed to revise everything once more and give her approval or deny it.”

“So, what you’re telling me is that we are doing the same thing but with more options? And they are going to evaluate if we can actually perform well in these new career options?” You asked unimpressed at your grandmas’ unwillingness to let the leash lose a bit even in a situation like this.

“Exactly right, it’s a change but there are still rules nonetheless.” Kaguya affirmed as she refilled her cup again. “Don’t get me wrong, she is really mad, just the thought of sacrifice two pawns in one single move is driving her crazy”

“Which selection system will be used in this case?” You asked.

“Nominations. As you already know there are two potential candidates, besides you of course.”

“Two? But there’s other three-”

“Aya has already been selected by grandmother herself, he’ll be enrolled into U.A next year via recommendation, everything is ready and processed the only thing left is to break the news on him.”

You grimaced, anxious, and preoccupied to see your already thin chances narrow even more. Your cousin, Aya was a famous vlogger and influencer with a strongly settled fanbase in and out of Japan. His videos generally focus on his daily life, trips to cool and exotic destinations, and the typical ‘eat this’, ‘do that’ challenges that always went around the internet.

He also participated in different campaigns to raise funds for different charitable causes and was a fervent advocator of animal rights and the environment, even donating millions from his own pocket. He always did his best to involve the name of the (L/N) Group, allowing them to organize, participate and sponsor some of these events helping bust their image as a caritative, conscious, and woke organization.

The bastard overflew with kindness and charisma and knew how to surround himself with the right people to manage his channel properly, although no relatable for the regular mid-class YouTube user, you had to admit that his videos were fun, entertaining, interesting, and sometimes, informative, that was the reason they were always flooded with millions of views, comments, likes and overall the crushing success he was experiencing every time he uploaded a new one.

He’s rich, famous, handsome, and had an appealing personality, add hero to that list and you’ll get the recipe to success. It wouldn't surprise you at all if he reached the top 10 of the HBC in a year just out of sheer popularity. His quirk is also fitted for a hero, he’ll need some serious training, but nothing that money and elite PT could not manage.

“How am I supposed to compete with that?” You whispered with your head down watching how your knuckles turned whiter as your hands crinkled your uniform skirt.

“Don’t trouble yourself with what you’re not supposed to, Aya is not competition, not anymore, instead try to focus on the actual competition, and may I add that you got a really big chance with my brother out of the picture. Kaguya smirked at you confidently.

“You think so?” You asked doubtfully.

“Believe me (Y/N), my sister is really smart and competent, but has the charm and social skills of a cardboard box, and Himeko, well… we could resume all her virtues, abilities and skills to shopping, makeup, gossip, selfies, social media, being pretty and an absolute headache. Grandmother got big plans for her after she graduates though, so I’ll take her out of the picture as well.”

“Big plans?” You said arching your eyebrow.

“Let’s say that, right now, we have a great, juicy, and very convenient deal that is in negociation right now and she is a vital piece to close it successfully. Don’t worry, your curiosity will be satiated soon enough.”

“What worries me is that I think I got a grasp of what you’re talking about.”

“Aw. Come on, businesses are businesses (Y/N), C’est la vie.” She said as she shrugged uninterested.

“Yeah, because is not you.” You grumbled.

“Excuse me?”

“I said, why don’t you continue.”

“You are right, where we were? Oh, right.”

‘Was she really just dismissing the topic like that?!’

“Tell me (Y/N), do you think that I would have brought you here and propose this plan to you if I didn’t have an ace up my sleeve? Please. There are some important and positive points that can grant us success if we exploit them properly, but we must play our cards wisely, unfortunately, that’ll have to wait until we are completely alone.” Confused your arched your eyebrow, until your ears were met with the sound of the wheels of a certain golden cart rapidly approaching.

“Hello again ladies, let me take this off,” Hiro said while he took the almost empty canape plate along the rest of the dishes. “Is there anything else you would like? Would you like another beverage (L/N)-sama?” Hiro said looking at your semi voided glass.

“Y-Yes please”

“Alright!” With the swift and skill of years of experience, Hiro served your plates, removed the shiny silver food covers, refilled both water cups and Kaguya’s wine cup as well in less than a minute. “Please enjoy, if there’s anything else you would like I’ll be happy to assist you! I’ll be back in a minute with your drink miss.”

You spent the next couple of minutes in total silence waiting for your drink in order to continue your conversation privately and interruption-free. Just as said, Hiro returned instants later with the promised drink and finally left you two to converse calmly.

“Well, now that the coast is clear, let me fill you up with what you have to know and do in order to obtain a favorable outcome for both of us.” Kaguya began as she sliced a bite of quail breast.

“So, this is my plan…”

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Now with your dinner night already finished, you were now heading to your house. This ride was as quiet as the one to the restaurant, but without the suffocating weight of uncertainty. Your head was filled now with the echoes of your conversation with Kaguya, debating, analyzing, considering, comprehending every single word of it.

“You seem troubled, you are doubtful, aren’t you?” Said Kaguya interrupting your thoughts.

“I’m more scared than anything if this doesn’t work-”

“It will, you already know what to do, just focus on that. I’ll keep in contact with you anyway, in case of emergencies or any last-minute matter.” She then proceeded to rummage in her purse and took out a brand-new phone, it was one of those not so high-quality flip phones that you can get for a really low price, probably a disposable one.

“I already put my phone number in it, so we can communicate without issue. This phone is a really basic one, so it has no internet access but you have unlimited calls and texts. Just make sure to keep it hidden from your mother or that blabbermouth maid of yours.”

“Yes, I’ll find a place.”

“Perfect, remember, the announce dinner will be this Saturday, surely your mom would tell you, everybody will be there, they must at least.”

Another twenty minutes passed before you were at the main door of your lavish home. Silently, you excited the car after Soichiro opened the door for you and you headed to the front door.

“We’ll keep in contact, until then, (Y/N).” Kaguya said softly, once she finished Soichiro shut the door, bowed his head, and wished you a good evening. He straightened up his posture and proceeded to hop in the car again. Quietly you observed the car get farther and farther until it disappeared. You stayed there in silence, while the nightly wind swayed your hair delicately. The sound of the door opening distracted you, then, you turned around to be met with the gentle smile of Nobu-san.

“Okaerinasai, (Y/N)-sama, how was your dinner with Kaguya-sama?”

“Pretty…unexpected.” You looked everywhere, making sure that nobody else was listening to your conversation. “I’ll fill you out on the details later” You whispered and Nobu-san nodded knowingly. “I see, your bath is ready (Y/N)-sama. Please take your time and relax, it’s been a long night after all,” He got slightly closer to you and cupped his hand around his mouth, and whispered. “I’m pretty sure you’ll make good use of this time to ponder any thought that is troubling your mind.” He distanced from you, crossed his arms behind his back, and gave you a gentle closed-eye smile. “Would you like a cup of tea after your bath?”

You smiled at him fondly.

“(F/T/F), please.”

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You’ve been lying if you said that you could actually sleep the night before. Your head could not stop to reproduce in a loop your conversation with Kaguya the night before, like a broken record you couldn’t escape from. Before you noticed, the outrageous melody of your alarm resounded in the spaciousness of your room. You groaned in protest, unwillingly getting up to start your day.

Dressed and ready, you took your bag and went downstairs to have breakfast. Before you could finish hopping down the stairs you caught a glimpse of your mother sitting at the head chair, like always with your father by her side, she was holding her morning coffee while she read some emails on her laptop.

As always she looked stunning in her soft pink and golden outfit, she crossed her legs, put down her cup and started typing in her laptop.

You straighten your posture the best you could and approached the table with delicate steps. “Good morning mother, good morning dad”

“Good morning dear, how did you sleep?” Said your mother without taking her eyes off the screen in a somewhat flat tone as her fingers tapped nimbly over the keyboard. “Pretty well, and yourself?” You said while you took a seat at the innecesarily expansive dinning table.

“Not so well sadly, there’s been some… issues I had to take care of.” She hissed a bit irritated as she rubbed her temples.

“I-I see, hopefully, you’ll have a better day today, mother.”

“I doubt it, unluckily, but thank you for your words, darling. Now hurry up or you’ll be late.”

“Yes, mother.”

“You should have some fresh fruit honey; the mangos are delicious!” Said the cheerful voice of your father. You smiled fondly at him while he reciprocated with a smile of his own. “I’ll do then, thank you for your suggestion dad.” You answered while one of the maids served you a portion of fresh mixed fruit in a bowl and Nobu-san poured tea in your cup.

“(Y/N)” Spoke your mom.

“Yes, mother?”

“Your grandmother had organized a family dinner this Saturday that we must assist, of course, I expect nothing less of you than be on your best behavior, also is imperative that you choose your outfit today so I can determine if it’s appropriate for the occasion. If you need to go shopping just tell Sasaki, I activated your debit card again just this time.” She said authoritatively.

“Yes mother, I’ll do it today after class.” You said as you topped your fruit with some honey, yougurt and granola. 

“Splendid, now if you excuse me, I have to go now, Haru, hurry up or we’ll be late”

“Yes, cara mia” Your father beamed. Your mother then rose from her chair took her handbag and draped her coat over her shoulders. Your father then finished his coffee as soon as he could and went behind her. “Have a good day princess!” Exclaimed you dad. “Thank you, you too!” You answered while you saw them get escorted by an army of bodyguards.

Soon enough the door was closed and you were left alone. “(Y/N)-sama I advise you to hurry as well, school starts in thirty minutes” Said the familiar voice of Nobu-san. “What!? Oh, I’m going to be late! Ok, I got this! I’ll brush my teeth and I’ll be ready-please ask Sasaki-san to start the car! I will be there in a minute!” You stuttered while climbing up stairs.

“Sure thing, Ojou-sama,” He said with an amused smile.

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“Thank you again for joining me for shopping Momo”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all, I’ll also take the chance to buy some new accessories as well,” Beamed your ravenette friend. It was the end of the school day and you had asked Momo to help you choose new accessories to complement a dress you already had.

“But to be honest I never imagine that your mom would lose her grip on you so soon even if it’s temporary, what surprised me more was what Kaguya-san told you yesterday,” She whispered trying to no let your conversation be known by Sasaki-san although the automated partition window was up as a precautionary measure. “Are you sure you can trust her?” She said concerned.

“I still don’t know, suddenly everything became so complicated, I mean her plan is good and has a high probability to work, and right now I don’t have a better option, I don’t even have any options, to begin with!” You groaned, confused.

“What’s still bugging me is why is she helping you in the first place? I can’t help but find it suspicious no matter how much I think about it. Did you ask her something about it?”

“I did, but she went into this mysterious and enigmatic mode and just said something like ‘You’ll know soon enough’ It would be easier to pinch a glass than get something out of her.” You said with a tone of frustration.

“I guess that the only thing we can do now is to wait and see,” Sighed Momo while she shrugged her shoulders. “By the way, what are we going to do first?” She said more animatedly.

“Let’s start with the shoes and then maybe a new jewelry set, a new clutch as well would be good. What you think?”

“I think is a splendid idea!” Momo exclaimed.

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🏷Taglist:

@bakasbitch18 

[creativejourneysbct]

Studio 1 Week 2/3 First Project: Hacking a Board Game - SLAP ATTACK

At the end of our week 2 studio session, we were assigned the task of "hacking" a board game, using some of the skills we had learned that day, to make it more interactive.

First, my group and I considered different board games that we would use as a template to start with. We settled on using an alphabet bingo board. It appeared simple enough; a circular board with a pointer that could be spun to randomly select a part of the board.

We then started brainstorming possible ways in which we could alter the game to make it more interactive. We agreed that it would be beneficial to create our own interface to replace the alphabet bingo one, as this would allow us more freedom to create our own rules and ultimately come up with our own game. So, we started sketching ideas on what our new board interface would look like. 

This involved us thinking critically about the overall gameplay and having to come up with some sort of a finalized idea of what the end product would be.

After several iterations, we landed on a plan to create a game where the spinner is spun by a player then, depending on where it landed, all the players would have to do an action IF the lights on the board are turned on. This way the lights are adding an extra element of surprise, as not only is it impossible to predict what part of the board the spinner will land on (and therefore what action the player may have to do), but also whether or not that action would even have to be carried out at all, depending on the light's status.

It then came time to think about what skills from the day we would use to achieve our new gameplay and therefore make the game more interactive.

It was clear that papertronics would be necessary to create the circuit beneath the board that would allow for the lights to turn on when the spinner touches certain areas of the board.

So, we got to work using the copper tape to create a small test circuit as a proof of concept before moving onto anything larger. Since the goal was to have a few lights around the board light up when powered by a single battery, we tested this out by making a smaller, simpler version of the final product, using copper tape, two LEDs, and a battery to make the circuit pictured below.

As can be seen, one of the LEDs didn't seem to work. But, after some more testing, we discovered that the LED was just faulty, and it did work when being pressed. Thus, the concept of a single battery powering more than one LED had been "proven"!

We then took it a step further by making a circuit using the copper tape that went from one side of a sheet of paper (emulating the board) that housed the battery, to the other side of the piece of paper, where the spinner was. We stuck copper tape to the underside of the spinner. This allowed it to effectively close the circuit when passing along the copper tape area on the board, and therefore light up the LEDs.

While the pointer still had to be pressed down for the circuit to be complete and light up the LEDs, it was still enough to prove that the circuit could go from one side of the surface to the other, which is exactly what we needed for the final product.

We then got to work on our first iteration of the board's surface.

Since we didn't have a compass or any other tools that could be used to make a perfect circle, I used a technique I knew from high school art to draw a large circle that was relatively the same size as the original Alphabet Bingo circle to go on top of it.

We cut out the white circle, stuck four colored sheets of paper over it in the alignment we wanted for the board game design, and used it to cut a perfect (ish) circle around the four colored sheets of paper.

We now had a rough prototype of the game we wanted to create. Since the main circuitry hadn't been created yet, we used some random objects to simulate the areas of the board that would activate the LEDs should the spinner land there. We then playtested the game, to see whether or not it was even enjoyable. We wound up quite enjoying the competitive nature of having to react fastest or else face elimination. It was a simple concept, but one that we believed would work and prove engaging for players.

Next, we started implementing the full-sized circuit. We initially attempted to only use one battery for all four LEDs but this proved to be too complex, so we started over and made a new circuit that used two batteries with each battery responsible for only 2 LEDs.

From the top side, we can see that the spinner still had to be pushed down to activate the LED. This was quite a substantial concern for the project, as the desired effect was supposed to be effortlessly spinning the spinner and having it light up the LED automatically.

Determined to persevere anyway, Matt and I split up from the group to work on designing a proper layout for our board game. As photoshop wasn't working on either of our laptops, we used a word processor to create a simple but aesthetically pleasing board that we then printed out in a3. We wanted to make sure the font used was legible and that the board wasn't too cluttered. One of the main design principles we tried to focus on was maximizing the intuitiveness of the game so that anyone could have an idea of how to play it with little to no instruction. We also added simple hand gesture illustrations as iconography next to the corresponding action word to further guide the user's understanding.

With the new board face printed out, we used it when coming up with ways of solving the issue of the light not automatically lighting up.

We went through a range of different methods, such as using a motor and a wheel to reduce the friction and provide a better spin.

We finally settled on simplifying the design so that we would only use one LED situated on the top of the spinner. This worked on occasion but still wasn't lighting up consistently enough.

With the circuitry proving to be much more problematic than expected, another member of the group and I got to work on creating a clear set of rules for the game, which was still a very important part of the game design. At the end of the day, we still wanted to have a finished game that our classmates could play, even if our light-up spinner wasn't operational. This also involved us coming up with a name for the game. Out of thin air, I pulled out the words "SLAP ATTACK" and since no one else had anything better, this was the name that stuck. In fairness though, the name grew on us and accurately reflected the fast-paced nature of the gameplay.

I enjoyed the design aspect of creating the rules quite a bit. We tried to keep it in theme with the board, using the same colors, icons, and fonts to maintain a cohesive aesthetic and design language.

As the circuitry didn't look like it would be operational in time for the showcase, we decide to create a "concept" edition that would act as a model of what we had intended for the board game. It was to be our clean, "best-case scenario" version.

We printed out another copy of the board game design and glued it to some wood to create a firm, stable base. We then drilled a hole through it to make room for the spinner.

Fortunately, this allowed enough room for the rules to go on the side, so we glued them down next to the main circle. I will say, design-wise, I was very pleased with the result we got. The overall look of the board and rules matched in a nice, simple colorful manner and looked very clean.

While we could still get the lights to turn on on the other board, it still required us to press down on the spinner, which defeated the purpose of the game. Or it would light up, but not always, and for the game to work as intended it would need to light up every time it went over a copper tape part of the board.

It was difficult to accept but we were unable to achieve the concept we had envisioned. As it turns out, using a spinner was not as simple as we thought it would be. When seeking help we were advised to use a "slip ring". At the time it was too late in the game to change direction, but next time that's definitely something we can look into.

Finally, for the showcase, we added some blue, green, red, and yellow chips (the same color scheme as the board game itself) to the mix to act as physical representations of the lives of players. Even if it wasn't related to circuitry or the makey makey, the tactile chips added weight to the concept of losing a life every time a player had to give one away after losing a round.

Overall, even though we couldn't implement the interactive elements we wanted to, the classmates who tried our game seemed to really enjoy the fast-paced, competitive nature of the game as our table was almost always occupied with players. So, if nothing else, we were still able to develop a concept that was engaging for players, so I'm happy about that. Plus, our circuit still technically worked, it just needed to be pressed down which didn't work as intended for the board game.

