Saturday, 11 July 2015

12 Unusual Uses for Garlic

12 Unusual Uses for GarlicThere’s so much more to garlic than cooking and vampire slaying. From treating cold sores and athlete’s foot to repelling mosquitoes and repairing glass, click through for some clever ways to use garlic.

Health & Beauty
1. Maintain Good Health. With properties that are thought to help your heart and liver, boost your metabolism of iron, prevent cancer, and fight against bacteria and viruses, garlic is a vital component of a healthy diet. Try to eat one or two cloves every day!
2. Cure a Cold. For thousands of years, garlic has been known as a treatment for coughs and colds. And, while the science isn’t all there yet, limited research has suggested that garlic will help treat these wintertime ailments. Mince a clove of garlic and steep it in hot water for about 5 minutes. Strain out the garlic and drink. It’s a natural cough syrup! You can also try to eat 3 raw cloves a day around cold and flu season to prevent catching a bug.
3. Get Rid of Acne. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it over the affected area. Done regularly, the antibacterial properties found in garlic cloves will help to clear up your complexion.
4. Treat Cold Sores. Like in treating acne, cut a clove of garlic in half and apply it directly to the sore. It might sting a little, but it’s been shown to work just as effectively as commercial treatments for getting rid of those unsightly sores.
5.  Treat Athlete’s Foot. If there’s anything garlic doesn’t like, it’s fungus, so treating your athlete’s foot with the stuff works wonders! Crush a couple of cloves and toss them in a foot bath filled with warm water. Soak for about half an hour.

Pest Control
5. Use as a Pesticide in your Garden. Skip those harmful commercial pesticides and use a natural, DIY method with garlic instead! Click here for instructions.
6. Repel Mosquitos & Other Insects. We all know the best way to kill a vampire — garlic. But do you know why? Well, one major theory is that, like vampires, blood-sucking mosquitoes are afraid of garlic. You can rub garlic on your skin to ward off mosquitoes, if you like, but you can also leave out cloves of garlic in areas where mosquitoes flock.
7. Warning: Don’t Feed Your Pets Garlic. There’s a school of thought out there that garlic will help protect your dogs and cats for fleas, ticks, and other pesky critters. While this is true, garlic can be very toxic for animals. As the ASPCA notes, “An occasional small amount, such as that in most commercial pet foods and treats, may not cause a problem, but because of the risk, we generally recommend that you avoid feeding your pets products that contain more concentrated amounts of garlic.”
Other Great Uses
9. Repair Glass. Think of this as a quick fix for mildly-damaged glass — rub the sticky juice of a crushed clove of garlic onto the hairline cracks, wiping away an excess liquid. Garlic is a natural adhesive, so it’ll help the glass to stay together and prevent any further damage.
10. Use as a Glue. On the same note, you can use garlic in place of glue for other things, such as paper crafts.
11. De-Ice Surfaces. In a pinch, garlic salt works wonders in de-icing roads, sidewalks, and other surfaces.
12. Make a DIY Surface Cleaner. Chop up a 3-4 cloves of garlic, and toss them in a spray bottle filled with white vinegar. Add a couple drops of lemon oil and voila—you have yourself a DIY disinfectant spray!

Weird Ingredient Wednesday: The Banana Flower

Flowers may be beautiful, but they're not usually appetizing. Sure, nasturtiums are hip in fancy restaurants, but they're primarily used as a garnish. Granted, fried squash blossoms are incredible, but the point remains: flowers are usually reserved for looking at, not masticating.

But the banana flower—also known as the banana blossom, or, my favorite, vazhaipoo—is a flower that is much better served on a plate than in a vase. This is half because banana flowers just aren't very... well... floral; they aren't the prettiest attendees at the flower dance. But it's also because banana flowers taste really, really good.

What Are They?

Banana flowers are, quite literally, the flower of the banana tree. They are very large, and usually weigh more than a pound.

What Do They Taste Like?

The blossoms from the banana tree resemble artichokes in many ways. They are physically very similar: a luxurious and silky heart in the middle of the blossom, surrounded by tougher outer leaves, called bracts. Just like with an artichoke, these bracts are edible, but the heart is where the real culinary virtue lies. It should come as no surprise, then, that the banana flower heart tastes rather similar to an artichoke heart.
Banana blossom heart, with bracts and florets.
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How Are They Prepared?

