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  • Here are a bunch of tracks I've been loving during my birthday month of November. Bring on summer! Click the picture of my sweet skull planter from Kmart to listen to my 8track playlist.


    TRACK LIST
    Loca (ft Dizzy Rascal) - Shakira 
    Army - Ellie Goulding
    Middle (ft Bipolar Sunshine) - DJ Snake 
    Roses (ft Rozes) - The Chainsmokers
    Here for You (ft Ella Henderson) - Kygo
    Ocean Drive - Duke Dumont
    Far From Home (ft Cozy) - Gamper & Dadoni
    Find A Way (ft Rudy) - Dirty South


    . 11/27/15 .

    November Mixtape

    . 11/27/15 .

    Here are a bunch of tracks I've been loving during my birthday month of November. Bring on summer! Click the picture of my sweet skull planter from Kmart to listen to my 8track playlist.


    TRACK LIST
    Loca (ft Dizzy Rascal) - Shakira 
    Army - Ellie Goulding
    Middle (ft Bipolar Sunshine) - DJ Snake 
    Roses (ft Rozes) - The Chainsmokers
    Here for You (ft Ella Henderson) - Kygo
    Ocean Drive - Duke Dumont
    Far From Home (ft Cozy) - Gamper & Dadoni
    Find A Way (ft Rudy) - Dirty South


    . 11/25/15 .

    One of the aims of starting my blog was to teach anyone who reads it more about photography, as well as sharing my own stuff. While there is plenty on the Internet about this and many other camera functions, I sometimes find there is to much. Sometimes you just want the ability to go to one place and learn what you need, so you can get out there and give it a go yourself. This is what I am hoping to do with this series of posts. So to start off, I thought I'd take us back to basics. When it comes to taking photos that make people's eyes pop, it is all about knowing how to use these basic functions to your advantage. One important function, and the one we'll start off with today, is aperture.

    Aperture basically means the opening in the lens. The aperture size that you set on your camera will determine the size of the hole that opens up when you hit the shutter button. The larger the hole, the more light that will come in, and obviously the smaller the hole the less light that comes in.

    Aperture is the feature on your camera that will help give your photos real dimension. It determines whether the background of your picture is blurred to help draw attention to the subject of your photo, or whether everything stays in focus so viewers can get a sense of the entire context of the shot.

    Aperture is expressed in 'f-stops' or 'f-numbers'. This is where things can get a bit confusing because everything works a bit backwards. If you have a smaller f-stop number than you have a large aperture. If you have a larger f-stop number than you have a smaller aperture. The photography Gods couldn't have made things easy for us, so just try to remember when you're shooting that whatever your f-number is than the size of your aperture is essentially the opposite. I've put a chart below to help express all this in pictorial form which hopefully makes it a bit easier to understand.

    So what does changing the aperture actually do? Basically it changes the depth of field (DOF) in your shot, which is what determines whether a background is blurry or not, like I mentioned earlier.

    A large depth of field will mean all of your picture, including the background, is in focus. This is perfect if you're out taking landscape shots and what to capture the beautiful mountain scenes in the background.

    A small depth of field means the background of the picture will be blurred out and the subject closer to the camera will be in focus. This is great for those times when you really want the subject of your shot to stand out and be the main thing that draws a viewer's eye. The blurred background can then help to add a little bit of context. It's a great way to get creative with your photos.

    So what aperture settings will give us these different depths of field?

    A large f-number will give us a large depth of field and bring everything, including the background of the picture, into focus.

    A small f-number will gives us a small depth of field and create a blurry background for the subject to stand out on.  This is a bit easier to remember as the size of the aperture directly correlates with the size of the depth of field it creates.

    I've taken a few shots below with different aperture settings to help show you, visually, what this creates.





    It is also important to note that every lens has different aperture capabilities. When you pick up a lens, or check out the specs online, it will usually tell you what the maximum and minimum apertures are for that lens. Most people tend to look at the maximum aperture when choosing which lens to buy. This is because the maximum aperture capability of a lens determines whether it is a 'fast lens'. A fast lens, for example, would have a maximum aperture of f/1.2 or f/1.4. This means more light can pass though the lens and makes it great for low-light photography. Minimum aperture is not so important these days because even basic lenses usually have around f/16 as the minimum aperture, which is more than enough to take everyday photos.