(PS - I wanted to add more photos towards the end but hit the Tumblr photos limit so this should hopefully suffice. Just another thing to keep in mind when making these posts going forward.)

Update - After writing this long, almost step-by-step recount of the creation process, I have been introduced to the "Gibbs Reflective Cycle" in our Intro to Creative Technologies Lecture so I think I'd be remiss to not include it at the end of this.

While I could technically go back and reduce everything I've written to a paragraph long "description of what happened, I have chosen to keep it for 2 reasons; the first is that it took me a great deal of time and effort to make so I simply don't want to delete it all. But secondly and most importantly, even if it's not the best, most effective reflective blog post, I see these posts as a working, evolving skill that I want to be able to look back on and see how much I've changed and improved. So yes, I'm keeping it if only for the fact that It's a piece of history on how I reflected on my first creative project.

So, without further ado, here are my more structured, Gibbs Reflective Cycle paragraphs.  

Reflecton

Description

This has been covered in depth in the prior paragraphs but we effectively were tasked with "hacking" a board game to make it more interactive using the skills we had learned in class. This resulted in two final board games being made by my group - one that used the circuitry to allow a spinner to make lights on the board turn on but wouldn't work consistently enough, and another cleaner version that functioned as a board game but didn't incorporate all the electrical elements.

Feeling

During the process of creating this board game, I felt a variety of emotions. When coming up with ideas for the game, I felt a sense of creative burnout. This is a feeling I'm relatively unfamiliar with. In most academic cases coming up with a solution involves further readings and eventually, the solution will become apparent. When coming up with an original boardgame idea, however, I was certainly put out of my comfort zone.

Another part that put me out of my comfort zone was working in the workshop, using the drills, saws, hot glue gun. All of these tools are relatively simple but given my highly limited experience working in this kind of environment, I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn.

All that said, however, I felt a sense of joy when even though we couldn't implement the desired electrical element when the board game concept that we had created actually turned out to be engaging.

I also felt positive about collaborating with my group and using our different skillsets to the advantage of the project. I like designing things on the computer, so I dealt more with the creating of the board and rule sheet designs.

Evaluation.

The positives of the project, as mentioned earlier were the overall coming together and teamwork. The biggest positive would have to be the final game concept that we envisioned actually proving engaging to players.

The negatives, as mentioned, is the obvious one of our main electrical component not working as desired. But that's all a part of this early creative process. Learning to fail. And we definitely learned from it, so it was a valuable failure.

Analysis

I suppose the biggest lesson to learn from this is to identify the "marshmallow" at an early stage. As learned in the marshmallow challenge, it's essential to identify the unknown aspect of the project early on, as if left until later it can be too late and render the project incomplete. In this case, the spinner was the unknown and we left it until too late to ask for help Its simple appearance blinded us to the fact that we were unequipped with the knowledge to achieve our desired outcome with such a new concept. '

Conclusion

As mentioned, getting help for unknown elements in the early stages definitely would've helped improve our final result. We found out about the slip ring too late but had we gone down that route in the beginning it probably would've resulted in a working, functional boardgame.

Regardless, at the end of the day, we still enhanced our understanding of circuits, got creative with game dynamics and design, and created something that was enjoyed by our classmates. And, most importantly, learned how to improve on this next time.

Action Plan

Next time we'll be sure to identify the Marshmellow sooner and get the required support when there's still enough time to implement changes.

All in all, this was still a great introduction to the creative process. We learned a tonne and know how to improve so I'm excited to see what we do next time!

[kathleenignacio]

Keep your WordPress fit

The WordPress application has matured a lot in its last ten years of existence . The rationalization of many processes such as updates, such as the standardization of many aspects of its functionality, are a dedication to make it simpler to use and incorporate new functions.

No matter how many automations developed in WordPress management, you still need to take extra measures to ensure that your website is fit in terms of performance and security . In this article I will raise certain questions and suggest certain improvements that will help you sustain your website in good shape.

1. Do you have the WordPress core, plugins and updated themes? update wordpress

I'm sure you've heard about this many times before, but it's still the number one question about the security and performance of a WordPress site.

When I look at the statistics of all our servers in SiteGround, I am always surprised and in all circumstances the amount of people who maintain the previous versions despite each and every one of the comforts that both WordPress and the host offer them to keep up to date. without care. These are certain things you could take advantage of:

1.1 Native Updates You probably remember that as of version 3.7, WordPress introduced a native automatic update feature among the smaller versions. This is a huge feature that can be taken advantage of immediately, and that will keep your web page safe at all times.

Most minor version updates are full of security patches, so you should not skip them under any circumstances. And if your WordPress is not yet version three.7 or higher, update as soon as possible so you can benefit from the native changes.

1.2 Managed Hosting Service Also, certain web hosting companies, SiteGround is one of them, they offer a managed WordPress service where you receive a WordPress auto-update whenever there is a new version , and this also includes updates to major versions. And even some of the hosts offer automatic plugin update when the kernel is self-updated.

1.3 Check the WordPress desktop alarms Finally, if you are not benefiting from the services of your host, on the WordPress desktop you will generally receive alarms about new versions of some active complement or the kernel. You just have to click and update it.

1.4 Add a configuration line to have the kernel updated to important versions If you want your WordPress to automatically update to the important versions, not only the minor ones, you can put the following line in your wp-config.php file :

define( 'WP_AUTO_UPDATE_CORE', true ); 1.5 Check before updating Of course you may have certain fears, completely justified, to deconfigure your website when updating it. In this case, I recommend that you make a copy of your website and try it on it first. Again, you can search for hosts that offer a test environment to make this process uncomplicated .

2. What version of PHP do you have? php 7 wordpress

Does your WordPress still work with PHP 5.2? Was this version the default one million years ago when you installed it?

WordPress has already stopped supporting PHP version five.2 and, normally, they tend to encourage their users to stay in the latest version of PHP. For what reason? Well, new versions of PHP are going better and are safer .

PHP 7 , incorporating the Opcode caching and the expected super-performance, will be launched very, very soon (launch options are free on SiteGround servers and you can easily move).

It is the biggest change in PHP code since PHP4 . The latest version of WordPress already supports it. It is a good idea to test how PHP7 is going on your website and update extensions that do not support it, or try to locate solutions. Do not leave.

comparative speed php 7 wordpress

Updating PHP is not as simple as updating WordPress, however, it is not a reason to neglect it. You can consult your host if you can change the version for yourself, or if you are too afraid to spoil your website, go through the testing process suggested above.

3. Do you have any add-on or theme disabled? hacking WordPress plugins themes

I would like to draw your attention to this as I have seen too many websites with more than 40 add-ons disabled . Keep in mind that although they are disabled, the files with the code are really there, in your account. This could potentially create security problems. The same applies to the topics.

The bottom line is that if you are not using a plugin, remove it completely from your application. If you have some payment plugins and do not want to remove them, make a local copy of each and every one of the payment plugins that you have purchased more than you are not using now.

If you are not using a theme, remove it completely from your application. I would advise leaving the last available WordPress theme by default as a foldback, plus everything else, to get rid of it.

4. When did you last optimize your database and review your old articles? optimize wordpress database

The first thing is to clean your database of all the information you don't need. For an example, WordPress saves multiple revisions of your posts. That is excellent, but it fills you with multiple copies of your blog posts, and also implies a considerable increase in the size of the database.

These revisions will not slow down your website, but they will slow down certain processes such as database optimization, creation of backups, and possible backup copies recovery.

I would like to advise you the Better Delete Revision ”add-on to eliminate them. It lets you remove each and every one of the reviews optimizing your database.

On the optimization itself of the databases, you can use a tool like phpMyAdmin or if you have the WP-CLI at your disposal,

5. Have you optimized the size of your images? compress image

The images are a huge part of your website and it is a great idea to do everything you can to optimize them. I personally divide the process into 2 parts:

5.1 Lower the number of thumbnails When you upload an image to your website, WordPress automatically creates several copies of the image and rescale it. The number of thumbnails created depends on the theme.

Currently, there are many themes that give many layers of different pages, and produce dozens of miniatures of different sizes. This inflates the number of images in your account and their size. My advice is to examine all the page models, write down the thumbnails you are really using, and eliminate the ones you don't use, optimizing the space occupied by the images, and the total number of inodes in your account.

Doing this is partially simple: first open the functions.php file  on your website, and look for a part of thumbnail creation. It should be something like this:

add_image_size( 'thumbnail-name', 255, ciento noventa y uno, true ); Comment only on the lines responsible for the sizes you don't need. Once that is done, you need to regenerate the thumbnails. I invite you to use the Regenerate thumbnails plugin. Keep in mind that it can take hours to regenerate each and every one, so make sure you do not miss any, and also try not to do so during the busiest hours of your website in terms of traffic.

5.2 Optimize existing images The smaller the image size, the faster the page load will be!

Another preferred add-on that I now add on my sites and on all the ones I work on, is EWWW Image Optimizer. Optima without loss of quality each and every one of the images that you upload to your website, and it has a huge button Optimize all ”to do it directly.

Basically, the plugin reduces the size of your images without decreasing their quality. Great results guaranteed!

6. How fast is your website? What loading speed do you have? web speed

In general, the speed of your website suggests what performance optimizations you can start. If your pages take longer to load more than a second and your score on certain speed tests that I lie in this section is low, start with the preceding suggestions to improve it.

Here are certain tools that I use on a regular basis to test the loading speed of the websites I work with:

Each WordPress installation has a different set of themes, plugins and content, and there is no universal solution or a single approach. You need to regularly update your website, test it, and solve the

[eikon-whisperer]

Hoping now I can move on

Note: This will contain some triggering topics, so please be mindful when reading this. Thank you.

[I apologise to mobile users who will see this long ass post] 

I know I disappeared out of the blue and I have done this on multiple occasions, but right now I just need a place to vent out how I have been feeling for quite some time.

I am not normally one to vocally express my personal issues as I feel like I am burdening others, but I think now I just really need to lay everything on the table as I feel even now a lot of things still affect me.

..............

I joined this community back in 2014, a friend (now ex-friend) introduced me to the idea of League of Legends RP and it did take me a month or so to figure things out. Another reason I joined as well because at the time I was in a very emotionally, mentally and manipulative relationship with a guy named Tejay. months later I finally built up the courage to leave him and I have you guys to thank for helping me recover.

During my time RPing on here I became very well known. At the time I was the only person I knew of from New Zealand, so I think that contributed to helping me stand out from the rest. I roleplayed a Genderbent Twisted Fate at the time, but was still trying to stick as close to the lore and character personality as possible. The big thing I always asked myself “What would Twisted Fate do if he was instead a woman?” And to my surprise it worked.

In 2015 was when I made many, many friends and when I would tell people who I was would freak out, almost like a fan meeting a celebrity they like and it was weird because in my real life I never really had many friends, so being popular was new to me. My blog did bring in some unwanted attention though, people making sexual comments on anon, it was pretty creepy, but most of the time I would delete them.

Mid 2015 I got dragged into some drama, which surrounded people I knew. It was a moment where one side of the story was made public and then people blew the situation out of proportion and forced a person out of the community. I got really angry, I always do when I get dragged into things that don’t directly involve me. When people start drama it just makes me not want to be in this community.

Late 2015 I got a job, but still manged to fit RPing in on the weekends and did my best to stay active. I did start noticing a theme however, people seemed to only message me send me prompts on Sinday. Back then I was not very comfortable with sexual topics, in some cases it was fine because it happened naturally, but most of the time people tried forcing it in when it was not necessary.

Some time in 2016 I was spending more time RPing as my OC Sam and was wanting to build her up into something way more. I got sick of all the people being thirsty for my muse that I stopped. I was also mentally not in a good place in my life and so I decided that I wanted to make the switch, during this time I was also regularly going to see a counselor. PEOPLE WERE NOT HAPPY WITH THIS CHANGE AT ALL. I told all the usual people I RPed with and I swear after that change, I lost so many friends. The friends I made, gone. I was very lonely and certain people I felt took advantage of this and someone went as far as to sexually harass me. I remember at one point I was having a lot of suicidal thoughts, this year was pretty shit.

In 2017 I started my studies in Game Art and Development. I had no time for RPing apart from on Discord and so I was gone for about 2.5 years. I tried coming back a few times between then, but everything had changed, like there were all these rules to be able to RP with people and I was just so perplexed by this, like really? Some people are gonna hate me for the that comment, but I don’t give a fuck.

2018 was...Soul crushing. My teachers were putting so much unnecessary pressure on me and I tried to talk to my friends about it, but they just did not seem to listen and pushed me away as well as actively avoiding me. My mental health started to decline again and at the beginning of the year I was having a lot of epileptic seizures due to very high levels of stress. Later in the year I got help again, it was hard because I was forced to go to groups I didn’t want to because my parents wanted me to get better it seemed very quickly.

This year has been a mess...I have lost more friends, one of my friends abandoned all his long time friends for a guild in a game. Most just did wrong by me and so I cut them out, because I don’t have time for toxic behaviour. I did somehow after being overly burnt out and the change in medication I had, I managed to graduate my studies. I did after try to come back and while I was away I did change my characters a lot, but most people didn’t even seem to care.

I feel like I was putting all this work in for nothing and so I left. I still would like to RP, but I think the thought of all the drama is making me not want to return. Currently I am working and having issues with looking for a new job. In a sense I kinda of want all my friends from this community I had back, most of you I miss dearly. I am also trying to get back into streaming and art and promised myself that if I can’t find a job here by the end of the year, I am gonna move overseas and start new.

If you have read all of this, you are crazy, if not then that’s ok, this was just mainly to get everything out of my head so I can hopefully move on.

[jackiestarsister]

My thoughts on “The Rise of Skywalker”

I just saw The Rise of Skywalker with my friend @ewoking-on-sunshine. I’m still processing it, but I have many thoughts. Spoilers below the cut.

It’s not a perfect movie. But I enjoyed it and am, for the most part, satisfied. All I wanted was for it to be enjoyable and make sense and bring some resolution to the story. I think it succeeded overall.

I feel like I can’t complain too much, because the biggest things I wanted to happen did happen: we got Ben’s redemption, a freaking Reylo kiss, and Ben smiling. We even got beautiful things I wasn’t expecting, like Han’s scene, and the revelation that Leia trained as a Jedi for a time. I think it can stand on its own as a story in itself, though The Last Jedi may remain my favorite installment as far as story craft.

Here are my miscellaneous thoughts and opinions:

~ Much of it feels like fan fiction. Whether that is good or bad, I’m not sure. It could just be that the fans were particularly good at predicting possible developments and the general direction of the story.

~ Nothing was revealed about Kylo’s style/method of governing, or whether he did anything to expand the First Order’s power as Rey predicted they would do in TLJ

~ Palpatine’s return could have been set up better

~ The symbolism and significance of Kylo killing his abuser is changed, if not completely ruined, since Snoke was Palpatine’s puppet, and Kylo seems to enter Palpatine’s service after learning that he was the one who manipulated him throughout his life. Maybe Kylo thought if he refused he wouldn’t be able to get away alive?

~ Palpatine’s plans are as confusing as ever. Just how much he controlled, what he was aware of, and what his true intentions were is unclear. In particular,  I’m confused about the fact that Palpatine made Snoke, who seemed ignorant of Rey’s origins and told Kylo to kill her, and the fact that Palpatine told Kylo to kill Rey when it turned out he wanted her to come and kill him. Were Snoke and/or Palpatine using reverse psychology in giving Kylo those orders?

~ Palpatine probably had the means to prolong and/or restore Padme’s life the whole time Vader was trying to find a way to do so

~  It is unclear whether Rey ever told anyone about her bond with Kylo or how he killed Snoke (which is pretty relevant information for the Resistance).

~  It’s unclear whether Rey and Kyko have seen or felt each other through the Force at all in the past year. Each movie shows several Force bond connections in a short period of time (one or two days each), and that would add up to a lot in a year, so I’m guessing they didn’t have any for that interim. It seems that although Rey closed the door, Kylo opens it. I don’t really like what that implies.

~ The beginning revealed so much and moved from one set of characters to another so quickly that I wondered whether the story was going to continue following the hero/heroine’s journey(s). Eventually it did, but it felt like the strangest beginning for a Star Wars movie, especially compared to the brilliant opening sequence of The Force Awakens.

~ Rey and Poe’s bickering was fun to watch

~ They did pretty well using those bits of Carrie Fisher footage and making Leia’s death play a role in the story. I’m sure if Fisher were still alive they would have had more justice for Leia.

~ I wish Rose had played a bigger part in the story, and that her relationships with other characters had been clarified and explored more.

~ I wish Ben had interacted with other members of the Resistance. He and Finn had so many parallels in their arcs, and the two of them actually had a couple scenes together, but they were always distant, with Finn watching as Rey interacted with Ben.

~ What was Finn going to tell Rey? What was their relationship about when it came down to it? They had such a wonderful dynamic and intertwined arcs in The Force Awakens, but in this installment it felt like they were running parallel to each other.

~ Giving Poe a shady past as a spice smuggler contradicts his canon backstory revealed in Before the Awakening by Greg Rucka.

~ Hux’s death was disappointingly anticlimactic. Seemed like a waste of his character. I’m not sure how I feel about the twist of him being the spy. He seemed so much less the crazed man who fired Starkiller or the calculating menace who considered killing an unconscious Kylo. Before TROS, Hux’s motivations seemed more political and ideological, a contrast to Kylo’s motives which seemed personal.