Banana flowers may be delicious and fun to eat, but they're a royal pain in the butt to prepare. In order to get to the heart of the blossom, each bract has to be removed. There's no way to do this en masse, so they have to be pulled off one by one, like when removing the bracts from an artichoke.

However, within seconds of being removed, these bracts oxidize and turn a charcoal color that is the antithesis of appetizing. In order to keep the flower appetizing, you must keep a bowl of lemon or vinegar water nearby, and immediately submerge the bracts in it after tearing them off. This retains their beautiful pink and white color. Alternatively, you can immediately rub them with a lemon.

With the difficult part of preparation handled, it's time to prepare them for eating. Generally, the bracts are steamed (keeping with the artichoke theme), but the hearts are often eaten raw, and are a very common salad ingredient in many cuisines.
Their uses, however are endless, and vary depending on what cuisine you're eating (banana blossoms are common in China, Thailand, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka, among other places). In addition to salads, the hearts are often used in stir-fries, soups, curries, and meat dishes.
In addition to the heart and bracts, you can also eat the infant bananas found on the blossom, though these do have a bitter flavor.

Nutritional Value

So banana flowers are unique, uncommon (at least in the United States), easy to cook with, and delicious. What other merits could they possibly have? Nutrition! Just like the fruit they ultimately bear, banana flowers are highly nutritious. They are packed with iron, calcium, and vitamins A and C. But more interestingly, in the regions where they are common, banana flowers are a very popular remedy for menstrual cramps. Go figure!
Banana flower salad, served in a banana flower bract.

Where to Get Them

Banana flowers aren't easy to find stateside, and they come and go with the seasons. You'll often find them at Asian specialty markets, and sometimes even at farmer's markets!
Have you ever eaten banana flowers?

How to Make Your Own Homemade Glow Sticks

The first glow sticks were patented by the US Navy in the 70's, but back then, they were called "Chemical-luminescent Signal Devices." Today, glow sticks are still used by the military, emergency service,campers, divers and, of course, ravers.
Image via staticflickr.com
I may be done with the glow-in-the-dark parties from my college days, but I still think glow sticks are pretty legit, and always thought it would be awesome to make some for myself. Talk about a cool application for all those boring chemistry lectures.
There are several different ways to make your own homemade glow sticks, some much more complicated than others, so let's get down to it.

Chemically Accurate Glow Sticks

Unfortunately, real glow sticks are pretty complicated. To make glow sticks like a chemist, you need several supplies that aren't exactly cheap, or easy to come by. Unless you have unfettered access to a fully stocked science lab, you'll probably need to buy some of them online.
How Glow Sticks Work
Obviously, glow sticks aren't already glowing in the pack when you buy them. You have to snap the plastic outer tube, which has a small glass tube inside containing a bunch of chemicals. When these chemicals are released, they react with the hydrogen peroxide and dye in the outer tube, making them glow.

There's one chemical in particular that causes this reaction to have such a cool effect—bis(2,4,6-trichlorophenyl) oxalate, or TCPO.
Image via wikimedia.org
Hooray for chemical structures!
To make TCPO, you dissolve 2,4,6-trichlorophenol in a solution of dry toluene, which reacts with oxalyl chloride when added to a weak base and hydrogen peroxide. This creates a chemiluminescent reaction, which produces the glow.

Dr. Lithium of NurdRage put together a great detailed guide on how to make your own TCPO for all your homemade glow stick endeavors. Check out the video below to see how it's done.
Once you've made some TCPO, you'll need even more chemicals to make your glow sticks. Diethyl Phthalate is used as the solvent, and you'll also need some fluorescent dye, sodium acetate, and of course, hydrogen peroxide.
Dr. Lithium also wrote a tutorial on how to combine everything to create the reaction, and you can watch him go through the process step by step in this video.
As stated in the video, different dyes can be added to the standard mixture for different colors, and some may be brighter than others. The length and intensity of the glow depends on the amount of TCPO you use.
Be sure to check out Dr. Lithium's tutorial for more details.

Mega Glow Stick

In a follow-up video to the guide featured above, Dr. Lithium and a few members of the NurdRage crew decided to create a 100-foot glow stick using polyethylene tubing, which is the same casing that's used for the ones you buy in stores.
The ingredients are pretty much the same as the ones in his other guides, you'll just need a lot more of them. Check out the video to see how it's made (or you can skip to the four minute mark if you just want to see what a 100-foot glow stick looks like).
Pretty awesome, right? Who knew science was so cool. You can find the full list of supplies and a detailed tutorial here.

