Fit Photography

I began using the Snapseed photo editor not too long ago, and quickly fell in love. The app has so much to offer, I would definitely give it a five star rating! I have used other apps in the past but many of them don’t have nearly as many features as Snapseed. Below you can find a photo I took in my backyard of a plant. The unedited photo looks pretty plain and nothing special. After cropping and using HDR scape, and a filter or two, the photo is much more appealing. The colors became much brighter and the pattern of the plant looks much cooler, compared to before when there wasn’t much special about it. The pros: easy to use, so many options, free, easy to export/save. Cons: I honestly did not find anything I didn’t like about the app as I was using it. It is super easy for a beginner like me to use. I hope you all check out this app and create some beautiful images in the process!

Follow me on Flickr to see some more cool images I created with this app!

In the past couple of weeks I have learned some great tips and tricks when it comes to photography. There are several helpful articles on Flipboard.
One photographer provides tips on how to get creative using only one light. He mentions how a lot of photographers think they can’t get different shots because they just have one. In his video, he explains how you can do a lot and get great photos with one light. One of the tips he shared was to move around your subject and get different angles because that can also change the lighting. If you want more of a “pop” to your photo you can also have the sunshine behind the subject.

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram,Flickr and my website! 🙂

The game I created is called “Spring Break”. Making this game was a lot of fun and I hope you all will give it a chance and have fun playing! I wanted to create a fun way to educate people about the affects plastic has on marine life. Some of the squares on the game board prompt you to answer a trivia question. If you get the question correct there will be a benefit. The player who racks up the least number of “litter points” will be the winner. Happy Gaming 🙂

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram,Flickr and my website! 🙂

Above you will see some screenshots I took using the Snapseed photo editing app. For someone who is new to taking and editing photos, I would say the app is fairly easy to use. It has a lot of cool features that really can make a somewhat plain photo look amazing. The picture above was taken April 23rd at Lake Ontario. I really like how the app enhances the colors. In the unedited version is looks somewhat dull, but Snapseed helped bring this photo to life. I used HDR scape mode and increased the saturation.

Above is a collage of some of my best photos in my opinion. The top right photo I took while I was in Georgia over spring break. Jekyll Island is a beautiful place! The bottom left was the sky over Lake Ontario yesterday (April 23rd). I thought it was a cool picture because a plane had just flown by and left its mark. The bottom right is a photo of my dog, Sid. It was taken over the winter but I thought Snapseed would improve this picture because there were so many different colors. To see more of my photos follow me on Flickr!

While searching through Flipboard, I found an extremely interesting video. An artist by the name of Nicolas Bruno uses photography to show his experience with sleep paralysis, which is when your mind is awake but your body stays asleep. People who deal with sleep paralysis know how terrifying it is. He talks about it as photographing his nightmares. In his photos, he becomes the “evil” that is in his dreams. He does a great job portraying his experiences.

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram,Flickr and my website! 🙂

I am fairly new to photography. I took one photography class in high school, but haven’t used any of the knowledge since. To be honest, I forgot a lot of the stuff I learned about cameras and photography in general. That’s why I was excited to read about Photzy. This site allows you to take a quiz to understand what type of photographer you are and where you struggle the most. Then the site provides an informational video to help you improve. I learned that exposure is extremely important, and you can test it before taking your photos using your hand. You put your hand in front of the lens, and make sure the lighting on your hand is the same as the lighting of the landscape.

I also read an article and watched a video from a photographer who provides tips on how to get creative using only one light. He mentions how a lot of photographers think they can’t get different shots because they only have one light. In his video, he explains how you can do a lot and get great photos with one light. One of the tips he shared was to move around your subject and get different angles because that can also change the lighting. If you want more of a “pop” to your photo you can also have the sunshine behind the subject.

Another video I watched focused on five short cuts to improving your photos. 1) Less is more, keep it simple. Bring out simplistic aspects of a photo by using different angles to remove clutter in the surrounding area. 2) Use bursts. 3) Get low for portraits. 4) Repeating elements 5) sharp photos and motion blur. Check it out!

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram, Flickr and my website! 🙂

I shared my game idea with Melissa and Emily. They liked the idea about educating the players on how plastic can affect marine life. They gave me suggestions to make the game so it is more replayable. Before, I was going to do more like a trivia game but now I’m going to make it a competition so whoever makes it around the board the fastest while avoiding plastic will be the winner. Instead of the cards having trivia questions, players will roll the dice and be given a prompt on the card.

We all know our Apple watches and fitness trackers are great, but who would’ve thought they could help save a life? An 80 year old woman was saved by her Apple watch that had built in fall detection. She fell, and the watch dialed 112, the emergency line in Germany. Thankfully, she was not injured however it could have been a lot worse. Old people are extremely fragile and falls can cause a lot of damage. Thankfully if anything were to happen in the future, we know her Apple watch will do the right thing.