~ In what capacity did Pryce serve Palpatine in the previous war?

~ The fact that Rey is a Palpatine raises all kinds of questions about her family. There could be a whole trilogy about what kind of relationship Sheev and his child had. I wonder if the mother of his child was Mara Jade or someone like her who worked closely with him. But the mention of cloning and other strange techniques for making or passing on life makes me wonder if his child was even “natural” or somehow made.

~ Rey’s Dark Side heritage makes her affinity with the light side even more ironic and miraculous. Or maybe the irony is that someone as dark as Palpatine could come from such an idyllic utopia as Naboo. Maybe they are trying to show that it is our choices, not our origins, that define us.

~ The fact that Rey is descended from a powerful established character takes away from the idea that Rey represented for me and many others, that a great person can come from humble, unimportant origins.

~ Finn’s arc was opposite of predicted stormtrooper rebellion. The stormtrooper paradox still holds.

~ The hunt for Sith clues doesn’t make sense. It makes even less sense than the search for Luke in TFA, which was full of holes and unexplained coincidences.

~ The way Ben stands on the Death Star looking out at the horizon was 100% Byronic hero, but also similar to Luke’s posture when looking at the Tatooine suns.

~ Seeing Kylo talking to Han and Rey talking to Luke underscored how Kylo and Rey are co-protagonists.

~ How long did Ben stay at the Death Star ruins contemplating his and Rey’s situation? Apparently long enough for Rey to go to Ahch-To, talk to Luke, and go to Exegol, because he arrives there later than her. Time and distance in these movies have never made much sense, but I wonder if there might be some deleted scenes involving Kylo at this point. Did he realize he had lost control of the First Order? Did he ever think about ordering them not to follow Palpatine?

~ Regarding minor pilot characters: Happy to see Wedge Antilles back, sad to see Snap Wexley die.

~ Poe could have had better resolution for his arc as an emerging leader

~ Finn tries once again to sacrifice himself despite what Rose said to him after he tried to do that in TLJ. (While I don’t think it was necessary, Ben’s death was in keeping with her words because he died to save what he loved.)

~ We finally got a Reylo music theme! If I’m not mistaken, it had the Force theme sort of underlying it but there were other things going on too. I look forward to hearing the What the Force podcast’s discussion on this.

~ Rose was right that they would win by “Not fighting what we hate. Saving what we love.” Rey refused to even hate Palpatine. Ben came to save Rey and that enabled her to save everyone else.

~ My favorite moments of each sequel involve Rey, Ben, and a light saber passing between them.

~ Everything that was said to Rey and Ben about home, family, coming home, coming back ... it was all leading up to their teaming up. Palpatine was wrong when he said he was Rey’s only family. Ben became her family, and that was part of the reason why she took his family name. Whoever wrote the caption “The belonging you seek is in Ben Solo’s arms” was right.

~ We still don’t know what, if any, ideology Ben held, how he felt about political power and different forms of government. That pretty much reinforces my belief that for him this has never been about politics, it’s all been personal for him.

~  Ben’s death is problematic if he is supposed to represent people who have been abused and made poor life choices. It’s a beautiful sacrifice, but did Rey really have to die and necessitate it? She could have been mortally wounded, and he could have healed her without dying himself.

~ If passing his life force to Rey cost his life, Ben should have died before Rey kissed him.

~ Ben’s death is tragic, but not technically a tragedy in the literary sense, because it’s not about learning how to avoid making mistakes like his. For all his faults (narcissism, anger that manifests in violence), Ben didn’t have a particular fatal flaw. He fell because he was a victim of circumstances and forces beyond his control. He died saving the woman he loved, which sounds like a good thing.

~ I’m surprised the Lars homestead was still standing after it seemed to have burned to ash in A New Hope, and I find it difficult to believe that on a planet like Tatooine someone else would not have claimed it.

~ The title refers to both Ben and Rey, since Rey becomes a Skywalker

~ From a certain point of view, Reylos and Rey Skywalkers were both right, and both wrong.

~ Why didn’t Ben become a Force ghost like Luke and Leia? Can he become one in the future? I find the matter of whether a Jedi/Force-user leaves behind their physical body or fades away to become one with the Force, and whether they become capable of manifesting as a ghost, sketchy and inconsistent.

~ What is Rey going to do now? Was she moving into the Lars homestead? Will she raise a family of her own? I think it unlikely that she would fall in love with anyone as deeply as she did with Kylo, and I think she might be hesitant to have biological children who would inherit her (Palpatine) Force abilities, but I can picture her adopting and/or mentoring children.

~ The theme of IX seems to be “You’re not alone,” the way 8’s was “Failure is the greatest teacher.” It is the lesson Rey, Finn, Poe, and Ben each learn. But in the end Rey does seem alone.

~ Rey’s greatest fears were being alone and being insignificant. Is the takeaway supposed to be that she is okay with being alone? That would go against the movie’s overarching theme. Similarly, Star Wars is about family, and while that theme definitely comes through, it would have been so well punctuated if the story ended with the main characters starting families.

~ Nothing was resolved regarding the government(s) of the galaxy. Is it in a state of anarchy now? Were they able to learn from the mistakes of the past two republics?

~ Did Rey, Ben, the Jedi, and/or the Resistance bring balance to the Force? Is the corresponding rise and fall of the light and dark finally over? Will this peace last? Will Rey be the last Jedi or will she pass on their legacy?

~ What was the point of this trilogy as a whole? What message are we supposed to take away from it? Is it still a Prodigal Son type of story?

Now I’m going to spend time thinking about how this will impact my fan fiction and my essays on the Christian themes of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. I will look forward to reading the (apparently expanded edition) novelization and having good quality screenshots and one more Shakespearean parody by Ian Doescher.

[beyond-far-horizons]

My thoughts on Last Jedi, the backlash and its relation to the archetypal storytelling of the Star Wars Saga.

I have been trying to gather my thoughts on this film, the reaction and the Sequels in general. My overall reaction, after two viewings, some reflection and looking at both sides, is the same as it was when I first saw it - mixed. But given how much the series means to me and others I think analysing our reactions is important.

Spoilers for Star Wars including TFA and TLJ and the film Labyrinth. This is my opinion - repeat just my opinion and won’t be tagged because I don’t want to get into a fan war or debate. Aggressive attempts to do so will just be blocked so play nice ;) Warning for a long-ass post.

Let’s start with what I liked -

It was fun overall. 

The opening fight with Poe was amazing, fast, funny and emotional.

More Poe was a good thing (mostly) and his dynamic with Leia was great - I loved that they had a headstrong male pilot with Leia as his mentor. I also liked the fan observation that Leia puts up with some of his antics because he’s like the son she should/could have had (no disrespect to Ben/Kylo.) Oscar Issac even notes the maternal relationship and that is super cute. 

Leia - nice to see her more front and centre - a general, a stateswoman, a force-user (yes), a mother, a sister and still looking fabulous. Carrie will be missed so much. I grieve for her, her family and for the story we could have gotten in Ep 9.

That moment between Leia and Kylo - sad face.

Rey, Kylo/Ben and Reylo - very happy they went in this direction. I can understand certain people’s/groups misgivings about this when projecting a RL dynamic on it, however the large section of us that enjoy this dynamic, I believe, do so on an archetypal level - which is primarily what Star Wars is about. The fairy tale, the myth - the Light and Darkness battling it out to transcend the opposites in the end. I loved their connection (even though the cuts were quite modern), I always adore it when the hero/heroine and villain start off hating each other, are opposed to each other and then gradually find parallels and similarities, and since ESB, Star Wars has always been fantastic in finding that Yin Yang and Jungian Shadow concept. The way they show the dangers of the path - that Rey could make the same mistakes as Ben and therefore why she wants to save him, just as Luke did with Anakin. It’s so human. The acting was fantastic, the moments soft and then intense - I loved the ‘Force skypes’ and the Throne Room scene. Indeed that application of the Force was just an extension of Luke and Vader in ESB and in a deleted scene in Jedi too. Also as sad and heartbreaking as it was I’m so glad Rey did reject him and didn’t give into his bullshit. I can sympathise with him but she didn’t compromise herself and that is so important. Like in the film Labyrinth at the end, Rey chooses her own sovereignty and morality despite temptation and it was the right thing to do. Also I feel (without getting too RL and social justice on this) women are often seen as the always loving, forgiving redeemers, the healers, the saviours and the nurturers - a powerful archetype that can sometimes be in play but also can be terribly damaging when constantly applied. No person can forever hold the weight of an archetype and in some cases shouldn’t, no matter how sad it is. Rey did her best but Ben ultimately needs to save himself, to make that choice as Vader did and that can be a hard pill to swallow especially when we see he hasn’t got the critical mass (yet) within himself to do it. 

Rey - in two minds given how TLJ treated plot points from TFA - but I continue to love her spirit and vulnerability as well as her moments of humour. 

The Throne Room confrontation was fricking epic! I loved it and I loved seeing the Battle Couple/Back to Back Badasses/Dark and Light take on the guards.

Rose - not so keen on the plotline but the character was adorable and we need more like her. It was also special for me because for years when I was training to be an actress in London, the friend who let me live with her for minimal rent had a Far East background and looked like Rose and always struggled to get decent parts despite her talent and tenacity. Seeing the hope and inspiration Rose gave to her in her career recently was amazing. 

The planets!!! Ahch-To and Crait just blew me away - oceans and islands - check, crystals, deserts and rock formations - check. Glorious!

Those crystal foxes!

I will always be a Reylo fan but Finn and Rey still have a special place in my heart and that hug at the end was gorgeous. If they get together at the end it’s okay with me as long as I can have some Reylo resolution too. 

Rey and Poe finally meeting. Okay I’m Reylo, I like Finn and Rey…but I always liked the idea of Rey and Poe too - yes I can have my cake and eat it thank you. 

The Supremacy - I may consider joining the Dark Side if I can have that ship!

The Codebreaker - there’s always a place in Star Wars for crafty grey characters and I liked DJ, not 100% keen on where they went with it but I liked him.

Holdo’s sacrifice - amazing  - those shots and that silence - just epic.

The initial idea of Luke as a hermit and the Balance which they sort of went with and then…hmm we’ll talk about that next!

Things I didn’t like or thought could have been handled in another way - 

This is interesting and has taught me a lot about how we project ourselves onto stories and what we do or do not get or expect to get out of a story. As we know this film has caused huge dissension and rather than throw crap at people - I respect they have their opinions - I want to analyst mine and other’s responses and find out why. I’ll note my personal reactions and then the issues that may have contributed to such a division.

Luke’s arc - I can see the de-constructivist allure of having Luke fail and why some people have taken heart from that message but as Mark Hamill has said it just isn’t Luke to me. As for him trying, even in a moment, to kill his nephew and best friend’s son after he was willing to sacrifice himself and everything else for his ideals to show his father - Darth freaking Vader -  a better way, also doesn’t ring true. Then to abandon the Republic/Rebellion for the First Order to take over - nah…If they want me to buy it, they need to give me more than what we got.

Admiral Holdo - ugh. I see what they were trying to do but if you have to withhold plans and make a character hold the Idiot Ball for you to do a plot twist it just doesn’t work. Also the whole feminist message was patronising and I say this as a woman and lifelong feminist. Treating men like idiots isn’t going to make them respect you. Also as others have pointed out, Leia was already a trope-breaking example of this done in a much better way in ANH. People were making the point that Holdo was soft and feminine and that’s why Poe and the menfolk in RL didn’t like her or feel she could have been in the military. I’m all for surprising people and frankly she can wear what she wants even though it was incredibly impractical but as an actress I noticed in her physicality she does not convince as someone of any gender who has been in a military force let alone in command. It does something to the way you stand and behave that she didn’t have and putting examples like her in only undermines the progressive course to me. 

Godspeed? God fricking speed?! We are in a Galaxy far far away! It’s the Force you idiot! Also ugh her and Leia just sounded like they were at a socialites party in the US not Star Wars when they say goodbye. I’m so up for female bonds and unexpected characters and roles but it was handled badly in my opinion - an example of shock value, not well thought out world-building. 

Snoke - WTF? Don’t build him up just to kill him off early! He is the reason all the shit in the Galaxy has happened - the return of the Dark Side, the corruption of Ben Solo, Luke’s Hobo arc - how does he link to the OT or even the Prequels (it’s a saga remember - a family saga, themes etc). To kill him now, without those answers, undermines the whole plot and undermines Kylo Ben as a result. Snoke was the reason he did all those heinous things, Leia says in the book he has been essentially grooming her son since he was in the womb (gross!). The OT draws out the Emperor until ROTJ and the Prequels spend 3 movies giving us insights on his dynamic with Anakin that primes us to understand (despite poor execution at times IMO) Anakin’s fall to the Dark side. We have none of this for Kylo bar a few hints. This lends weight to the accusation he is a pathetic, whiney (angry, privileged, white) boy who turned to the Dark Side cos Mummy and Daddy (our OT heroes) didn’t love him enough. Then we are given a vague flashback that Luke Skywalker of all people wanted to kill him for an instant and yeah…it doesn’t do anyone - Kylo, Snoke, Leia, Han or Luke - a service. Plus the ridiculousness of Kylo and Hux at the end undermines the finale and the hopes for Episode 9. I admit Snoke freaked me the f out - the undertones of the child molester/evil guru were strong and might have been a bit too much for kids but hell a good writer could have found a way to develop it properly without being too full on. 

Canto Bight - Finn and Rose. It was…okay…but again I could see the message loud and clear and there’s a difference between an archetypal mythic theme and hitting someone on the head with identity politics. Also I loved Finn and Poe’s dynamic and Finn and Rey’s dynamic in TFA - I wanted more of that. The plot arc just didn’t interest me or feel woven into the main plot as much as I wanted it to. And that sucks because Finn and Rose were cool and it was groundbreaking for Star Wars to include them in their own arc. Due to the lacklustre scenario I felt Finn wasn’t utilised enough. I felt he was slightly short changed by TFA and TLJ didn’t really shift that for me.

The Crait Plan - why not tell people the plan? To have it suddenly appear like a Deus Ex machina was shoddy esp when the First Order find out immediately anyway.

Leia’s Superman impression. It was a shocker and beautifully filmed. Extra poignant when remembering Carrie’s loss but…it’s not Star Wars! There’s a difference in developing the world-building and the magic system (I know this as a writer) and crapping all over it to introduce something ‘cool’. I have wanted Leia to use the Force since ROTJ. I would have totally been down with her using it here (like Nynaeve in The Wheel of Time) when she finally surrenders to this mystical power she doesn’t understand (and likely associates in her heart with Vader) in the face of her political and military might being crushed. It had the potential to be such a beautiful moment. She could have been in a pod or something and then dragged the exploding pieces back together - that would have been in line with previous Force users - Yoda, Dooku, Vader. But to be exploded into space where the vacuum alone could kill you, lack of air, cold etc etc and then fly like Superman just felt so wrong. Yes you need to suspend your disbelief to watch SF/F but the created world needs internal consistency (look up Tolkien’s On Fairy Tales or Mark Wolfe - Building Imaginary Worlds: The Theory and History of Subcreation or the Laws of Sanderson for confirmation on this.)

Luke’s Force Projection and Death - it was beautiful and shocking (again) but (again) didn’t ring true with Star Wars for me even with the call-backs to the Binary Sunset and Obi-Wan’s cloak. Those just made me sadder. If they wanted to make it more Star Wars, more full circle, then why doesn’t he do a proper Obi Wan - face Kylo and become one with the Force in their duel? Also I just felt there was so much more for him to do, so much more to be shown and frankly as much as I love the Sequel characters, I and most of us are here because of the OT characters. This is and always was Luke’s story. We care about Anakin initially because of his connection to Luke even if he wasn’t really in the Prequels, so to have him go out that way and have so little relevance ultimately to the story of the Sequels just felt wrong. I’m not ready for this to be fully Rey’s story yet as much as I like her and what she brings to it. 

There was no real training arc - Luke didn’t even finish his third lesson to Rey. I would have loved to have seen Luke and Rey training and duelling. This also highlighting the unfortunately implication that Rey is a little bit of a Mary Sue and I hate that. The Force just made her awesome - again not consistent with Star Wars. Anakin and Luke, even after training, get their asses handed to them by Dark sider users. Yes Kylo had handicaps and Snoke does well to highlight them in TLJ but it would have been much better to either have had her train under Luke before and had her memory wiped or be trained now to account for her aptitude. It undermines her positive points as a character and it is irritating now to look back at TFA and see her so good at everything just..because…

A main point many people have pointed out - TLJ doesn’t respect the plot points and setups of TFA. This is worse than not respecting the previous trilogies because it’s bad storytelling and each episode is supposed to reinforce the arc of the others. Sure Lucas made similar mistakes but Abrams, Johnson and Disney had years of reflection and fan reaction to draw upon to make sure that didn’t happen and mostly in the OT Lucas made it work to a point they do make senseas whole. Why aren’t Disney and co making these stories to fit each other? They are a trilogy - a beginning, middle and end, not an opportunity for each director to ‘make their mark’ on Star Wars or ‘bring something different’. That’s like hiring a new director for each LOTR film! Again people can cite upending expectations but this was throwing out substance for the sake of shock value and that never works. The Vader plot-twist worked because it deepened the story, the plot-twists that Snoke and Rey’s force sensitivity and parentage don’t matter cheapened it. For the record I liked her parents being nobodies but we don’t get to see her explore that and JJ drops numerous Chekhov’s Guns about Rey’s background in TFA - Han, Leia and Kylo’s reactions to her, Maz’s talk, her visions, Luke’s reaction - that all now looks stupid. Kylo lets an officer go after his tantrum then force grabs him as soon as he mentions a girl. This and his latter interactions with Rey, esp in the novel, make him look like a desperate virgin that has never been exposed to a human female before. 