"Solar-Powered" Reusable Glow Stick

C For Chemistry created a tutorial on how to make a reusable glow stick you can recharge. It's technically not a real glow stick since it doesn't bend and you don't have to snap it, but this version is much easier to make because it uses phosphorescence rather than chemi-luminescence to produce the glow.
All you need is some copper-doped zinc sulfide (sold as "glow-in-the-dark powder"), a tube of epoxy resin, a plastic syringe, and a piece of heat-shrink tubing or a straw for the outer tube.
All you have to do is mix together the zinc sulfide and epoxy resin, then use the syringe to inject it into the tube. Once the resin hardens, you trim off the excess tubing and you have a permanent reusable glow stick that recharges with exposure to light.

Easy Alternatives

If you don't want to mess with all those dangerous chemicals or go through the trouble of tracking down some of the materials, there are a few workarounds you can use to cheat your way to a fake glow stick...or fauxstick, if you will. After all, we can't all be Walter White.
Glow in the dark paint is a super easy alternative that could be cheaper in the long run if you need a lot of glow sticks. You could mix it with water and fill lengths of polyethylene tubing, or if you'd rather wear your glow sticks, just buy glow in the dark body paint and paint them on yourself.

Friday, 10 July 2015

Will Obama Undo the Harms of the War on Drugs?

Reports are circulating that President Obama is preparing to commute the sentences of dozens of individuals currently imprisoned for nonviolent drug-related crimes. So far in his presidency, he has only commuted the sentences of 43 individuals; that number is expected to approximately double with his imminent plans.
But 80 or 100 total commutations would fall far short of the 30,000 requests from federal inmates to be considered for clemency.
The injustice lying behind the drug-related imprisonment is staggering. Of those in federal prison, nearly 50 percent (over 95,000 people) are there for drug-related offenses.

Black Americans are far more likely to be arrested on drug charges than whites, even more likely to serve time for these offenses, and on average receive sentences nearly as long as the average sentence of violent white inmates.
Of the 1.5 million arrests for nonviolent drug violations in 2013, nearly 700,000 of those were for marijuana. Eighty-eight percent of marijuana arrests are for mere possession. All this despite the fact that states around the country have been liberalizing marijuana policy and have found few downsides, even where it’s been legalized for recreational use.
I could go on.
Suffice it to say that our drug policy is disastrous, and everyone knows it. Prisons are terrible places, and they are absolutely the worst tool to use for enforcing drug norms. They rob parents and children from families, disrupt communities, can promote more crime, and impose extraordinary human misery.
Drugs, of course, can also destroy families, and promote crime and human misery too. This needs to be acknowledged. But adding incrimination and punishment into the mix have only made things worse.
So if Obama follows through with a plan to reduce the sentences of non-violent drug offenders in federal prisons, it’s not only sensible policy, but necessitated by justice. But in light of the scale of the problem, shouldn’t we be demanding more?
Obama has clearly been getting bolder through his second term, overturning decades-long irrational policy on Cuba, proposed a rule to extend overtime benefits to millions of workers, issued executive actions on immigration and climate change, made progress on a nuclear deal with Iran and the TPP.
He once made a joke out of the idea of legalizing marijuana, early on in his presidency. But surely he knows this is actually quite a serious matter, considering the hundreds of thousands, if not millions of lives affected by drug-related incarceration, which doesn’t even count those who would benefit from legalized medical marijuana. Indeed, in a interview this year, he expressed his hope that as more states decriminalize marijuana, more sensible federal policies will follow, though he points out that decriminalization is not a panacea.
In one sense, he’s correct. Decriminalizing marijuana or any other drug won’t solve all of the problems related to the drug, and newer problems will emerge, such as how to regulate distribution. But decriminalizing or legalization would be a panacea to the immense burden placed on society by abusive and corrosive drug policies and incarceration.
To Obama’s credit, his administration has taken some significant steps forward on this issue. Last year, then Attorney General Eric Holder testified in front of congress and the U. S. Sentencing Commission which eventually acted to retroactively reduce the penalties for nonviolent drug crimes, affecting thousands of prisoners. The administration has come out in support ofmedical research into marijuana, and it decided not to enforce federal law in states where marijuana was legalized
But Human Rights Watch found that deportations over drug offenses rose rapidly under Obama from 2007 to 2012, up to 260,000, including 34,000 for marijuana-related charges. This includes both undocumented immigrants and those with green cards. Deportation can, of course, be devastating, tearing apart loved ones and families, ripping someone from their home.
Many have thought that Obama’s reticence on endorsing much more lenient drug policies was driven by political considerations, looking over his shoulder for his next election or the midterms. But in the third year of his second term, his actions haven’t approached the scale of the problem, and the indicated moves seem trepidatious. He could, and should, be doing a lot more.
For example, the authority to change the scheduling of marijuana, currently classified in the most dangerous category of drugs, lies with the Attorney General, rather than Congress, as Obama has claimed. This would be a hugely influential move from the administration, and though there would undoubtedly be some pushback, it’s not really clear that there’s much of a downside. Even if we thought it could affect the chances of Democrats getting elected in 2016, what’s the point of electing anyone if they’re too afraid to do the right thing?
There are other options as well. In his discretion as commander and chief, he could relax the enforcement of drug laws against immigrants. He could even forgo any formal policy changes, and simply advocate for rescheduling, decriminalization, legalization, or working further to reduce sentencing. Obviously, there’s a lot to be done before 2017, but undoing the harms of the drug war has waited long enough.
Will Obama Undo the Harms of the War on Drugs?

