Bokeh Part 2

These images are samples from one of my first experiments with Bokeh. You can try a number and variety of home made Bokeh shapes created with black or white paper.

1. Cut a small piece of paper, enough to cover your lens.
2. Using a pre-punched cut out shape or cutting your own, punch a shape through the piece of paper.
3. Fix your lens cover over your lens with a piece of ductape
3. Following the specifics of Bokeh as above gather focus with the manual focus and ensure a good aperture when taking your photos.

A quick 3 Easy Steps to Bokeh

If there is one 'technique' in photography I truly adore, it is Bokeh. An out of focus image with beautiful use of light and shape.

So I thought I would share a little on how I go about Bokeh.

1. Set your camera to Manual focus.

This will give you better control over your device and the strength of your 'blur' in the image

2. Next, I like to put my camera on AP or Manual. This will ensure a lovely aperture (depth of field) While one of my cameras has an awesome aperture count, the other doesn't quite. A large Aperture helps tremendously! 1.4 works beautifully but 3.5 will do just fine also.

3. When taking your photo, you need a good amount of distance between you and the light source. Focus in on your subject and use the manual focus to your advantage twisting the focus gradually to create the blurred effect. You can also achieve this by auto focus too, depending on the type of Bokeh you wish to achieve, or whether you want a certain effect.

You can begin to play with it, having a subject to focus on or to just capture lights.

Carefully select your subject. As you zoom into its detail, draw focus to the subject.

To get a more defined look, a larger aperture will achieve better results. This photo was taken with only a 3.5 aperture and I wanted it to blend with all the lights together.

Next, you could try adding shapes - hearts, stars etc. That will be a later post however ;)

Vegetarian Babies

Well it's no surprise we decided to raise our son Vegetarian since he was born. Although such a heavy decision is made for him, we won't hold him back if he chooses to eat meat in the future. For now though our pantry and fridge is stocked with all the 100% organic fresh vegetables we can find (with coupons and when our budget allows!) and plenty of sources of beans, calcium, dairy and vitamin C.

It's so hilarious how it came about but for the longest time since I have been an on and off Vegetarian for over 10 years, my Husband and I kind of weighed up all of the benefits of a diet without meat after doing our homework thoroughly. While there is so much debate as to whether a Vegetarian Diet has enough protein, there is also countless proof that a Vegetarian Diet is by far more healthier than a Diet which includes meat.  I fret every time I look at a Kids menu whenever we go out for dinner, I mean wouldn't fries and a cheeseburger scare you as a Mother too? lol.

1) Read, Research & Ask
We didn't leap to the chance of raising our son vegetarian, we stepped into it slowly. Making every possible effort to teach ourselves more about what we were about to do. Consult your Pediatrician with any concerns or questions before beginning a Vegetarian Diet. Most of all, read about Vegetarianism, talk about it and you'll discover its great benefits! Know that there is food that is dead and food that is living. Dead foods are fats, processed, boxed or non-living. Real foods, whole foods are living: greens, fruits, nuts, legumes. Incorporate lots of real foods, foods that are alive. These foods are intended for eating. Fresh, whole, picked from the earth.

2) Find a local farmers market or supermarket with a healthy and hearty selection of whole foods and organic vegetables. (Remember, 'Organic' isn't ultimately organic if it's not labeled 100%!) You don't need to go organic, that is just an option. I knoooow, it gets a little tiring making veggie and fruit trips to the market every so often for fresh re-stocking. But you can also order organic produce and products delivered right to you also, try Farm Fresh to You or Abundant Harvest.

3)Have a good reason
Like anything new that you introduce. Encourage and reinforce it with a mission statement. Why are you encouraging a Vegetarian Diet? Is it a system of belief for you and your children? Is it because of all the health benefits? If it's something you consider as a trend, then it might not be the best option for you and your baby.

4) Have fun with it!
Vegetarianism doesn't have to be boring! You're doing the world a lot of good by having a plant-based diet rather than animal. Mix it up a little, explore develope and experiment with new dishes!

5) Make a meal plan.
I spend a lot of time each month formulating my own meal plans from scratch, weighing in it's healthiness, making sure it's balanced and of course adding lots of variety all the time to it!

A quote I absolutely love from my Husband's friend, who has raised his children Vegetarian their whole lives is this:

 "We and our children are amazing and complex living beings that can live long healthy energetic lives, but only if we eat tons of living food, get outdoors, and embrace life and love."

This is the future we want for our Son, one that is living and natural with a lower risk of illnesses and disease. Most of all have faith in yourself and the decision you make at this time for your child, you just never know how beneficial it might be in the future;)

Travels

My apologies for such late updates. It was my sons first long haul journey last week, and it took us across the country. Well, it wasn't quite 'long haul' - he still has an across the world trip to Australia soon enough. But I think he enjoyed the traveling for the most part. It's so funny how much preparation you need to have in order to make sure things run smoothly with an 11 month old in tow. Nevertheless, we had quite the adventures!

We were indeed tired and sore after many hours of flying, plenty of stop overs and very little sleep. I am so proud of my son though, sleeping as soon as the plane was up in the air and exploring everything around him. Most of all, we sure do miss seeing so much family!

What's new today?

Two new movie reviews on The Life of Pi & Argo
Gordon Ramsay's Mozzarella Chicken Recipe I added to my Recipe Book, you'll wanna start cooking this tonight!

Go See, go see!

Avocados for Dinner?

I love Avo's! They're absolutely delicious, very good for you and green as can be. I was exploring the health benefits of Avocados the other day and the list goes on. Maintaining a healthy blood pressure, lowering your cholesterol levels, regulation of blood sugar levels! I could talk forever about them, but this blog is more than just about my health nutness haha! But I thought I'd share some fun ways to incorporate them into your dinners, breakfast, snacks and meals.

#1- Avocado on toast-This is grand! A great dollop of avo on whole wheat toast for breakfast rings all kinds of deliciousness to my ears.

#2- Avocado dip with Home made Pita chips- I love making my own avocado dips and oven baking pita bread (also home made). This is a great snack for on the go, and the coolest thing is you can also control the sodium, adding more or less salt mmm!

#3- Avocado Salad and green beans are gorgeous together, sprinkled with a light layer of olive oil and salt n pepper to taste!

#4-Sandwich stuffing- grilled tomatoes, a slice of cheese with alfalfa sprouts and avocado. Switch it up as much as you like, just don't forget the avo!

#5-A puree of zucchini and avocado to make soup is perfect for a Winery dinner. Add a touch of vegetable broth, salt n pepper to taste and you have divine in a bowl!

#6- Avocado and cucumber Sushi- I love sushi making, and keep to the more traditional forms of sushi involving a lot of greens and hotness. Avocado is delicious in sushi (if you didn't know already).

Let it Snow

Don't you just love love love the snow?

New York is such an amazing place for some snow action. Although an event like this is hardly something to look forward to for the Long Island native, it is for those who haven't grown up around it that much. We've experienced a lot of light snow over the past few months and today a blizzard is attacking. I just love how beautiful it looks, the whole town covered in a fluffy white blanket. We plan to play, have snow fights and build some snowmen like none other tomorrow.