Phasma - where art thou?

I could go on but those are the main points.

Now to the deeper issues -

Most of us loved the Original Trilogy and while we want to repeat the magic  - to have the same but different - that story was essential told. It has a poignant, satisfying ending - Luke redeems Vader, the Empire is defeated, the Jedi are reborn, Leia and Han get together. It reached a natural conclusion and that conclusion gave it its power. That is a lesson that many of us and especially the entertainment industry don’t want to learn, hence why they milk franchises and stories until they mean nothing. Just as death gives life meaning so does the ending to a good story. However I have always been intrigued by a Sequel trilogy because it was something Lucas toyed with for a long time. I heard rumours of Leia and Han’s children in a forest scene for years and that was so magical! What happened next?! Lucas was notorious for tinkering with his creations and then saying he planned it that way all along (read Star Wars - A Secret History for confirmation and also an amazing insight into the creative development.) As an aside I think that part of the creative process is that it evolves and it interests me how many directions and stories could be told branching from A New Hope, ESB, Jedi and then even TFA. The stories that different groups wanted to be told and the story we got. However something that lent more weight to the Sequel idea was also Lucas’s inspiration of Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers and those old sci-fi serials that suggested the story could have gone on for episodes before you arrived in the cinema and continued long after, so I was interested to see if they could make it happen. Perhaps it would have been better done years earlier so the original leads could have had a more active role or set in the future so their legacy would have held longer but this is a family saga so…

Despite their love for Star Wars and its superficial appeal I’m not sure JJ Abrams, Rian Johnson and Disney understand the core of Star Wars and the archetypal themes underpinning it. This is the absolute core of the issues with Sequels (the Prequels) for me - I think it could have worked despite everything else but you need to understand the archetypal motif which is textbook Star Wars. A fantastic book that illustrates this is Star Wars - The Magic of Myth. I think they got bits of it but they didn’t really understand the whole and had other agendas in play that meant the worthwhile messages in Leia/Poe/Holdo, Finn/Rose and Luke/Rey’s storylines were lost, dissonant or just sledge-hammered in without respecting the characters, plot or themes. I was so looking forward to seeing a development in the mythos of the Light/Dark sides of the Force and the Balance - how acknowledging anger, abandonment and desire for power and control aka the Shadow, can help you understand yourself and the human experience but not(like Kylo did) by giving into it. This understanding grants you Balance and Transcendence - a true expression of the Jungian Individuation process and the Taoism way that Star Wars was inspired by. This could have been accomplished even with Luke going off to be a hermit which is counter to his character as Mark Hamill stressed. If you want a new story you need to set up conflict and this would have been a great conflict for a more mature Luke to have - that the Dark Side will always return in some way, so how does one counter it? When we found out in TFA he had gone looking for the first Jedi Temple, then we got the 1st trailer and the hints about the Balance of Light and Dark, I was excited. Luke hadn’t abandoned his sister and friends and the Galaxy! He had a painful setback but was still searching for something more. When they dismissed that in the movie and had him be this despondent bum who had vanished just to find some hole to die in, I was so disappointed. Yeah you could have it (as they did) as part of his character arc, to learn failure, to repeat the cycles/mistakes of his masters and be reminded of his younger self in Rey, but as others have pointed out Yoda and Obi Wan went into exile because they needed to and Luke transcended them at the end of Jedi anyway. So it needs a deeper reason for me than what we got.

The Backlash/Conflict and the questions it raises.

It seems broadly to come into two camps, but there are also many people in the middle across a number of different issues. The main camps boil down to either loving the OT - its themes, characters and relationships within the Skywalker Saga and feeling the Sequels haven’t respected that, and the other is enjoying the new direction of the Sequels and feeling Star Wars is now more modern, more progressive, more inclusive, either as a worthy development of the OT or without caring about previous instalments.

This, as I said at the start, comes down to stories - our stories, internally and in the outside world, and the archetypal stories we cling to across generations. Star Wars was always going to matter because it is one of a kind - a modern myth that called to us on this archetypal level as well as being so pervasive in the physical world through advertising, merchandise and different media that it has literally become a religion to some people and inspired many more.

Given that, the stories I’m hearing from the media and the progressive side is that the Last Jedi is fantastic because it’s breaking boundaries, it’s passing the torch, it’s giving us feminism, inclusivity and life lesson moments that are much needed in the current climate. And in a way stories do need to change and adapt to stay meaningful or, as we see, people change them to fit - create fanfiction, art, create their own worlds, write meta taking the pieces that make sense to them. Many people feel more included in the Star Wars saga and as such a powerful phenomenon I’m glad about that.

However to others, Star Wars already deeply meant something to them and some feel the Sequels, in their urge to move things along or having done so brashly, haven’t respected that legacy. Although there are undoubtedly racist, prejudiced idiots out there using Star Wars as part of their ideology, this goes against everything Star Wars and Lucas was trying to convey. So personally I think a lot of the deeper backlash is because of the Sequels ignoring the archetypal hero journey and themes at the heart of Star Wars - a journey first brought to us by Luke and his companions. Star Wars is not the type of story that lends itself to deconstruction, shock value twists and hopelessness - it’s a hopeful fairy story, that while filled with peril and battles with evil, nevertheless gives us the strength to face the dark symbolically and find the best in ourselves. While it has had its storytelling and world-building issues (especially with the Prequels hence the backlash with them at the time) it does have its own mythos and internal consistency, something I feel the Sequels have ignored time and again,and even undermining the setups in TFA. To call people ‘losers’ stuck on simple nostalgia or ‘man babies’ (as a friend of mine did) for having these objections is unfair. Archetypal stories/myths come from the Collective Unconscious and that moves very slowly in relation to society which is why we read stories from thousands of years ago and they still resonate. That doesn’t mean you have to copy the Hero’s Journey from the OT point for point - there are a galaxy of myths out there and our own minds for exploring how the legacy of the OT can be respected and yet developed, as well as including more women and POC as it needed to.

I will still watch Episode 9 and take the things I liked from it, TFA and TLJ, but to me the OT will always be the true Star Wars. However nothing is in vain and honestly I think this debate can be used by anyone to learn from the power of stories - what works and what doesn’t for them and go on to create their own original narratives as Lucas did all those years ago…I’m also really interested in getting the perspectives of kids seeing the Sequels vs the Prequels and OT as these will be ‘their’ Star Wars and the things we see and love as children always have special significance as they are the first to charge our awakening imaginations.

[businessguide12-blog]

35 mobile photography tips for taking better smartphone shots

New Post has been published on https://businessguideto.com/awesome/35-mobile-photography-tips-for-taking-better-smartphone-shots/

35 mobile photography tips for taking better smartphone shots

Originally published: Feb. 12, 2015; updated / re-published May 7, 2019

Main photo credit: Sigrid Buene

At 500px, we firmly believe that your tools are just that—tools. Whether you shoot with a Canon 5DS R or an old iPhone 5s, a great photographer can make beautiful photos using any device capable of capturing images.

Now, let’s get practical. Want to take better photos with your smartphone? Great! We asked four talented 500px photographers to share their tips for making the most of your phone’s camera.

So if you want to start capturing smartphone photos like the ones above, get out a pen and paper (or, more likely, a text file on your laptop), and prepare to take notes:

Darja Bilyk’s mobile photography tips

1. Be ready!

I always keep my phone in camera mode so that when I unlock it, it’s ready for taking pictures. A good moment is so easy to lose. There can be no excuses such as, “Oh, my phone is somewhere in my bag,” because we are talking about mobile photography. Your phone should be in your hand.

It may be an obvious thing to say, but nevertheless, you should remember to charge your phone and to keep your lens clean. I carry a charger with me most of the time to use, for example, if I’m having coffee in some nice cafe, but the charger won’t save me in the forest.

I also often switch my phone to airplane mode. Not only does it help save the phone’s battery, but it also eliminates distractions and forces you to focus on photography.

2. Don’t think twice, take pictures whenever you want and of whatever you wish!

If you doubt whether to take a picture or not—take it! Snap it! Some moments will not be repeated. If you don’t like your picture, you can always delete it, but if you lose the moment, you wouldn’t be able to turn back time and catch it. Don’t overthink and hesitate, because there’s nothing to lose.

3. Light is the answer!

Let’s not forget that photography is all about using light. Even the most boring composition will be saved by the good light, no matter if it’s day or evening.

4. Learn the technical quirks of your phone camera

Find out the strong and weak sides of your phone. I know that my iPhone isn’t good at night photography. The pictures are noisy and blurred. That’s why I try to use it only in the daytime.

Don’t be lazy, read the manual and make sure you’re using your phone in the most efficient circumstances. We may be self-confident and think that we know it all, but sometimes little tips in the manual can help us improve our photos in a big way. Learn how you can control the exposure or focus on the objects better, for example.

5. Don’t use zoom!

I think this is the first step towards taking a bad smartphone picture. If you want to zoom in on something, use your legs and move! Don’t forget that this is just a phone, and its capabilities are generally not the same as a DSLR lens.

6. Select and retouch!

Be selective! Try to choose only the best pictures and then edit those.

There are many apps that will help you to do this, and while we can’t understate their help in creating beautiful images, don’t try too hard. You should remember that sometimes a picture is much better without filters.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is no “magic” application. Sometimes a picture can not be saved and instead of “torturing” it, you’d be better off taking another photo. Try to use fewer filters and more individual adjustments that you can apply—each of of your photographs is different, so take an individual approach to editing them, too.

7. Choose unique angles

Try shooting from the dog’s view—this will make you look at the objects from a new perspective. Also learn to use the grid, and then, just as importantly, learn to do without it.

8. Make your pictures come alive!

Print your pictures, send them as postcards, give them to your friends, hang them on your walls. Holding your pictures in your hands is such a lovely feeling, and it can’t be compared with looking at your pictures on a smartphone screen.

9. Don’t try to stick to one style!

I see a lot of people nowadays trying to shoot in one style, or even the same exact colors—don’t do this! Remember that versatility is great and showcases your creativity.

Who said that you can only be interested in landscape photography? If you feel like taking a portrait of someone, then do so. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Be eager and don’t stop shooting. Your own unique style will develop!

10. And last, but not the least…

– A warm breakfast tastes better than it looks… put your phone away and eat the damn thing. – Don’t cross the road while editing pictures. – Love what you do and don’t let the critics get you down too much. – Don’t sit at home. Explore!

Darja Bilyk, 26 years old, was born and raised in Moscow. She works as an English teacher at school (teaching kids from 8 to 18 years of age) and dedicates her free time to photography and traveling. She believes that a good photographer should be able to capture good photos of anything—landscape, portrait, or just some family album pictures—regardless of what equipment one possesses. The things that she looks for most in images are atmosphere and mood.

Find more of her work on 500px, her website, or on Instagram.

Tony Antoniou’s mobile photography tips

Starfish Sunset by Tony Antoniou on 500px

1. How to get more stable shots

Although the iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization built-in, I find I get a better, sharper image by holding the phone with both hands, much like I would hold a traditional camera.

The key for me here is to then not use the “software” shutter button, but instead to use the physical volume buttons that act as your shutter, eliminating camera shake and giving you sharper images. I am often surprised by the number of people who are unaware of this feature. The added bonus is that if you use your headphones that came with the phone, you can also use the buttons on that as a cable release and not have to touch the camera at all.

One more thing: hold down the shutter button and you get 10 fps burst mode so you don’t miss the action.

2. Keep your lens clean

A simple but important point: As we tend to keep our phones in our pockets or bags, give your lens a quick wipe before you shoot. It is a lint and dust magnet!

3. Download a better camera app

It’s true that the most built-in camera apps have improved over time, and they’re great for your average user, but us photographers who require a little more control over the settings should turn to others.

There are numerous third-party apps that you can download to give you all the control you would want. I personally use Camera+.

Editor’s Note: As of this last update, you can also use the 500px iOS app to take and edit your pictures!

Blue Hour Posts – iPhone by Tony Antoniou on 500px

4. Post-process your images

The reality is that you’ll need to process your images to get the best possible final photos.

Lightroom is my first choice if I want to do this on my computer, as it enables me to tweak the image to match my creative vision. Fortunately, there are also some great apps available, too if you wanted to do everything on the one device.

I use the free app from Google called Snapseed, although the latest version of iOS has much better built-in options than previous versions.

5. Never, ever use the digital zoom

If you want the best-possible image from your phone, forget about using digital zoom. The solution is simple: just zoom with your feet. The added effect of doing this is that it really improves your compositional skills.

Tony Antoniou is a photographer and digital artist based in Surrey, UK. Together with his business partner, he runs f11 Workshops, a photography workshop and training company. Not only does he take some beautiful smartphone photos, many of the assets in his composite images are shot with an iPhone, too.

You can find more of his work on his 500px profile or by following him on Facebook.

Michael Kestin’s mobile photography tips

winter walk by Michael Kestin on 500px

First off, it’s fun to take pictures with a mobile phone. The phone is always with us, always ready to shoot, and I have my studio to edit with me. Even better, I can share my pictures immediately.

It’s another kind of workflow, and a useful alternative to my big camera. Here are some tips:

1. Light

It’s all about light. Light surrounds us everywhere. See the light, get the shadows too.

light and shadow by Michael Kestin on 500px

App used: Leme Cam

2. Focus

What’s your theme? Try to select just one theme for each shoot, and let it guide you. Stop for one second and think about whether you want to capture the picture in front of you. Need to zoom? Move yourself!

landscape by Michael Kestin on 500px

App used: Leme Cam

3. Perspective

Get down on your knees, lay down on the ground, climb a tree: there are hundreds of possibilities for capturing another point of view of the same subject. Try as many of them as possible.

harbour crane by Michael Kestin on 500px

App used: Leme Cam

4. Reflections

Mirrors are everywhere: glasses, puddles, smooth and shining surfaces. Use these to your advantage and discover other, more-unique views.

5. Black and white

Focus on forms, structure, textures, surfaces. Light shapes things, try to capture that!

regionalexpress by Michael Kestin on 500px

App used: Leme Cam

6. Simplicity

Less really is more. Use empty spaces, the sky, uncolored surfaces, and focus on details.

two people by Michael Kestin on 500px

App used: Leme Cam

7. Apps

Feel free to change moods and colors to add elements to your photos. Editing apps can help you to make your pictures much better, or at the very least, more interesting.

columns by Michael Kestin on 500px

Apps used: Leme Cam and Distressed FX

8. Moments Always try to catch the best moment. Feel any moment worth capturing.

winter walk by Michael Kestin on 500px

Apps used: Snapseed, Mextures, Distressed FX

9. Shadows

Mother nature paints with light. When the sun is shining, shadows help create lots of interesting scenes for you to capture. Look around and you’ll see that even mundane scenes can be captured in a special way.

shadows by Michael Kestin on 500px

Apps used: Leme Cam and Mextures

10. Storytelling

Take a few pictures and make collages. This is a simple way to use your photos to tell a story.

places by Michael Kestin on 500px

Apps used: Leme Cam, Distressed FX, Pixlr

Apps I often use for editing my photos: – Snapseed – Pixlr – Mextures – Distressed FX – Mattebox

Michael Kestin is a musician and interior designer who also works as a photographer and visual trainer giving workshops in visual thinking and mobile photography that focus on visual spaces.

You can find more of his work on his 500px account, Steller, his website, and Facebook

Leslie St. John’s mobile photography tips

Evening Sun by Leslie St. John on 500px

1. Clean your lens

I know it sounds obvious, but your mobile spends its day with whatever is in your pocket or handbag. You will never take great pictures with pocket lint or greasy thumbprints on the lens…

This is a really easy issue to fix, but if you ignore it, it will limit you before you even start. Also, try not to keep your phone in your pocket or bag with things that might scratch the lens, like coins, keys, and the like.

2. Learn to read light

Lighting makes an image great, whether you take it with a Nikon D4 or a mobile phone. If you know what makes great light you are halfway to making great photographs.

Sunset by Leslie St. John on 500px

3. Forget about flash

If you are out in a bar with friends, by all means, flash away—but as with point-and-shoot cameras, the light is going to be flat and prone to redeye. You get much better images if you can use the room light. (see point 2)

4. Take lots of pictures

As a professional photographer, I almost never take one picture. The final image that the client sees is almost always the result of an iterative process.

Take a shot, critique it, then take another shot. Change your angle, change your distance to the subject, change your exposure. Almost always, the end result is better than your first image.

5. Get a good phone for photography

I often joke that, with my Lumina 1020, I bought a great camera with a built-in phone. I wanted to get a camera for the times when I was out with my family or just out and about without my pro gear. I bought my phone with a specific eye on the camera. If you want to be serious about mobile photography, you need to have the tools for the job.

6. Learn to step out of auto mode

If you follow the advice in step 5, you probably have a phone that allows you to take some control of the exposure. One error that many novices make is to presume that the camera will always take the best picture.

The camera runs an algorithm that outputs a general result—it has no artistic judgement. The more control you take of the process, the more you will be able to express your artistic judgement, and the more likely you are to get outstanding pictures.