    Like most things photography related, the best way to really wrap your head around all the different functions and concepts is to pick up your camera and go out and take some shots. Go out and experiment with different aperture settings, see the results and this will all start to sink it. In fact I challenge you to do so and then share them with me in the comments below, I love getting to see other people's work.



    . 11/20/15 .

    Last week I turned 22! I always love my birthday, even if nothing extravagant is planned. Knowing it’s my birthday always makes me feel happy and I find nothing can bring me down on that day. Even if, like this year, I have a 50% final exam for three hours. On my birthday I ended up going out to dinner on Darby Street in Newcastle at the Bowery Boys, with my parents and boyfriend, where we stuffed ourselves silly. Most of my gifts this year consisted of me going to the shops with vouchers and buying what I wanted, which honestly I loved. So I thought I’d share what I picked up during my shopping trip. DISCLAIMER: nothing here is about showing off. I simply love to read and watch birthday hauls and thought why not make a post about something I love to see.


    Zodiac Candle

    One of the first stores I hit was Typo. I absolutely adore this shop and I’ve really been loving the stock they have in at the moment. The first thing I picked up from there was this zodiac candle. I’m a massive candle fan, and seeing as I was shopping for my birthday gifts it felt fitting to pick this up. I picked up the Scorpio sign, which is vanilla scented, and I’ve been burning it over the last few days and loving it. It seems it will last me a while to, which is always a massive plus with a candle. It’s also a cute jar that I plan to use once the candle runs out.




    Cactus Drink Bottle

    I have recently become obsessed with cacti, both the real ones and cute little drawn designs of them. I’ve been using the same water bottles for a while and really want to try drink more water, so I figured this was perfect for me to pick up.





    Arrow Trinket Tray

    While most of my jewellery is stored away in cute containers, I love to have my more precious metals out on display so they’re easier for me to grab. My old tray was starting to get a bit full, and Typo has an amazing collection of trinket trays in-store at the moment. It seemed like I was destined to pick one up.





    Yellowstone Tripod

    I actually go into JB HI FI quite a lot, though normally I just stick to browsing, however I did pick up a few things from here. First I got something I have been wanting to get for ages, and something I think is a must-have for any photographer – a tripod. I’ve been dying to go out and do some cool night shots, but have needed something to help keep my camera steady to avoid blur. I picked up the Yellowstone 57” Tripod, and it is perfect. It has all the features and adjustments you could want in a tripod and being priced at $40 it doesn’t blow the bank.





    White PlayStation Controller

    I’ve wanted to get myself a secondPlayStation controller since I brought my PS4. Partly so I could play games with people, and mostly so I would have a second controller ready and waiting when my other one died. I also just unexplainably love the white colour.



    Controller Charging Station

    If you’ve got two controllers then of course you need something to charge both of them on, at the same time. So I picked up this dual controller charger.






    Kmart
    I love Kmart, particularly the homewares section. However I somehow managed to steer clear of it this time and spent my money on picking up some clothing I was in need of.



    All together at Kmart I purchased two sports crop tops, a pair of gym pants, a pack of silver earrings, two bras, and a pair of undies, all for only $40! I’ve used the gym gear and it’s great quality stuff despite the low price. Again Kmart has stolen my heart.



    . 11/19/15 .

    Last weekend my Dad and I filled our weekend with something a little bit different. We took part in the 2015 Australia Red Bull Billy Cart Race! We've spent the last month building our Opera House race car billy cart under the team name Big Crash Opera. After weekends of paper maching, painting and welding, we finally got the chance to tear down the track in our drag queen inspired opera singer outfits. We might not have done anything but it was an awesome weekend and there were some amazing carts. The main message I hope anyone should take from seeing something like this is that you should never be afraid to give anything a go.