Start Your Day With Heart

In many cultures around the world, people start each morning thinking about what they’ll do that day. They check their schedules, plan their activities and make their lists. Understandably, they’re focused on the myriad things they need to accomplish during the next 12 to 16 hours.
This morning “prep” can be very valuable. But before you dive into the day’s agenda, I invite you to focus on something different. Ask yourself: “What heart, care and compassion will I bring to this new day?”
For several months, I’ve been starting each morning with this question. We all know a day can bring many things, of course – some anticipated and some not. But now I consider what I can bring during that day – to others, to myself, and to the world.

This is a new approach for me, and I’m finding it’s adding ease and care throughout my day. It makes me feel as though I am creating life, contributing to others and controlling my time.
A heart-focused approach can change our attitude toward life. And it will almost certainly help us become more consistent conduits of care and compassion.
Connect and Commit
Most of us have been in difficult or volatile situations in which we’ve had to remind ourselves to be still and breathe deeply before we do or say something we’ll regret. We’ve told ourselves not to overreact, and to try to imagine ourselves in others’ shoes. We’ve probably even reached out and helped improve the lot of others.
But many of us must admit that there have been times when we did not do these things. We forgot to take a breath and empathize. We may have reacted in anger or fear, or frozen and done nothing in the face of others’ negative emotions, pain or misfortune.
People who live a heart-focused life are consistently better prepared for all situations. In addition to starting the day with the question I mentioned earlier (“What heart, care and compassion will I bring to this day?”), they designate a special time each day to more deeply connect with the heart. They go within, establish heart coherence and access the heart’s intuitive intelligence. They make a commitment that regardless of what happens, they will bring the qualities of the heart to bear on all their activities and encounters.
Practicing Heart Qualities
The heart has many qualities, and all of them are transformative. Among the most powerful are:
•Love
•Appreciation•Care•Compassion
My own experience, along with that of many others, demonstrates the benefits of practicing the qualities of the heart. But rather than relying solely on anecdotal evidence – however powerful – HeartMath has spent more than two decades conducting scientific research to verify these benefits.
This research has shown overwhelmingly that people’s lives can improve measurably when they sincerely engage their heart qualities – what HeartMath calls practicing heart-based living. The findings have been published in books, professional journals and elsewhere, and have been widely cited around the world.
Scientific Support
For an example of the science behind heart-based living, let’s take a look at HeartMath’s emWave™ technology. Like a standard electrocardiograph machine, the emWave device monitors an individual’s heart rhythm in real time. We at HeartMath believe that when people invoke a heart quality or positive emotion, such as a sincere appreciation of a loved one, a cherished place or a family pet, the quality of their heart-rhythm patterns improves.
Through HeartMath, thousands of people have used this technology while practicing heart qualities. Many have actually seen changes in their heart-rhythm patterns, and can attest the benefits they’ve experienced. I myself use the emWave2 regularly, and I love it.
Now science has backed up our belief. Researchers studied thousands of cases of people practicing heart-focusing techniques. Study participants were from a broad range of subjects, males and females, from young children to seniors, and from those of modest to affluent means. They included students, doctors, soldiers, teachers, police officers and corporate executives.
The researchers found that the people who practiced heart-focusing over several weeks or longer exhibited marked improvement in their heart-rhythm patterns. They also chronicled compelling evidence of significant improvements in these same people’s mental, emotional and physical health.