7. Shoot RAW (or at least DNG)

The ability to shoot DNG files is one of the main features that drew me to my Lumia, since then I’ve seen this ability show up on other ecosystems. DNG files will retain more highlight and shadow detail than a .jpeg, and also give you more leeway in extreme lighting situations. But the best thing about DNG files is that they give you better material to work with for my next two tips.

8. Learn to edit

Learn to edit your pictures. As a pro, all of my pictures are edited. The same applies to mobile phone pictures. And by edit, I do not mean slapping an Instagram filter on a picture. Learn about brightness, contrast, and saturation. I use Fotor, Adobe Photoshop Express, and Lumina Creative Studio on my phone.

9. Really learn to edit

This is where DNG files really shine. To get the best results, I import the DNG files into Lightroom and Photoshop to edit them there. The power of these programs and the control that comes from making fine adjustments on a really big screen are what will make the most of your image.

10. Have fun!

At its heart, mobile photography is about fun. The joy of having a camera available at those moments you want to keep is what it’s all about. The best way to improve is to have fun and to enjoy the process of doing better than what you had done before.

Leslie St. John is a Barbados-based wedding photographer who also shoots interiors, architecture, and the occasional commercial job to keep life interesting.

You can see more of his work or hear more from Leslie by visiting him on 500px, checking out his website and mobile photography blog, or giving him a follow on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

33#2014/365………:). IPHONE by unai momoitio on 500px

Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two from the skilled photographers featured above, and are more determined than ever to go out and shoot something great with your phone!

Not on 500px yet? Sign up here to discover more incredible mobile photos!

Read more: iso.500px.com

[computerguideworld-blog]

35 mobile photography tips for taking better smartphone shots

New Post has been published on https://computerguideto.com/awesome/35-mobile-photography-tips-for-taking-better-smartphone-shots/

35 mobile photography tips for taking better smartphone shots

Originally published: Feb. 12, 2015; updated/ re-published May 7, 2019

Main photo credit: Sigrid Buene

At 500 px, we firmly believe that your tools are just that–tools. Whether you shoot with a Canon 5DS R or an old iPhone 5s, a great photographer can attain beautiful photos use any device capable of capturing images.

Now, let’s get practical. Want to take better photos with your smartphone? Great! We asked four talented 500 px photographers to share their tips-off for attaining the best possible use of your phone’s camera.

So if you want to start capturing smartphone photos like the ones above, get out a pen and paper( or, more likely, a text file on your laptop ), and is fully prepared to take notes :P TAGEND Darja Bilyk’s mobile photography tips-off

1. Be ready!

I always maintain my phone in camera mode so that when I unlock it, it’s ready for take pictures. A good moment is so easy to lose. There is also available no excuses such as,” Oh, my phone is somewhere in my purse ,” because we are talking about mobile photography. Your phone should be in your hand.

It may be an obvious thing to say, but nevertheless, you should remember to charge your phone and to keep your lens clean. I carry a charger with me most of the time to use, for example, if I’m having coffee in some nice cafe, but the charger won’t save me in the forest.

I also often switch my phone to airplane mode. Not only does it help save the phone’s battery, but it also eliminates distractions and forces-out you to focus on photography.

2. Don’t think twice, take images whenever you want and of whatever you wish!

If you doubt whether to take a picture or not–take it! Snap it! Some moments will not be repeated. If you don’t like your picture, you can always delete it, but if you lose the moment, you wouldn’t be able to turn back time and catch it. Don’t overthink and hesitate, because there’s nothing to lose.

3. Light is the answer!

Let’s not forget that photography is all about use illumination. Even the most boring composition will be saved by the good lighting , no matter if it’s day or evening.

4. Learn the technical oddities of your phone camera

Find out the strong and weak sides of your telephone. I know that my iPhone isn’t good at night photography. The scenes are noisy and blurred. That’s why I try to use it only in the daytime.

Don’t be lazy, read the manual and make sure you’re using your phone in the most efficient situations. We may be self-confident and think that we know it all, but sometimes little tips in the manual can help us improve our photos in a big way. Learn how you can control the exposure or focus on the objects better, for example.

5. Don’t use zoom!

I think this is the first step towards taking a bad smartphone scene. If you want to zoom in on something, use your legs and move! Don’t forget that this is just a phone, and its abilities are generally not the same as a DSLR lens.

6. Select and retouch!

Be selective! Try to choose merely the best paintings and then edit those.

There are many apps that will help you to do this, and while we can’t understate their help in creating beautiful images, don’t try too hard. You should not be forgotten that sometimes a scene is much better without filters.

It’s also worth mentioning that there is no ” sorcery ” application. Sometimes a scene can not be saved and instead of ” torturing” it, you’d be better off taking another photo. Try to use fewer filters and more individual adjustments that you can apply–each of of your photographs is different, so take an individual approach to editing them, too.

7. Choose unique angles

Try shooting from the dog’s view–this will attain you look at the objects from a new view. Also learn to use the grid, and then, just as importantly, learn to do without it.

8. Make your images come alive!

Print your pictures, send them as postcards, give them to your friends, hang them on your walls. Holding your scenes in your hands is such a lovely feeling, and it can’t be compared with looking at your pictures on a smartphone screen.

9. Don’t try to stick to one style!

I see a lot of people nowadays trying to shoot in one style, or even the same exact colors–don’t do this! Remember that versatility is great and showcases your creativity.

Who said that you can only be interested in landscape photography? If you feel like taking a portrait of someone, then do so. Don’t pigeonhole yourself. Be eager and don’t stop shooting. Your own unique style will develop!

10. And last, but not the least…

– A warm breakfast tastes better than it appears … put your phone away and feed the damn thing.- Don’t cross the road while editing paintings.- Love what you do and don’t let the critics got to get down too much.- Don’t sit at home. Explore!

Darja Bilyk, 26 years old, was born and raised in Moscow. She works as an English teacher at school( teach children from 8 to 18 years of age) and dedicates her free time to photography and traveling. She believes that a good photographer should be able to capture good photos of anything–landscape, portrait, or just some family album pictures–regardless of what equipment one possesses. The things that she looks for most in images are atmosphere and mood.

Find more of her work on 500 px, her website, or on Instagram.

Tony Antoniou’s mobile photography tips

Starfish Sunset by Tony Antoniou on 500 px

1. How to get more stable shots

Although the iPhone 6 Plus has optical image stabilization built-in, I find I get a better, sharper image by holding the telephone with both hands, much like I would hold a traditional camera.

The key for me here is to then not use the “software” shutter button, but instead to use the physical volume buttons that act as your shutter, eliminating camera shake and giving you sharper images. I am often surprised by the number of people who are unaware of this feature. The added bonus is that if you use your headphones that came with the telephone, you can also use the buttons on that as a cable release and not have to touch the camera at all.

One more thing: hold down the shutter button and you get 10 fps burst mode so you don’t miss the action.

2. Keep your lens clean

A simple but important point: As we tend to keep our phones in our pockets or containers, give your lens a quick wipe before you shoot. It is a lint and dust magnet!

3. Download a better camera app

It’s true that the most built-in camera apps have improved over time, and they’re great for your median user, but us photographers who require a little more control over the sets should turn to others.

There are numerous third-party apps that you can download to give you all the control you would want. I personally use Camera +.

Editor’s Note: As of this last update, you can also use the 500 px iOS app to take and edit your paintings!

Blue Hour Posts- iPhone by Tony Antoniou on 500 px

4. Post-process your images

The reality is that you’ll need to process your images to get the best possible final photos.

Lightroom is my first choice if I want to do this on my computer, as it enables me to tweak the image to match my creative vision. Fortunately, there are also some great apps available, too if you wanted to do everything on the one device.

I use the free app from Google called Snapseed, although the latest version of iOS has much better built-in alternatives than previous versions.

5. Never, ever use the digital zoom

If you want the best-possible image from your phone, forget about using digital zoom. The solution is simple: just zoom with your feet. The added effect of doing this is that it really improves your compositional skills.

Tony Antoniou is a photographer and digital artist based in Surrey, UK. Together with his business partner, he runs f1 1 Workshops, a photography workshop and training company. Not only does he take some beautiful smartphone photos, many of the assets in his composite images are shot with an iPhone, too.

You can find more of his work on his 500px profile or by following him on Facebook.

Michael Kestin’s mobile photography tips-off

winter walk by Michael Kestin on 500 px

First off, it’s fun to take images with a mobile phone. The phone is always with us, always ready to shoot, and I have my studio to edit with me. Even better, I can share my images immediately.

It’s another kind of workflow, and a useful alternative to my big camera. Here are some tips-off :P TAGEND

1. Light

It’s all about light. Light surrounds us everywhere. See the illuminate, get the shadows too.

light and shadow by Michael Kestin on 500 px

App utilized: Leme Cam

2. Focus

What’s your topic? Try to select only one theme for each shoot, and let it guide you. Stop for one second and think about whether you want to capture the picture in front of you. Need to zoom? Move yourself!

landscape by Michael Kestin on 500 px

App use: Leme Cam

3. Perspective

Get down on your knees, lay down on the ground, climbing a tree: there are hundreds of possibilities for capturing another point of view of these subjects. Try as many of them as possible.

harbour crane by Michael Kestin on 500 px

App use: Leme Cam

4. Reflections

Mirrors are everywhere: glass, puddles, smooth and glistening surfaces. Use these to your advantage and detect other, more-unique views.

5. Black and white

Focus on kinds, structure, textures, surfaces. Light shapes things, try to capture that!

regionalexpress by Michael Kestin on 500 px

App used: Leme Cam

6. Simplicity

Less really is more. Use empty spaces, the sky, uncolored surfaces, and focus on details.

two people by Michael Kestin on 500 px

App employed: Leme Cam

7. Apps

Feel free to change moods and colors to add parts to your photos. Editing apps can help you to induce your scenes much better, or at the very least, more interesting.

columns by Michael Kestin on 500 px

Apps use: Leme Cam and Distressed FX

8. Moments Always try to catch the best moment. Feel any moment worth capturing.

winter walk by Michael Kestin on 500 px

Apps used: Snapseed, Mextures, Distressed FX

9. Shadows

Mother nature paints with light. When the sunlight is shining, shadows help create lots of interesting scenes for you to capture. Look around and you’ll see that even mundane scenes can be captured in a special way.

shadows by Michael Kestin on 500 px

Apps use: Leme Cam and Mextures

10. Storytelling

Take a few images and attain collages. This is a simple way to use your photos to tell a story.

places by Michael Kestin on 500 px

Apps used: Leme Cam, Distressed FX, Pixlr

Apps I often use for editing my photos:- Snapseed- Pixlr- Mextures- Distressed FX- Mattebox

Michael Kestin is a musician and interior designer who also runs as a photographer and visual trainer giving workshops in visual thinking and mobile photography that focus on visual spaces.

You can find more of his work on his 500px account, Steller, his website, and Facebook

Leslie St. John’s mobile photography tips

Evening Sun by Leslie St. John on 500 px

1. Clean your lens

I know it voices obvious, but your mobile expends its day with whatever is in your pocket or handbag. You will never take great pictures with pocket lint or greasy thumbprints on the lens…

This is a really easy issue to fix, but if you ignore it, it will restriction you before you even start. Also, try not to keep your phone in your pocket or container with things that might scratch the lens, like coins, keys, and the like.

2. Learn to read light

Lighting makes an image great, whether you take it with a Nikon D4 or a mobile phone. If you know what makes great lighting you are halfway to inducing great photographs.

Sunset by Leslie St. John on 500 px

3. Forget about flash

If you are out in a bar with friends, by all means, flash away–but as with point-and-shoot cameras, the illuminate is soon to be flat and prone to redeye. You get much better images if you can use the room light.( ensure point 2)

4. Take lots of pictures

As a professional photographer, I almost never take one picture. The final image that the customers assures is almost always the result of an iterative process.

Take a shot, criticism it, then take another shot. Change your angle, alter your distance to the subject, change your exposure. Almost always, the end result is better than your first image.

5. Get a good phone for photography

I often joke that, with my Lumina 1020, I bought a great camera with a built-in phone. I wanted to get a camera for the times when I was out with my family or just out and about without my pro gear. I bought my phone with a specific eye on the camera. If you want to be serious about mobile photography, you need to have the tools for the job.

6. Learn to step out of automobile mode

If you follow the advice in step 5, you probably have a phone that allows you to take some control of the exposure. One mistake that many novices make is to presume that the camera will always take the best picture.

The camera runs an algorithm that outputs a general result–it has no artistic judgement. The more control you take of the process, the more you will be able to express your artistic judgement, and the more likely you are to get outstanding pictures.

7. Shoot RAW( or at least DNG)

The ability to shoot DNG files is one of the main features that drew me to my Lumia, since then I’ve seen this ability show up on other ecosystems. DNG files will retain more highlight and darknes detail than a. jpeg, and also give you more leeway in extreme lighting situations. But the best thing about DNG files is that they give you better material to work with for my next two tips.

8. Learn to edit

Learn to edit your paintings. As a pro, all of my pictures are edited. The same applies to mobile phone paintings. And by edit, I do not mean slapping an Instagram filter on a scene. Learn about brightness, contrast, and saturation. I use Fotor, Adobe Photoshop Express, and Lumina Creative Studio on my phone.

9. Really learn to edit

This is where DNG files genuinely shine. To get the best results, I import the DNG files into Lightroom and Photoshop to edit them there. The power of these programs and the control that comes from attaining fine adjustments on a really big screen are what will construct the best possible use of your image.

10. Have fun!

At its heart, mobile photography is about fun. The pleasure of having a camera available at those moments you want to keep is what it’s all about. The best way to improve is to have fun and to enjoy the process of doing better than what you had done before.

Leslie St. John is a Barbados-based bridal photographer who also shoots interiors, architecture, and the occasional commercial undertaking to keep life interesting.

You can see more of his work or hear more from Leslie by visiting him on 500 px, checking out his website and mobile photography blog, or giving him a follow on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.

33 #2014/ 365……… :). IPHONE by unai momoitio on 500 px

Hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two from the skilled photographers featured above, and are more determined than ever to go out and shoot something great with your telephone!

Not on 500 px yet? Sign up here to discover more unbelievable mobile photos !

Read more: iso.500px.com

[apkrich-blog]

Angry Birds MOD Apk Download + Unlimited MONEY / Coins / GEMS + Unlocked

New Post has been published on https://www.apkrich.com/angry-birds-mod-apk-download-unlimited-money-coins-gems-unlocked/

Angry Birds MOD Apk Download + Unlimited MONEY / Coins / GEMS + Unlocked

Angry Birds is one of the most popular casual puzzle video games for Android device. This game is developed by Rovio Entertainment Corporation and Inspired primarily by a sketch of stylized wingless birds. This game has many parts such as Rio, classic, Angry Birds 2, Friends, Space HD, Transformers, etc. This MOD Apk version has unlimited money or coins, Gems and unlocked all seasons; which makes this game very much easier and entertainment. Download this version and you can enjoy all of these features. It’s free!

Angry Birds Latest Version Features

Angry Birds has 400+ FUN LEVELS and 72 action-packed bonus levels across 12 addictive episodes!

You’ve to put your bird flinging skills to the ultimate test.

If you need help, Get some demolition help from your Macaw buddies.

If you want to juice up your bird, then Power Potion transforms any bird into a devastating giant

You can UNLOCK BONUS LEVELS where you’ll find objects hidden throughout the game to unlock even more levels.

You can enjoy fun and satisfying slingshot gameplay.

Angry Birds has 15 original episodes – and Play over 680 levels.

Love to challenges? Then compete against other players in the Mighty League.

Now you can Boost your birds’ destructive strength with powerups.

Angry Birds is an offline game.

Download Angry Birds Updated Version

Angry Birds is offering you to join hundreds of millions of players for FREE! Now start your Angry Birds slingshot adventure. You can easily Team up with your friends, gather in clans and take on challenges and events in the all-new game modes. It’s time to show your skills in the most daring Angry Birds game! Here are some user reviews:

Renee Green: Love this game!! I literally spend hours playing this game with all the side events. I have never spent a dime and have done really good in the Arena. I see all these people complaining about it. HINT-Save your spells until you have enough to win!! Same with your gems and pearls. There is a lot of ads which is annoying. I think you should only have to do them when you open a chest. Not on every single card. I’ve deleted games because of that. Luckily I love this game lol.

Nate Kalhan: If you say you don’t like playing Angry Birds, I assume it is because you’ve never played it. The original is one of my most popular couch-casual/friends-trade-controller game out of my 200+ game collection. When looking for games everyone can play, even when they’re drinking, its a close 2nd behind GTA 5 somehow. Yes, I’m talking about the download on my PS4 of Angry Birds 1. If you haven’t tried Angry Birds on the big screen, you’re missing out. People love trading the controls off with it.

Misty Brown: It’s majorly addictive and challenging. I enjoy fighting in the arena and playing the different levels, but my favorite part is the clan battles. I love to compete and it’s great when your team wins. Also, anytime I’ve had any issues with the game, customer service has been awesome. they are super polite and will stick with you till the problem is solved (even if it’s your mistake). I’m all in as long as their standards don’t change.😍

TwinTime Productions: This game really surprised me. It’s still pretty simple like every other Angry Birds game, but this one adds more mechanics to the game, like leveling up your birds. It’s a really fun experience, easily recommend.