Other fitness tracking devices, such as a Fitbit, can also be useful in the older population. Not just for fall prevention, but they can help older adults be more physically active. A study was done involving 95 adults ages 70 and older. Results showed that most of the seniors found using a Fitbit to be feasible and useful. Another study used videoconferencing and mobile apps to increase physical activity in women who were transitioning into motherhood, as this population usually significantly decreases their physical activity. Results showed that video conferencing was easy to use and most of the women increased their physical activity to at least 2 video sessions per week. Technology can be very useful when it comes to people increasing their physical activity levels.

On another note, a new weight loss implant device was approved by the FDA.
The device applies bursts of electrical current to the vagus nerve, in turn disrupting the signals that prompt the stomach to “relax, expand and prepare for an influx of food.” The procedure is done with a laparoscope and only takes 60-90 minutes. The device has been approved for adults with a BMI between 35 and 45, or who have at least one other weight related condition such as type 2 diabetes. It is amazing to see how far medicine has advanced since earlier times. In the future I hope to see a society that focuses more on a healthy lifestyle that includes adequate physical activity and a proper diet. If people started living this way there wouldn’t be as high of a need for weight loss devices and other obesity-related surgeries/treatments.

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram and my website! 🙂

Recently for a class project, I have started listening to podcasts. A lot of my friends have been listening to them and I was always interested but hadn’t taken the time to listen until now. Listening to podcasts is now one of my favorite things to do when I’m trying to relax. You don’t have to stare into a screen, or really do anything besides close your eyes and listen. There are thousands of different podcasts out there with different topics. Anybody would be able to find at least a few podcasts that interest them. A Forbes article inspired me to listen to a podcast known as The Hidden Brain, hosted by Shankar Vedantam. There are currently 210 episodes. I really enjoyed listening to this podcast. The host has a very calming voice and he is informative. The episode I listened to was called Radically Normal. It had a nice background song that fit perfectly with the transitions. The episode was about the struggles gay people face, and one specific person’s journey of coming out to his parents. I thought this was an important topic because it is something many people can relate to and if someone else is struggling, they can listen and know they aren’t alone.

You can find more Podcast recommendations here.
Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram and my website! 🙂

The game I want to create will focus on educating people about plastic use and how it affects the environment/marine life. It is estimated that of the 260 million (!!!) tons of plastic produced each year, 10% ends up in the ocean. Over 1 million animals are killed each year from plastic as well. Many sea turtle mistake plastic for food (a plastic bag in the ocean might look like a jellyfish). The more education that can be brought to this topic, hopefully the higher chances people will start to reduce their plastic use.Grow a Game

Killer Fungus & Fungal Invaders

The point of Killer Fungus is to level up your fungus to try and survive an immune attack. There are different kinds of white blood cells and macrophages and there is an explanation of what each does, as well as what they’re enemies are. It also explains what the skills of each are. This game can be beneficial to anybody in a science class relating to the immune system/an immunology class. The only thing I would say is the app doesn’t fully explain how to play the game which was confusing at first.

Fungal invaders is a game where you are trying to destroy incoming fungi that is falling. Using your “weapon” (a syringe with antibiotics” you have to inject the fungi before it falls below the screen in order to defend your human “tissue”. I thought this game was much more entertaining than Killer Fungus and easier to understand.

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram and my website! 🙂

Takeover

For a class project, I took over the class Twitter account for SUNY Oswego’s Health and Technology class (HSC 230). Throughout the process of this project, I have found ways to improve my own social media account and have read up on many tips to improving my posts. If you’re interested in reading my posts you can also follow my personal twitter account!

Posting Tools and Rockstar Example

For this takeover, most of my tweets were related to the environment and health. I used the Hootsuite App to automate one of my tweets. This app is extremely useful for people who post to their social media multiple times per day but don’t always have time through out the day to post. Using this app you are able to schedule the date and time you want a certain tweet or post to be sent. I followed NY Wellness Guide to get an idea of posting styles. Almost all of their tweets link to different articles which is the approach I used as well. In some of my tweets I used Gifs to make them more attractive to people scrolling by and hopefully grab their attention. I tried to link articles that would be relatable and interesting in hopes to gain more followers, likes and retweets. OutboundEngine also had a few tips in growing your social media. The first was to create a schedule and post regularly. I used this tip with Hootsuite as it allows you to schedule your posts. The next was make the most of visual content i.e. include pictures, links, and gifs. All of my tweets included links with pictures to grab more attention from the people who quickly scroll through their feed. The next tip is to cross promote and link everything. This is a good way to promote all of your accounts at once. For example on your Instagram account, you should have a link to your Facebook and twitter pages and vise versa.

Twitter Analytics

Using Twitter Analytics, you can view tweet impressions (6,329), profile visits (398), mentions (5) and followers (226). Through my takeover we gained 3 followers and received a direct message from a verified twitter user, John Frye, asking if we could check out his podcast.

Check out my reflection video on my social media takeover below!

Thanks for reading! Check me out on social media!
–Youtube, Twitter, instagram and my website! 🙂 Also check out SUNY Oswego’s Health and Technology social media accounts! Instagram, Twitter, & Facebook.