Start Your Day With Heart

Yoga for Insomnia: 5 Poses to Help Your Mind and Body Let Go

Yoga for Insomnia: 5 Poses to Help Your Mind and Body Let Go
As someone who has struggled off and on with insomnia, I know how rough it can be. You’re exhausted, and you’re lying in the dark, staring at the ceiling, but sleep just. won’t. come. Maybe your thoughts are racing, or maybe you feel like your body can’t settle down so that your brain can let go. If you deal with sleeplessness, yoga for insomnia may be able to help you sleep better and sleep more deeply.
The causes of insomnia are complicated, and yoga isn’t going to be a cure-all for every person who suffers from this condition. It’s definitely helped me and other folks that I know, though so I recommend giving it a go. You’re awake anyway, right?
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If you’re new to yoga, I would suggest taking a couple of classes before practicing on your own. The poses below are pretty basic, but learning how to properly align your body is part of yoga’s benefit and can help prevent injury. Even a few classes with a teacher can help you get a feel for how your body should be aligned. Most teachers will take requests, so you can ask if it would be OK to include these yoga for insomnia postures in class.

Yoga for Insomnia: The Poses

Yoga for Insomnia: Seated Forward Bend
1. Seated Forward Bend
What it does: This relaxing pose is calming and restorative. It also can help improve digestion. If digestive issues are keeping you up or waking you at night, this can be a big help!
How to do it: Sit on the floor with your legs straight out in front of you, focusing on sitting up as straight as possible. Inhale, and raise your arms over your head, flexing your feet as you dive forward. Grab on to your feet, ankles, calves, or thighs. Don’t worry about how far you go. When you feel a gentle stretch in the backs of your legs, you’ve gone far enough to get the benefits of this pose. Keep your back as straight as you can, and stay here for 10-12 slow breaths.
Yoga for Insomnia: Bridge Pose

2. Bridge Pose

What it does: A back bend might not seem like a sleep-inducing pose, but it can actually help you calm down and prepare for sleep. Inversions like bridge pose alleviate stress, which is one of the major factors that can contribute to insomnia.
How to do it: Start by lying on your back, then bend your knees, drawing your feet in, so that they’re flat on the floor right by your bottom. On your next inhale, press down with your feet and your arms to raise your bottom off of the floor. Use your inner thigh muscles to keep your legs from falling out to the sides, and clasp your hands together. Squeeze your shoulder blades together gently, and breathe in this posture for 10-15 slow breaths, then slowly release your back onto the floor.

3. Reclining Bound Angle Pose

What it does: This is a relaxation pose that stretches your legs and reduces stress to help you sleep better and more deeply. It’s especially beneficial if racing thoughts or a restless body are keeping you awake.
How to do it: Start in a seated position, with your feet touching each other. Lean back, so one elbow is on the floor, then lower yourself down so that your back is resting on the floor, and focus on rolling your shoulders back and pulling your shoulder blades together. Your arms should be in a neutral position, palms up, like in the photo. Close your eyes and breathe, staying in this posture for as long as you like. You can use a blanket or bolster to support your feet, like in the photo above, if necessary. You can also tuck pillows or folded blankets under your knees or thighs, if you feel like you need more support there.
Yoga for Insomnia: Shoulder Stand

4. Shoulder Stand

What it does: A basic inversion like shoulder stand helps you slow down and relax. This posture calms the mind and relieves leg and foot soreness that might be keeping you awake.
How to do it: Begin by lying on your back, then bring your knees into your chest. Place your arms flat on the floor, so that your hands extend past your bottom, palms on the floor. Push with your arms, and curl your spine to bring your legs straight up into the air. Bend your elbows, and place your hands on your lower back to support yourself in this posture. If you find shoulder stand too intense, try Legs Up the Wall instead. It’s a simpler variation with many of the same benefits.
Yoga for Insomnia: Savasana