SB Pro: the various levels, the different themes and other activities such as the daily challenges l, the arena, and just overall layout of the game and varieties that the game offer. the only downside is how many gems or ex amount of times you can do something because it might go up and the feathers you have to collect to unlock a character once you unlocked most of the characters. but again overall it is nice and I like the different challenges

Alec Vikowski: have had the game for a while now currently on level 1792 in the story mode have never spent any money on it. if a level is a little difficult you can play other parts of the game, clean mode, tournament, eagle training, daily challenges. always adding more levels and features. fairly good easy challenging at times game

Richard Robertson: This app is like the garden of Eden, beautiful in an art style that doesn’t comprise solely of primitive geometry and heavenly in its complete lack of ads. If not the best, definitely one of the best free games on Android.

jhonnie Chen: Very classic play, I like this game. In general, this game is still good, but it takes only a lot of time to play how much it is. But this game has been updating the map, this I very much like. Casual time to play or is very good.

Mayank Sinha: The experience was very good especially that it can be played on every android device with average specs. it also increases its difficulties which makes the game more interesting. So it’s a big Thumb’s Up from me to Rovio games for always providing this type of amazing games and I also hope for Angry Birds 3 Soon.

martin bol: I think it’s a great game, new birds and all of them are really angry, I’m not pretty sure about the pigs I don’t remember if they still the same or they got an upgrade, anyway still fun. personally, I love the angry bird’s characters, I don’t unlock the head square yet I don’t know about his or her abilities if somebody can give a clue would be great. thank you to the creators. I hope I will have wonderful game time.

Rocket Executive Kibble: The game is fun, the graphics are gorgeous, and overall it’s a good game to play when away from your PC or console. However, the lives system and the inclusion of semi-p2w mechanics (hats boost your score in multiplayer, and cost a lot of black pearls. You can earn them by completing challenges or opening free chests, but some cost a lot and I mean a lot of pearls. You can, however, buy them, and win more in multiplayer) sour the experience a bit, so just stick to the world map.

Nick The ultimate skeleton: this game is very fun and addicting I cannot stop playing it and it also reminds me of back when I was little and I played this game a lot but the older version like the first game I have been waiting for a new Angry Birds game to come out since I beat all the other ones(that were beatable unlike angry birds go) and this is a very fun game I recommend it very much.

Shannon Winn: Switched back from 3 stars to 5 stars cause that glitch stopped a couple of weeks ago. What happened was sometimes during a game or after watching an ad, the game automatically shut down and restarted itself. Even during Daily Challenge, it did that and unfortunately refreshed EVERYTHING and I had to start over. Thank you Rovio for fixing that nasty glitch, now the game is fun and amazing again.

Download APK

Additional Information

App Download Version 2.28.0 Last Updated April 23, 2019 Apk Size 58 MB Offered By Rovio Entertainment Corporation Category Casual Content Rating Rated for 3+ Support Android Version Android 4.1 and up Installs 100,000,000+ Play Store Available

[batclevercandystudent]

Do you want to know how to start a blog?

Cool, welcome to the party.

It’s true, blogging can be a great hobby to share your knowledge.

But in 2019, blogging is also a viable online business model – not just for thousands of bloggers who make a living from their sites – but also (possibly) for you.

But if you’ve never set up a website before, it can be intimidating.

Fortunately, I’ve compiled everything you need to get your blog up right here.

I’ve covered every step, from choosing a blogging platform to setting up Google Analytics, and lots more!

I’ve left out all the fluff and to help you get started on the right foot — without wasting any time.

How to start a blog (in 6 steps):

Step 1: Choose the right blogging platform

Step 2: Give your blog a name

Step 3: Get the right host

Step 4: Designing your blog

Step 5: Five pages every website needs

Step 6: Essential WordPress plugins for bloggers

[Bonus #1] Google analytics set up guide

[Bonus #2] Google Search Console set up guide

1. Choose the right blogging platform

You can start a blog and manage it quite easily today. But with so many options, it’s hard to choose a content management system.

For example, platforms like Tumblr, Medium, and Blogspot let you post your writing without too much effort.

But if you’re serious about blogging in 2019, your best bet is WordPress.

WordPress is highly intuitive to use and extremely versatile. Instead of pre-set templates, WordPress works with third-party themes and plugins.

That means you can make your blog look and function almost any way you can imagine.

Without getting too technical, here’s why WordPress is great for bloggers:

1) Easy to use

WordPress has a well organized and intuitive interface that’s perfect for beginners. If you want to set up your blog with the least amount of hassle, WordPress is a smart choice.

2) Great ecosystem

With 32% of the internet running on WordPress, you’ll be part of a massive ecosystem. That makes it easy to access resources like guides and tutorials for WordPress users of all skill levels.

There’s also massive support in forums on Reddit and StackExchange in case you get stuck.

3) Good third-party support

WordPress works with themes and plugins created by external designers and developers. Don’t worry if you don’t know what I’m talking about — you will soon understand how great this flexibility is for your blog.

For now, all you need to know is that themes make your blog look amazing, even if you suck at design. Plugins add cool functionalities to your blog, like a shopping cart or live chat system.

The WordPress universe can be a little confusing with all the hosting, themes, plugins, etc. Let’s start off by clarifying how it works.

Hosting + WordPress + theme + plugins = Badass website

Tweet This

Is WordPress free?

Yes and no — let me explain.

WordPress.org is free open source software.

Here’s how to use it for your blog:

Set up an account with a hosting company: Keep reading to learn more about hosting.

Install WordPress: It’s free and easy to install. It’s also easy to use — you won’t have to learn code.

Build your website: Use themes and plugins to make your blog look and function exactly how you want.

There is a cost of running your blog this way, and it’s determined by:

Your hosting plan

Any themes or plugins you purchase

For a totally free WordPress blog:

Use the free starter plan at WordPress.com

Start a simple but very limited blog

Why do I not recommend the ‘free’ approach?

WordPress.com has a free hosting plan that lets you set up a blog and run it through their platform.

This might seem like the obvious choice — who doesn’t want free and simple, right?

If you plan on building a business around your blog or doing anything beyond sharing with friends and family, you need more power and flexibility. WordPress.com will run ads on your blog and collect the money for YOUR traffic.

You'll spend 100s of hours working on your blog, spend $5/month to own it.

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Using WordPress.com, or any other free website builder to start your blog really limits what you can do.

Here are the biggest reasons NOT to get a free website:

1) You don’t get your own domain name

With free options, the name will include the platform associated with your blog.

For example, instead of yourblog.com, it will be something like this:

yourblog.wordpress.com

yourblog.blogspot.com

yourblog.tumblr.com

2) Limited modifications

Free is fine if you want a small cookie-cutter blog. If you plan to take your blogging seriously, you will need more options.

As you build an audience or start an online business around your blog, you’ll become frustrated with the limitations of a free plan.

For example, free plans limit how many videos and images you can post.

You might want to start building an email list, or selling products. And you will definitely want to promote your blog and get found on Google.

When you do, you’ll be forced to upgrade to a paid subscription anyway.

3) You’re not the owner

When you host your blog for free, whether it’s on WordPress.com, Medium, or Wix, they own it. If they want to delete it, they can!

Plus, when you’re ready for a more custom platform, you’ll have to start from scratch.

Now how does the free approach sound?

Not cool, right?

What about Wix?

Enough said.

While these website builders are free to use, they severely restrict key functionalities, will hold you back from growing your audience.

If you’re serious about blogging, avoid the dumpster fire.

Your ‘free’ account can end up costing a lot of frustration and money when you’re forced to upgrade.

WordPress.org (self Hosted blog)

Instead, I recommend the self-hosted approach — using free WordPress software on your own web hosting account.

While the self-hosted approach requires a bit of extra work, it opens up the entire functionality of WordPress. More importantly, it gives you complete ownership.

The bottom line for starting a blog:

If you’re serious about blogging and want to make money from it, a self-hosted website is the way to go.

The good news?

Hosting is not expensive, and WordPress CMS is free.

If you follow the steps in this guide, your blog will only cost $5 to $10 a month. That’s chump change considering the value you get in return — a custom WordPress blog that looks pro.

2. Give your blog a name

On the internet, every website, blog or resource has a unique domain name. It’s like an address — a name typed into a browser to get to your blog.

For example, when you type my domain name ‘hacktheentrepreneur.com’ into your browser, you’ll go straight to my home page.

Picking a name for your blog can be overwhelming. You want it to be perfect. After all, the domain name is the first impression people have of your blog before they see any of your writing.

It’s much easier to come up with ideas once you know what niche you serve and who you target. This is the same process we use to generate viable online business ideas.

Spend some time writing down words to describe your audience. Focus on how they describe themselves.

For example, if your blog is for dog owners, what kind of dog owners are you targeting? Do they identify with the term dog mommy or does that make them cringe?

Then, start brainstorming:

Combine a word that identifies your niche with your unique contribution.

For example, my blog serves entrepreneurs. My contribution is helping entrepreneurs grow an online business efficiently and effectively.

Hence the name ‘Hack – The – Entrepreneur.’

So what’s the best name for my blog?

It’s easy to get hung up on trying to figure out the best name for your blog.

While it is essential — it’s more important that you decide on a name and move on to the next step.

To help you decide, here are a few characteristics of an ideal domain name:

Original: Do not try to copy another popular name.

Short and clear: Keep it simple, so it’s easy to remember.

Easy to spell: Don’t get too creative with invented words, or people won’t know how to spell it.

Common extensions: These extensions are common, therefore easier to remember:  .com |  .co | .org | .io

Pro tip: You know you have a good domain name when someone can understand it over a call with bad coverage.

Fun Fact: Most people change the name of their blog at some point. Your domain name doesn’t have to be permanent, so don’t get hung up on perfection.

Where do I get a domain name?

Once you have some name ideas, it’s time to head over to a domain registry service.

You can research to see which of your choices are available, then pay a fee to register your final choice.

My recommendation: Namecheap

GET 46% DISCOUNT ON YOUR DOMAIN

Why do I recommend NameCheap?

1) Affordable pricing

Namecheap lives up to its name.

For as little as $9.00, you can register your domain for a year. While this isn’t the cheapest you’ll find (Godaddy starts at $7.95), it’s actually much less expensive in the long term.

This is why you have to read the fine print:

Godaddy’s price is more than double to renew. In the second year, it jumps from $7.85 to $16.95.

While Namecheap has a slightly higher initial price, it stays the same every year — no surprises. Search for your domain name now!

2) Free WhoisGuard

Domain registrars are required to keep a WHOIS database for all the domains they host. They submit information about who owns the domains to a central authority.

This can result in anyone, including spammers, finding your contact information.

Namecheap includes free WhoisGuard protection for as long as you keep renewing the domain. That’s a considerable cost saving of at least USD$7.99 per year.

Sweet, right?

3) Live chat support

Unlike other companies, Namecheap has a fantastic customer support team that you can reach via phone, email or chat.

How to get a domain with Namecheap

Step 1: Go to Namecheap and enter your domain name

Step 2: Choose the best available domain name and add to cart

This part can get tricky — if you use a common name, the .com extension might be unavailable.

If that’s the case, you can try:

Changing up the name a little.

Choosing a different extension like .org, .co, .io.

Step 3: Apply my Coupon Code: NEWCOM

Then simply confirm your order and SAVE 46%!

GET YOUR DOMAIN NAME NOW

3. Get the right host

Now that you have a name for your blog, you need to find a place for it to live.

If you don’t know much about computers, a topic like ‘website hosting’ sounds like rocket science.

In a nutshell, hosting companies:

Operate networks of computer servers.

Store and protect the data that makes up your website.

Make your website accessible to people on the internet.

Just think of hosting as a place (servers) to store (host) your website (data).

I can’t emphasize enough how important good hosting is for your blog.

What’s the best web hosting for a blog?

The function of a host is to keep the data of your blog safe and accessible.

When you’re just starting, you might want to pick the cheapest hosting service. This is the worst thing you can do for your blog.

You’re looking at an endless spiral of problems, like slow loading times, and crashes. Add bad customer support to the mix and you’ll want to throw your computer out the window.

Instead, here’s what to look for in a hosting company:

Excellent customer support: Get help quickly when you need it.

High uptime rating: Percentage of time servers are working and accessible (vs. downtown when your site is crashed and nobody can access it).

Economical pricing: The most expensive hosting is not necessarily the best.

My recommendation: SiteGround

GET SITEGROUND HOSTING

Why do I recommend SiteGround?

You shouldn’t have to do a deep dive on the technical aspects of servers and web-hosting. You just want your blog to work – and so do I. With that said, here’s why I recommend you use SiteGround when setting up your blog.

1) Well-trained customer support

SiteGround support is excellent — the reps know their stuff. If you’re setting up hosting for the first time, they can walk you through it.

When your blog is down (which almost never happens with SiteGround), their support is fast and easy to access. There are multiple ways to reach them, so you can choose which one you prefer: phone, email, and even live chat.

Fun Fact: They offer priority support with higher tier plans.

2) Top-notch servers (with 99.99% uptime)

SiteGround uses some of the best servers loaded with the best technology and architecture in the industry.

It also has the highest uptime rating of 99.99%. That means you can reasonably expect your website to be live 99.99% of the time.

So you can rest assured your blog and its data will remain secure and accessible to the internet at all times!

3) Ease of use

Customer support is helpful, but it’s even better when you don’t have to use it — an interface that’s easy to understand goes a long way.

It’s really simple and easy to manage your blog hosting with SiteGround because it has an intuitive interface.

The interface is well-organized in sections, with detailed icons so beginners can understand what they’re looking at.

For a more detailed review, I recommend checking out my SiteGround review.

How do you get hosting with SiteGround?

Of all the reasons to use SiteGround to host your blog, ease of use is near the top of my list. Let’s take a look at the four simple steps it takes to get SiteGround WordPress hosting.

Step 1: Go to SiteGround and choose Managed WordPress Hosting

Then choose which hosting plan you want:

If you’re starting, I recommend the GrowBig Plan which is the cheapest SiteGround plan that lets you host multiple websites. It offers the most value for your buck!

Step 2: Connect your new domain to the hosting account

First, select ‘I already have a domain’ and then enter the domain name you got from NameCheap and click ‘Proceed.’

Step 3: Fill in the details and make payment

Fill in the account information and proceed to payment.

Note: SiteGround renewal prices are three times that of the promo price so opting for a longer subscription saves you cash.

Step 4: Install WordPress on your new website

SiteGround makes it really easy. When you log into your customer area for the first time, just choose ‘Start a new website.’

The installation wizard will do the rest — just follow the steps and set up your WordPress account.

You’re done!

From now on, you can manage your website by logging in to your WordPress dashboard at:

yourdomainname.com/wp-admin

4. Designing your blog

Now that you have a domain name and hosting, it’s time to get to the fun stuff — designing your blog!

There are two ways to go about this:

Hire a WordPress Developer

Get a WordPress Theme

Developers are expensive. I don’t know about you, but most people don’t want to invest in a custom design when they’re just starting.

With a theme, you can make a great-looking blog without hiring a developer.

What is a WordPress theme?

In a nutshell, a WordPress theme is like a collection of templates. It defines the look and feel of your blog.

Most importantly, it gives you the ability to create a website without writing a single line of code.

Some premium themes like Thrive Themes, operate more like design software, with drag-and-drop blocks for text, images, and other elements.

The theme you choose will determine:

The visual design of the website

Typography

Colors

Page layouts

Styles for your articles

All you need to do is add your logos, text, and images to set up the pages you want.

The theme will ensure that your pages work together to create a visually appealing and functional website.

Free vs. paid WordPress themes

The WordPress theme industry has thousands of themes, and many of them are free.

Why not save money and go for a free WordPress theme?

Here are the four biggest reasons to pay for WordPress themes:

1) Reliable code

There’s a lot that goes into making a WordPress theme, but that’s just the first part. There’s also ensuring everything continues to work and remains compatible.

Theme companies have developers on staff to fix bugs and update code so it keeps working as internet technology changes.

With a free theme, you don’t have anyone working on the back end and this often leads to compatibility issues. That means bugs, errors or worse — downtime!

2) Dedicated support

Most people who use WordPress themes for a blog lack technical knowledge — they’re bloggers, not web developers.

Paid themes offer customer support, with some extending to live chat. This is a life-saver for anyone who is not a developer and just wants to make a nice blog that works.

3) Better community

Apart from excellent customer support, most paid WordPress themes have an active community. That means lots of people using their themes and talking about it on social media and in forums.

Chances are, if you’re trying to create something on your blog and can’t figure it out, someone else has already posted the answer.

4) Highly customizable

Paid themes offer a higher degree of customization than free alternatives.

Although themes are created by developers, they are designed for regular people to use — without learning how to code. A good theme can make your blog look exactly how you want.

Bottom line:

While paid themes cost money, they offer advantages you’ll miss out on with a free theme.

Best WordPress themes for bloggers

To pick the right theme for your blog, you’ll have to sift through a ton of options.

I’ll save you some time: there is only a handful of theme developers worth the money.

Here are the two I recommend:

StudioPress

GET A THEME AT STUDIOPRESS

StudioPress is a top WordPress developer. It has more than 200,000 happy users, thanks to its beautiful and reliable themes. The blog you are reading right now uses the Maker Pro theme from StudioPress.

Here are the best reasons to get a StudioPress theme:

1) Fast and easy setup

Even a non-techie can set up a professional WordPress website super fast with a StudioPress theme.

It has a library of awesome layouts, so you all you have to do is pick one you like, install it, and start dropping in your content.

Who needs a web designer right?

2) Reliable and lightweight code (SEO-Friendly)

Without getting too technical, StudioPress themes work on a “theme framework” called Genesis. When you choose a layout option, you’re just choosing the visual design elements.

Genesis Framework is the core foundation code for a WordPress site. It’s rock-solid, reliable, and fast — and it’s included with any theme you purchase from StudioPress.

Over the years I have used many themes, but never once have I experienced performance issues with StudioPress. In fact, I have the same speed as a website custom-coded from scratch:

My website scores really well for page speed, thanks to the clean and lightweight code of Genesis Framework.

Page speed is important for SEO and user experience — nobody likes a site that takes forever to load! A theme with unreliable and clunky code slows everything down.

3) Great customer support

The support by StudioPress is top-notch. You can get premium support any time of day, plus lifetime updates on all their products.

4) SEO-friendly integrations

StudioPress themes include built-in SEO tools that mitigate the need to install additional SEO plugins.

Recommended WordPress theme 2: Thrive Themes

GET THRIVE THEMES

Thrive Themes is a conversion focused WordPress company. Thrive’s WordPress themes and plugins are designed to help you convert readers into subscribers and customers.

That means it’s great for bloggers who want to build an email list or start an online business.

Best reasons to get Thrive Themes

Thrive Themes offers way more than stand-alone WordPress themes. They provide a bundle of plugins and themes that work together.

1) All-in-one package

With a full package from Thrive, you get everything you need to make sure your blog is effective in getting you more customers and clients.

The Thrive Theme package includes:

Thrive Themes: An array of beautiful WordPress themes focussed on conversion.

Thrive Leads: Eye-catching, effective email opt-in forms.

Thrive Architect: A drag and drop page builder (I use it to make sales pages).

Tons of plugins: Grow your business with tools to publish testimonials, post a quiz, make a sidebar, and more.

Thrive Themes includes so many built-in features you won’t need to buy any external plugins. You’ll save money and your website won’t be slowed down.

2) Huge library of layouts

Each Thrive Theme comes pre-built with close to a hundred layouts. For a non-designer, that’s really helpful.

You can make your home page, landing pages, contact page, and sales pages look great with professionally-designed layouts. Just drop in your text and images.

3) Good for conversion optimization

Thrives Themes primarily focus on optimizing conversion. The built-in features work together to make sure you get the most out of your visitors.

GeneratePress

GET GENERATEPRESS

GeneratePress is focused on speed, reliability, and ease-of-use.

It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s an affordable option for a fast, clean, and simple blog.

Best reasons to get GeneratePress

1) Performance

One of the highlights of the GeneratePress theme is its excellent performance.

It is developed with clean and lightweight code. With no extra frills, it’s great for SEO and fast loading time.

2) Free site library

This theme sports an excellent library of layouts that let you build a fully functional website in a matter of minutes.

3) Simple and intuitive website builder

Another advantage of GeneratePress is its highly customizable website builder. It enables you to customize your blog without much hassle.

5. Five pages every blogger needs

I know you’re excited to start blogging. But before you start writing, you need some basics on your website so readers know what you’re all about. These same pages are also necessary if you want to start selling online courses.

There are five pages every blog needs to give readers a better experience on your website.

How to create a new page in WordPress

Considering it’s your first time building a blog on WordPress, here’s how to create a new page:

1. From your WordPress dashboard, go to pages and click ‘add new.’

2. Give your page a title, and start adding some content. When you’re happy with how it looks, hit ‘publish.’

Remember: Once you hit ‘publish’ your page is live. If you don’t want to publish it right away, save it as a draft.

Great! You now know how to create pages on your blog.

Page 1: Home

Your home page without a doubt is the most important page on your blog.

Why?

Because it’s the most visited page, and usually the first thing new visitors see.

Your home page should describe what your blog is about and draw visitors deeper into your blog.

As you can see my home page clearly portrays who I am and what I do:

I establish trust by showing some online publications I’ve written for. I also ask people to go deeper by subscribing to my email list.

Page 2: Blog category

While most people use their homepage to display posts, I like to have a dedicated page for all my articles — a blog category page. On Hack the Entrepreneur, we also have a podcast category page.

If you plan to consistently publish, you’ll end up with a huge disorganized collection of articles. Readers will have a hard time finding what they want to read, and new visitors won’t know where to start.

With a blog page, you can create your articles as blog posts, and organize them with categories and tags.

For example, Smart Passive Income has a massive collection of content and uses a nifty slider to filter categories. It’s really easy for readers to find what they’re looking for.

Page 3: Contact

Your blog will open the door to many opportunities. Over time people will be interested in working with you while others may want to get in touch.

But how do they contact you?

Posting your email address on your blog is a terrible idea. You’ll understand why pretty quickly — your inbox will get spammed.

That’s why you need a page with a contact form. Nothing fancy, just a simple and concise form,

Just a simple form and a message about how quickly you usually respond is fine. Here’s a great example from SoulSalt’s contact page.

Note: I recommend using the Ninja Forms plugin to create beautiful contact forms.

Page 4: About me

People like to know what’s going on behind the scenes, or rather who’s responsible for the content they’re reading.

They are more likely to trust your website (and your business) if they see a face behind your blog.

For example, Gemma and Alistair Clay from Class: PR strike a perfect balance between storytelling and social proof and is an excellent example of an about page.

Having an about me page helps visitors learn more about you, and establishes a personal connection.

Page 5: Privacy policy

In the age of GDPR and privacy concerns, this page is essential to every blog.

Here you outline the personal information you collect from your visitors — for example, emails and names collected via opt-in forms.

Once again, don’t overdo it. I use a simple text page that clearly displays my privacy policy without any fluff.

If you plan to use a third-party ad network, you’ll have to mention the use of cookies clearly within your privacy policy page.

Note: You need to have a privacy policy page if you want to display ads from Google and other networks.

Here are a few tools to help you create a privacy policy page.

https://www.shopify.in/tools/policy-generator

https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/

6. Essential plugins for bloggers

With your website launched and essential pages in place, you’re ready to start blogging.

While most beginners avoid using plugins, they are a necessary part of the blogging process.

If you don’t pay attention to optimizing and maintaining your website, it won’t work as well as it should.

You’ll have a hard time getting traffic, and converting traffic into customers — both essential if you want to make money with a blog.

That’s where plugins come in.

Plugins are bundles of code that add functions to your WordPress blog. They also automate some administrative processes so you can focus on more productive things, like writing awesome blog posts.

While plugins are great, adding too many will end up slowing down your blog.

To get you started on the right foot, I’ve listed the best plugins for a new blog:

Yoast for SEO: Optimizes your blog for search engines

GET YOAST SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) in the blogging world is a big deal!

Getting on the first page of Google is one of the main ways to get more people reading your blog.

Now, while many ranking factors go into SEO, optimizing content for search engines is essential. Yoast helps you make sure your blog posts are written and formatted properly for search.

Note: You can skip the XML sitemap plugin as Yoast takes care of this too

Social Warfare: Gets your blog shared on social media

GET SOCIAL WARFARE

Social Warfare adds lightning-fast social share buttons to your blog — and they look great on every screen size.

That means sharing your content on social media will be fast and easy for your readers.

W3 Total Cache: Makes your blog load faster

GET W3 TOTAL CACHE

W3 Total Cache is another essential plugin that helps with SEO and the user experience of your website.  It optimizes performance to reduce load time.

OptinMonster: Helps grow your email list

GET OPTINMONSTER

OptinMonster is a plugin for creating lead capture forms, focussed on high conversions.

If you want to grow your business with email marketing, you need to create valuable lead magnets and make sure your signup forms get noticed.

Ninja forms: Builds forms for any purpose

Ninja form is a form builder that helps you collect information from your readers. This plugin makes it super easy to create beautifully-designed forms and drop them anywhere you want on your website.

For example, you can use Ninja Forms to create a quote request, event registration form, or even a simple contact form.

[Bonus #1] Google Analytics set up guide

Google Analytics gives you valuable insight into your website traffic.

Beyond how many people are visiting your site, this essential tool breaks down tons of information:

What pages they visit

How long they stay

What they click on

How they found your website

What countries they’re in

This data is essential to learn the inner workings of your website, so you can assess whether it is accomplishing its purpose.

While this data may not mean much when you don’t have much traffic, it’s essential to integrate it from the beginning.  Collecting valuable data right from the start helps you avoid gaps.

There’s a ton of data in your Google Analytics account, and you don’t need to dig too deep at the beginning.

Tracking these three metrics will help guide your decisions around what to write and how to promote your blog:

Overview report: A quick glimpse of your blog’s audience for a certain period.

Most Popular Posts: This helps you find out what type of content is resonating most with your audience.

Referral traffic: Gives you the top 10 websites sending you traffic. These are sites linking to your blog within their content.

Setting up Google Analytics

Now you know Google Analytics is a must — but setting it up can be tricky.

This section walks through the entire process of setting up Google Analytics to your WordPress website step-by-step.

Step 1: Sign up for Google Analytics

Fill in the required information, and click ‘Get Tracking ID.’

Step 2: Get the tracking code to your blog

Once you add the website, you will get a Tracking ID. Under this, you’ll find the ‘Global Site Tag.’ It contains a code snippet which is your tracking code.

Step 3: Add the tracking code to the header of your blog

Copy the tracking code, and paste it into the <Header> section of your blog.

If you’re using a StudioPress theme, the Genesis Framework makes it easy. In your WordPress dashboard:

Find Genesis in the menu along the left side

Click on Theme Settings

Scroll down until you see the field <Header Scripts>

Paste your tracking code into the field

If you’re not using Genesis, you can either:

Contact support for the company that made your theme: Ask them where to manually add your tracking code to the header.

OR

Install free plugin Insert Headers and Footers: Use the plugin to add your tracking code to any theme.

That’s it!

You’ve just added Google Analytics into your website.

[Bonus #2] Google Search Console set up guide

Search Console is another essential data tool. In particular, it provides data on how your blog performs on search engines.

You want people to find your blog when they search for information on Google. The data in Search Console helps you to know when you’re on the right track with your content.

Search Console provides valuable data like:

What keywords and queries bring in traffic?

What are your top performing keywords?

Google Search Console helps you understand how effectively you are targeting and optimizing your content for SEO.

Setting up Google Search Console

Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough on how to set up the Google Search Console for your blog.

Step 1: Create an account with Search Console

Go to Google Search Console and click ‘Start Now’ to create an account.

Then click ‘Add a Property’ and enter the domain name of your blog.

Step 2: Verify ownership using Yoast

There are several ways to verify your blog, but I recommend using the Yoast SEO plugin.

All you have to do is copy and paste the HTML tag into the plugin:

Step 3: Add the code into your blog

Find Yoast SEO on the left side menu of your WordPress dashboard.

Go to ‘General’ settings and paste the code you got from Google Search Console.

Step 4: Verify with Google Search Console

Once you add the code click ‘verify’ and you should get the confirmation.

Congratulations you’ve successfully connected your blog with Google Search Console!

Final thoughts on blogging in 2019

Now that you have everything set up to start your blog the real work begins — writing blog posts and building an audience!

I won’t lie to you. It’s going to take a lot of work and time (maybe months) to see a noticeable change.

You may even feel stupid for spending so much time on something with an unpredictable return. Trust me — once you get that first win, things start to change pretty fast.

It took me 7 months before I made my first sale but after that, my website took off.

While blogging has many advantages, it’s definitely not easy.  There’s a lot of work to be done. And no matter if you want to become a professional blogger like James Altucher or simply write about your favorite recipes, blogging is a great skillset to learn.

But for now, give yourself a pat on the back for doing something awesome — starting a blog!

Go grab your new WordPress hosting account at SiteGround and get started on your blogging journey.

The post How to start a blog: The Definitive Guide (2019) appeared first on Hack the Entrepreneur.

via Hack the Entrepreneur

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Adobe Stock Success Stories (You Can Be One, Too).

Sponsored by Adobe

If you’re like most graphic designers and illustrators, you have files of great stuff that was never bought or used by a client. Maybe you’ve done dozens of logo explorations or diagrammatic graphics that haven’t seen the light of day (other than on your computer screen). With some creative re-packaging (and the text turned to “Lorem Ipsum” or other dummy type) those files could be making money for you all around the world.

An Investment Over Time

Petr Vaclavek, an illustrator in the Czech Republic, has had so much success with stock that he’s stopped working directly with clients. To him, success in the design field means making investments in time that pay off over the long term. For him and the hundreds of other Adobe Stock contributors, it’s like designing a piece of furniture or a dress: you do it well, once, and get many buyers and fans that you never meet in person, year after year.

To ensure that there’s something for every buyer and every need, Petr Vaclavek slices and dices his images, like these thought bubbles, in many different ways.

Remember to set all the type as dummy type and change it to outlines, like Petr Vaclavek has done here. The end user can delete and set his/her own type in Illustrator — or import the illustration into InDesign and set the type there.

“I invest my time and creativity to create illustrations, and they generate money for me for quite a long time. For me, microstock is a great system for selling my illustrations without dealing directly with clients,” Vaclavek admits (with a smile emoji). ” His kind of working style is great for people who love to design and draw but don’t necessarily love to sit in meetings, get critiqued, go through rounds of changes, and face possible rejection.

Vaclavek generates all the changes himself: he does everything in horizontal and vertical formats, on white backgrounds, on black backgrounds, ad infinitum. Timelines, flow diagrams, org charts, process charts—he’s done them all, every which way—and the look is always clean and corporate. He’s got 68 pages of downloadable vectors and illustrations on Adobe Stock, and is a master of mixing and matching elements in many different ways.

Another colorful infographic vector by Petr Vaclavek in which the elements can easily be manipulated.

He also gets a kick out of seeing his work used by big brands, such as this swirly rainbow on a Coca-Cola can in Eastern Europe and on “My Coke Zone,” a local portal with advertising messages, images and merch for retailers.

Big companies license stock, too. Coke used Vaclavek’s swirly abstract vector rainbow on a promotional label in Eastern Europe.

“It’s good to have a mixed portfolio: different styles and approaches,” comments an Adobe spokesperson. “Buyers usually search by terms rather than by artists’ names, so your content can feature different styles. Vaclavek, in addition to the many infographics and diagrams, offers holiday cards, backgrounds, party invitations, even certificates of achievement—each available in at least half a dozen different colorways and variations.

“Our marketplace is visited by all sorts of customers, from individual freelancers to large corporations,” the spokesperson adds. “Regardless of your background, niche or medium, you can find a buyer for your content. To ensure that your stock contributions are successful, it’s essential to research trends, seasonal demand, and best-selling files. Keep on top of what’s going on in the design, editorial and advertising worlds. Get inspired by the visual communications of the big brands. For example, study the latest campaign of brands you admire and analyze the color palettes, backgrounds, textures, typography.”

Meeting a Real Need

No one knows this better than the contributor who goes by the screen name Mast3r. This artist has 100 pages of images that can be found via a search for “holiday.” Besides Christmas and New Year’s, there’s Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Earth Day, and images for causes like Breast Cancer Awareness that are always useful to nonprofits on limited budgets.

Be sure to upload holiday images at least three months in advance of the season. This background by Mast3r is especially useful because it was made in 10 layers. Each item is grouped so they can be moved or deleted so the client’s message or image can be inserted.

Mast3r offers many backgrounds with simple elements that can be moved, resized, deleted. Imagine what you have, unused, in your files, that could be updated and uploaded.

Don’t save your unused or personal illustrations for a rainy day. Be like Mast3r and repurpose them as stock that can be licensed to other users.

Thousands of Sells

The contributor known as Abert84 spent ten years as an office worker in his native Kiev, Ukraine, before he got into vectors and backgrounds — by taking Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) courses and watching instructional videos. “Infographics sell well and I like to draw them,” he says simply, noting that his most popular image, the simple modern diagram below, has sold thousands of times.

How many times have you looked at a piece of art and thought, “I could have done that”? But perhaps you didn’t. In this case, you surely could have. Abert84 uploads about 15 images a week and now has more than 1,000 vectors in his Adobe Stock library. His secret of success is no secret at all: “I properly layer and group objects,” he says, “background, icons, effects, text.” He knows users would be unhappy if they couldn’t easily change colors; delete, move, and/or resize elements and substitute real text for the “Lorem Ipsum.”

Abert84’s best-selling vector.

Abert84 gives his buyers a lot of value, for example, in this bundle of business graphics that are intelligently grouped and can be used in myriad ways.

Many graphic designers also draw and paint, on weekends, on vacation, for pleasure, relaxation, and art for their walls. But now it can be more than a hobby. Watercolor illustrations of fruit, flowers, food and nature are always popular. Much in demand are images from and for cultures outside the Western mainstream. The artist who goes by the screen name Baoyan specializes in Asian brush-painting style images. Surprise — these are vectors and thus can be manipulated and used in a number of different ways. She has also provided useful templates, including many variations on Chinese patterns and backgrounds, some especially for “2019 Year of the Pig” Chinese New Year’s cards and decorations.

Baoyan makes Chinese brush paintings available as fine art on artnet.com, and available to buyers as vectors on adobestock.com.

These vectors by Baoyan are ready to go as business cards, note paper, greeting cards, or any other use.

Baoyan’s many sets of Chinese patterns include some specifically for Chinese New Year.