5. Savasana

What it does: Have you ever fallen asleep during savasana at the end of yoga class? This pose may not seem like much, but the practice of lying still and letting your body soak in the poses you just practiced helps prepare your brain for rest and relaxation.
How to do it: Lie on your back with your feet shoulder-width apart and your arms in a neutral palms-up position by your sides. Close your eyes, and focus on your breath. Notice how your belly gently rises and falls as you inhale and exhale. There are quite a few technique that you can use while you’re in this pose. You can just focus on your breath, listen to soothing music, or choose a guided meditation to listen to. One meditation that I really like is the Rainbow Relaxation that was part of my hypnobirthing practice. After a few weeks of practicing that meditation every evening, I could instantly relax as soon as the music started. That’s just one suggestion, though! If you’re planning to go the meditation route, do a little bit of googling to find one that’s a good fit for you

12 Nature Photography Tips to Up Your Game

If one of your goals when you get outside this summer is to bring home some awe-inspiring photographs, you may be wondering where to start. We spoke with Bruce Kirkby, an award-winning wilderness writer and adventure photographer to get his take on what makes a great nature photo.
1. Pay attention to the time and weather
The hour just after sunrise and the hour just before sunset are called the “golden hour” in the world of photography. Bruce estimates that 85-90% of professional photos that are sold are taken during these times of day, when the light is softer due to less dynamic range of light. Mid-day shots are not as attractive since photos can get blown out with too much light. If you’re planning on taking wildlife photos, cloudy days are best as more wildlife is active.
Credit: Bruce Kirkby
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
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2. Include something in the foreground to frame your subject
Including a small object that is closer to you than your subject frames the subject and deepens perspective. The foreground object doesn’t need to be in focus to be effective at adding a sense of depth.
bruce-kirkby-21
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
3. Get closer with a wide-angle lens
Getting closer to your subject than you think you should with your wide-angle lens can yield surprising results.
4. Try different angles
Shots taken from straight on, as we’re conventionally used to taking them, aren’t as compelling as shots from various angles. Lie on your belly, stand up on a box and hold your camera over your head, try as many different angles as you can to get the right shot.
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
5. Position your subject off-center
The subject isn’t meant to be smack dab in the middle of the frame. To get away from this, pro photographers use the “rule of thirds.” The rule refers to mentally superimposing a grid that is 3 high and 3 wide over your frame, then ensuring that your subject isn’t in the centre of the frame.
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
6. Include a person in landscape shots
If you have a stunning landscape, including a person off to the side of the shot will give an idea of the human scale and make the shot more interesting. Bruce suggests someone with a brightly colored shirt or gear to draw the eye.
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
Photo by Bruce Kirkby

7. Pack lightly
Too much camera and other gear can weigh you down and potentially make you miss wildlife and other fleeting shots. Set up your camera beforehand and have it accessible so that you are poised and ready if a good shot happens.
8. Use the lowest possible ISO settings
ISO settings adjust for your cameras sensitivity to light. The higher your ISO settings are, the grainier your pictures will be. For this reason, its best to not use automatic ISO settings for any photograph. Bruce recommends not going above 400; start with 100 and work your way up until the shot looks good.
9. Use lower shutter speeds for movement
To capture the wind in grass, waves on a lake or ocean, or waterfalls, use a slow shutter speed to blur the motion and give your shot a professional touch.
Photo by Bruce Kirkby
Photo by Bruce Kirkby

10. Do your research
Before you head out, do an Internet search for photos taken of the area your are visiting. This will give you inspiration for the kinds of subjects you can capture in the region and how to frame them.
11. Use a tripod
While you don’t need a tripod to get good pictures, they do cause you to slow down and be more considerate with your framing.
12. Don’t dismiss your smartphone
Bruce assures that smartphones take amazing pictures and shouldn’t be underestimated. Mobile phones make it easy to take pictures and share them instantly with your friends, and premium smartphones have camera specifications that rival most digital cameras.
Some smartphones can take overexposed images if you are using their standard camera settings, resulting in photos that are too light. To adjust exposure on the fly on an iPhone, tap on the subject that you are focusing on and a slider will pop up that allows you to make the picture a bit darker. You can also adjust your camera settings in advance so that all of your photographs are taken with a darker exposure.
Bruce Kirkby’s photographic clients include Patagonia, Lululemon, Outside magazine and NG Adventure magazine. One of his photographs was selected as one of the “most compelling adventure images of the decade” by National Geographic.