Logo Studies to Good Use

Perhaps the most common type of files graphic designers have in folders taking up hard drive space but not generating any income are logo studies. The designer known as Venimo has created an outstanding and profitable collection of icons and backgrounds, which are licensed separately or in sets.

If, for example, you’ve designed a logo for a yoga studio and have (or could make) nine options that weren’t sold, they could be packaged like this, as Venimo as done so nicely, and sold as stock.

Vector packs or bundles of backgrounds, logo elements, holiday elements, and textures always sell, according to Adobe. Icons like these by Venimo perform especially well, particularly when they address a particular industry or theme.

Single vector by Venimo. The user can easily change colors and typeset the title or caption.

In this vector, Venimo provides four icons that can be lifted and used separately and three backgrounds that are ideal for 4 x 9 brochure covers.

Your Adobe Stock Images

So how about you? Consider stock as a side gig, or even eventually a full-time gig. It’s free to sign up. If you are interested in bringing your illustrations and vectors to a worldwide audience of buyers, just click here and sign up to become an Adobe Stock contributor today!

As an added bonus, Adobe promotes its contributors via its blog and social channels — and, if you become a success story yourself, might even invite you to speak at an Adobe-sponsored event or present a workshop at a conference. Learn more about becoming an Adobe Stock images contributor now!

The post Adobe Stock Success Stories (You Can Be One, Too). appeared first on HOW Design.

Adobe Stock Success Stories (You Can Be One, Too). syndicated post

[vozznews-blog]

Vozz News

Breaking News On the Web and TV

For daily news sports, different sports stations are providing the best to their regular audiences.

Fox is based in Australia working as a satellite and cable sports information station. This channel is owned by Premier Media Group and is the sister station of Fox Sports. Fox runs reside news for 19 hours a day, broadcasting live cricket news or some other mega occasion.

ESPN is a sports station which has reruns of famous, athletic events, daily news sports , sports documentaries, and sports themed movies. Such applications include biographies of sports figures or even a rerun of a famous World Series or Super Bowl, often with added comment on the event.

Now ESPN Classic is the only remaining part of the ESPN family that is not available in high definition due to the vast majority of its content being vintage footage created before the days of high definition television Super Sports is a South African top news provider. It covers events like soccer, soccer, Wimbledon or live cricket news.

Additionally, it covers the sport events from other African countries like Namibia. Super sports mainly center on the nation's three most popular sports: rugby union, cricket and football.

By Virgin Media Television, Setanta Sports News was a television station which provides the sports updates. Incredible, all Virgin Media clients can watch this station free online satellite and on the internet. These days real time events and policy is getting an increasing number of popularity as media organizations are easing the sport hungry viewers by ingesting them with latest sports groove.

Similarly, the world wide web has plenty of information about the world famous players, hot teams and gossips about latest sporting events. In fact, there's a huge number of sites specializing in sports. If you are searching for your favorite sports pictures then you're in luck. Even just a quick search in Google images will show a considerable amount of pictures you desire.

Sports lovers are always conscious about the latest on their favorite hot staff and its players. Now at this time it's the obligation of the sports channels to sneak into the athletic arenas for the most recent interviews with gamers and coaching staff, while on the transfer, sports teams offer proper info support, as reporting isn't away from them.

Latest sports news policy is simpler in large and well publicized events and club sports like football, ice hockey, baseball and basketball where the commercial connection between news coverage and improved ticket, merchandise, or promotion sales, is much better known.

Rather than typical coverage of ordinary and a number of the special news, sports coverage has grown in significance as sport has grown in wealth and professionalism. The importance of latest sports content could be ascertained daily to day viewership. The majority of the sports viewers take much attention in the internet coverage of the most recent sports events.

In the previous century, the rising popularity of game events and its effect as an international business and the huge amounts of money involved in the staging of mega events such as Olympic Games and football World Cup has also attracted the attention a huge number of sports viewers. The direction of any sports information channel to extend the first hand information on all of the present sports.

The money market is very sensitive to market news, such as the non-farm payroll statistics announcement. Volatility during those periods of news announcements is notoriously high, and fortunes are literally made and dropped in a brief time span of a few minutes.

With these characteristics, it is no surprise that many retail traders pay more attention to the latest daily news updates... their trading account is dependent upon it!

Who Are News Traders?

News traders are people who trade exclusively on economic information announcements. Their aim is to make the most profit in the shortest period possible. It's not uncommon to have a marketplace motion of a hundred pips of longer, only 5 minutes after the news is announced.

News trading is a highly risky style of Forex trading, and is generally not recommended for novice traders. Amateurs noticias venezuela who believe news trading is a way to make easy money are usually taught an expensive lesson by the market.

What Should I Don't Need To Trade The News?

For people who don't want to trade the news, they frequently wonder if they should look closely at the daily market news at all. In my humble opinion, The answer is generally 'no more'. The basic daily news is usually slowly incorporated into the market price, thus a competent technical dealer will be able to take into account any unusual changes in cost action.

But, there are of course exceptions to the rule of thumb.

While you probably don't need to pay a good deal of attention to the every-day news announcements, there are some economic news data release dates that you need to avoid trading in.

These are the same financial news announcements that the news dealers trade on. Some cases include the non-farm payroll, ISM manufacturing and FOMC meeting announcements. The large price volatility experienced during these phases are best avoided by the majority of dealers... it is far better to keep your capital protected than to risk it on exceptionally risky trades.

Whenever we hear the expression "Breaking News" a feeling of urgency strikes our mind. Suddenly we start paying more attention. This is nothing uncommon for the human mind. Our mind responds to odd things or events at a quicker pace than it will to ordinary events. The printing and visual media attempts to create the best out of both of these words mainly to capture the attention of the viewers.

One of the prime resources of such news is your TV channels. TV channels would be the top visual medium to announce such information from time to time. Largely, these news reports show up on a scroll once the news is not being telecast. During the news , together with the scroll the news telecast as breaking information can be given more time and in depth reporting. But, some TV channels exaggerate the value of a narrative and covers lesser important stories as the breaking news.

At times when there isn't anything particular to broadcast, some TV channels broadcasts the overall events or stories as breaking news merely to grab the eye of their audiences. The plan may work for them in the brief run but in the long run it's almost certain they will get rid of viewership. This may happen as they're cheating with their viewers by covering lesser important events labeled as breaking news.

Additionally, there are a great deal of websites online that offer such news. However, can you trust the authenticity of the news stories supplied with these sites? Certainly, you can't trust all of them. Only the reputed sites offer real and informative stories.

Thus, you need to be aware of the characteristics of a reputed news website to be able to get educational news. There are also sites that may provide informative and real stories but are not good in terms of deciding on the best story to pay as the breaking news. These websites consider almost any narrative as the breaking news and so confuses the traffic. At one stage, it turns out to be an overwhelming undertaking for the website to grab the interest of the visitors towards significant news reports. This occurs when the visitors believe that they're being cheated and provided general news in an exaggerated way. This manner, websites loses visitors.

So, both the tv channels and the sites will need to be sensible concerning broadcasting news. They shouldn't misinterpret the gravity of news stories and confuse the traffic. In spiteof the news sources must concentrate on distributing insightful news and duration only the important stories as "Breaking News". In the event the press acts professionally then the best objective of conveying information to the bulk people can be gained.

Okay so, most of us have pet peeves, and one of mine is becoming a news alert, something labeled "Breaking News" and then for the next two hours that I get the same story from 10 different news sources. It seems to me things are getting a bit out of control, and perhaps this is one of those problems of having news media programs on private tech devices, or subscribing to email information lists of various media outlets. Someone needs to fix this problem because it's getting so absurd, it is completely over the top, and it is a waste of our time as users to have to keep deleting everything. Okay so let us talk.

Someone needs to think of a program which scans all of the words of social media information alert that you get, and doesn't deliver replicate "breaking news stories" from multiple networking sites. Let's say you choose the New York Times, your local Paper, the USA Today, and a few TV news channels' e-mail notifications, or subscribe to their apps. In cases like this, if a famous person died for instance, the program would scan all of the info in it and if there was no new info from the last breaking news alert from another media outlet, it would simply send it into the deleted box.

Let me give you an illustration of why I even chose to write this article. The other day I felt an earthquake, it was not over about 40 kilometers off. Within a few minutes, I got a news alert that there was a 5.5 earthquake near here. I got this information alert before I had time to go over to the computer to hunt Cal Tech's online earthquake accounts, something that people in California do a good deal. Afterward, for what should have been an hour and a half I kept getting breaking news alerts from all kinds of news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post, and Miami Herald.

Yes, I understand that these newspapers are fairly far off, and it likely isn't a real major issue for them, but it sure looked like a lot of nonsense for me, after all, I felt that the thing over an hour and a half past, I don't need someone to tell me that there was an earthquake. Further, it seemed like they had been all copies, as if the Associated Press had typed it up and given into all the papers, and they just replayed it to all their readers' e-mail boxes. Enough is enough. Please think about all this and believe on it.

Are you an enthusiastic soccer fan? Or maybe golf is your sport? Want to stay updated with the latest cricketing news from round the globe? Regardless of the particular sport you're interested in, the web gives you the chance to stay updated with the latest breaking news for your favourite sports as it occurs.

The world wide web is a fascinating medium of communicating to say the very least. With technological advancements taking place around us, people now have access to the internet practically everywhere. Every building comes with Wi-Fi broadband and also otherwise we can easily access the internet with our cellular phones from anywhere and at any moment. This makes the internet an outstanding platform to use particularly when it comes to keeping up with the hottest happenings in your favorite sport.

There are a lot of sites on the internet devoted to give news for a particular sport. If you follow more than one sport then the perfect way to keep yourself updated would be to follow along with the sport part of a top news blogs. In these instances you'll be able to find a vast range of breaking information on a variety of different sports. This will save you time and effort when keeping you informed about the latest developments from all over the world.

Some news blogs even offer live updates of games happening right now. For example you will be able to acquire ball by ball updates of a cricket match or the updated score during a football match of your interest. Oftentimes you can also sub scribe to the RSS feed for your favourite sports information and get an instant alert the minute some newsworthy event breaks.

Apart from keeping you updated on your favorite sports breaking information, these sites also offer valuable insight into the sport in the kind of posts, blog posts, videos and even original sports programs. If you are an avid follower of a particular sport then you will surely delight in the chance to receive all this additional info and gossip surrounding the sport.

Another interesting opportunity given to sports fans by these online news sites is the option to vent out your anger or express your pleasure over the most recent performance of their favourite teams in the kind of comments on articles, statistics and latest news. We all know how psychological sports fans can get and the opportunity to express your feelings as your read the news is simply priceless. Incidentally, these news blogs are also priceless to access. In other words, they are totally free! You don't need to pay a dime to stay up to date with all the breaking news on your favorite sport.

[dawnajaynes32]

Adobe Stock Success Stories (You Can Be One, Too).

Sponsored by Adobe

If you’re like most graphic designers and illustrators, you have files of great stuff that was never bought or used by a client. Maybe you’ve done dozens of logo explorations or diagrammatic graphics that haven’t seen the light of day (other than on your computer screen). With some creative re-packaging (and the text turned to “Lorem Ipsum” or other dummy type) those files could be making money for you all around the world.

An Investment Over Time

Petr Vaclavek, an illustrator in the Czech Republic, has had so much success with stock that he’s stopped working directly with clients. To him, success in the design field means making investments in time that pay off over the long term. For him and the hundreds of other Adobe Stock contributors, it’s like designing a piece of furniture or a dress: you do it well, once, and get many buyers and fans that you never meet in person, year after year.

To ensure that there’s something for every buyer and every need, Petr Vaclavek slices and dices his images, like these thought bubbles, in many different ways.

Remember to set all the type as dummy type and change it to outlines, like Petr Vaclavek has done here. The end user can delete and set his/her own type in Illustrator — or import the illustration into InDesign and set the type there.

“I invest my time and creativity to create illustrations, and they generate money for me for quite a long time. For me, microstock is a great system for selling my illustrations without dealing directly with clients,” Vaclavek admits (with a smile emoji). ” His kind of working style is great for people who love to design and draw but don’t necessarily love to sit in meetings, get critiqued, go through rounds of changes, and face possible rejection.

Vaclavek generates all the changes himself: he does everything in horizontal and vertical formats, on white backgrounds, on black backgrounds, ad infinitum. Timelines, flow diagrams, org charts, process charts—he’s done them all, every which way—and the look is always clean and corporate. He’s got 68 pages of downloadable vectors and illustrations on Adobe Stock, and is a master of mixing and matching elements in many different ways.

Another colorful infographic vector by Petr Vaclavek in which the elements can easily be manipulated.

He also gets a kick out of seeing his work used by big brands, such as this swirly rainbow on a Coca-Cola can in Eastern Europe and on “My Coke Zone,” a local portal with advertising messages, images and merch for retailers.

Big companies license stock, too. Coke used Vaclavek’s swirly abstract vector rainbow on a promotional label in Eastern Europe.

“It’s good to have a mixed portfolio: different styles and approaches,” comments an Adobe spokesperson. “Buyers usually search by terms rather than by artists’ names, so your content can feature different styles. Vaclavek, in addition to the many infographics and diagrams, offers holiday cards, backgrounds, party invitations, even certificates of achievement—each available in at least half a dozen different colorways and variations.

“Our marketplace is visited by all sorts of customers, from individual freelancers to large corporations,” the spokesperson adds. “Regardless of your background, niche or medium, you can find a buyer for your content. To ensure that your stock contributions are successful, it’s essential to research trends, seasonal demand, and best-selling files. Keep on top of what’s going on in the design, editorial and advertising worlds. Get inspired by the visual communications of the big brands. For example, study the latest campaign of brands you admire and analyze the color palettes, backgrounds, textures, typography.”

Meeting a Real Need

No one knows this better than the contributor who goes by the screen name Mast3r. This artist has 100 pages of images that can be found via a search for “holiday.” Besides Christmas and New Year’s, there’s Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Earth Day, and images for causes like Breast Cancer Awareness that are always useful to nonprofits on limited budgets.

Be sure to upload holiday images at least three months in advance of the season. This background by Mast3r is especially useful because it was made in 10 layers. Each item is grouped so they can be moved or deleted so the client’s message or image can be inserted.

Mast3r offers many backgrounds with simple elements that can be moved, resized, deleted. Imagine what you have, unused, in your files, that could be updated and uploaded.

Don’t save your unused or personal illustrations for a rainy day. Be like Mast3r and repurpose them as stock that can be licensed to other users.

Thousands of Sells

The contributor known as Abert84 spent ten years as an office worker in his native Kiev, Ukraine, before he got into vectors and backgrounds — by taking Lynda.com (now LinkedIn Learning) courses and watching instructional videos. “Infographics sell well and I like to draw them,” he says simply, noting that his most popular image, the simple modern diagram below, has sold thousands of times.

How many times have you looked at a piece of art and thought, “I could have done that”? But perhaps you didn’t. In this case, you surely could have. Abert84 uploads about 15 images a week and now has more than 1,000 vectors in his Adobe Stock library. His secret of success is no secret at all: “I properly layer and group objects,” he says, “background, icons, effects, text.” He knows users would be unhappy if they couldn’t easily change colors; delete, move, and/or resize elements and substitute real text for the “Lorem Ipsum.”

Abert84’s best-selling vector.

Abert84 gives his buyers a lot of value, for example, in this bundle of business graphics that are intelligently grouped and can be used in myriad ways.

Many graphic designers also draw and paint, on weekends, on vacation, for pleasure, relaxation, and art for their walls. But now it can be more than a hobby. Watercolor illustrations of fruit, flowers, food and nature are always popular. Much in demand are images from and for cultures outside the Western mainstream. The artist who goes by the screen name Baoyan specializes in Asian brush-painting style images. Surprise — these are vectors and thus can be manipulated and used in a number of different ways. She has also provided useful templates, including many variations on Chinese patterns and backgrounds, some especially for “2019 Year of the Pig” Chinese New Year’s cards and decorations.

Baoyan makes Chinese brush paintings available as fine art on artnet.com, and available to buyers as vectors on adobestock.com.

These vectors by Baoyan are ready to go as business cards, note paper, greeting cards, or any other use.

Baoyan’s many sets of Chinese patterns include some specifically for Chinese New Year.

Logo Studies to Good Use

Perhaps the most common type of files graphic designers have in folders taking up hard drive space but not generating any income are logo studies. The designer known as Venimo has created an outstanding and profitable collection of icons and backgrounds, which are licensed separately or in sets.

If, for example, you’ve designed a logo for a yoga studio and have (or could make) nine options that weren’t sold, they could be packaged like this, as Venimo as done so nicely, and sold as stock.

Vector packs or bundles of backgrounds, logo elements, holiday elements, and textures always sell, according to Adobe. Icons like these by Venimo perform especially well, particularly when they address a particular industry or theme.

Single vector by Venimo. The user can easily change colors and typeset the title or caption.

In this vector, Venimo provides four icons that can be lifted and used separately and three backgrounds that are ideal for 4 x 9 brochure covers.

Your Adobe Stock Images

So how about you? Consider stock as a side gig, or even eventually a full-time gig. It’s free to sign up. If you are interested in bringing your illustrations and vectors to a worldwide audience of buyers, just click here and sign up to become an Adobe Stock contributor today!

As an added bonus, Adobe promotes its contributors via its blog and social channels — and, if you become a success story yourself, might even invite you to speak at an Adobe-sponsored event or present a workshop at a conference. Learn more about becoming an Adobe Stock images contributor now!

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