How To Start Getting Into Photography
Give the right person the right camera, and they instantly become expressive! Photography is a timeless hobby, and a lucrative industry. Whether you want to take photographs as a fun extra-curricular activity or as a serious business, there are a few things you’ll need, and some things you’ll need to know.
Understand Terminology and Making It Work for You
Below, we explore the most basic elements you need to know. If you want to know more, even the most knowledgeable of us sometimes use the best cheat sheet for photographers.
ISO
This is short for "International Standard of Photography.” You've probably seen them on film canisters: 100, 200, 400, 800, etc.
In digital photography, ISO measures the sensitivity of the image. Digital film cameras normally take light into a lens and then convert it into a digital file; this is then loaded into the memory of the camera. The image sensor, the light sensor and the microSD card store the data that the photographer has captured. It is important to be consistent with your ISO settings, as it will help to maximize the quality of your prints.
If you’re a novice in photography, you can click here to know which apps have the best ISO features.
Aperture
This refers to the number of small holes in a film or photo senso, or the amount of light allowed through a lens. When you have a bright sun in the distance and close your eyes, you are lowering the aperture size. As the aperture is closed, the rays of light are cut back to reflect and refract to a point on the image sensor. At that point, it is converted into an electrical signal, which is stored electronically and sent to the computer.
If you use a very wide-angle lens on a medium format camera or a telephoto lens on a compact digital camera, you will need to increase the aperture size to allow more light to pass through the lens. A narrow aperture allows less light through the lens but allows more light to be reflected and transmitted. On a compact camera, however, you can choose a wider aperture and get the same quality as with a telephoto lens.
Aperture is also a fundamental concept in digital photography, where a higher aperture means that more light is allowed to pass through a given subject. A large aperture makes light rays longer, allowing them to travel farther than shorter rays. Because the aperture in digital photography is fixed, there is no need to change the aperture size, so a wide aperture creates a softer, blurred background image while a smaller aperture creates a sharper foreground image.
There are many other factors that can affect aperture in photography, including the lens you use, the subject and the lighting conditions. Having digital tools can really help!
Exposure
In general, when taking photos outdoors, it is important to expose the subject to the perfect extent. If the background is darker than the subject, or if there is not enough light, then the subject will appear black. However, in photography, this does not always mean that the photo has been exposed incorrectly.
You can combine exposure with white balance to make sure the subject is photographed to perfection. With the white balance, the camera automatically adjusts the color temperature of the camera's sensor.
Shutter speed
Your picture quality will depend on how slow the shutter speed is. If your camera has a slow shutter speed then the pictures that you take will be darker, because as light passes through the lens of the camera, it will slow down when it gets too close. This will make the photos that you take when the lens slows down darker than those that you take when the lens is faster.
This is very important, because a lot of your picture’s quality is based on the lighting. If you are using a camera that has a slow shutter speed, the pictures that you take will be darker.
Lighting and Great Software
Taking pictures in natural light is often preferred but can sometimes be difficult due to the angles. You have to get your subject, whether it’s a sunset or a person, in a precise setting and angle. Most photographers have specific times of day they prefer to shoot.
With the right software, you can change the color of a person’s shirt, remove blemishes or wrinkles, and make use of various other great features. There are many which are offered in yearly and monthly price ranges, like subscriptions. It’s best to experiment with them before deciding what’s right for you.
Photography requires camera, lighting and a subject. You can have all the tools in the world, but the best way to improve is simple: take your camera and go get snapping.
Amy Montgomery
Amy Montgomery is a blogger who has successfully made a name in the industry because of her ability to write informative pieces on photography, and travel. Most of Amy’s content on her blog are how-to tips as she aims to help readers enhance their photography skills, and encourage them to travel frequently.
2020 Black Friday & Cyber Monday Deals For Web Designers
Most of us, that work in the web design and web development world, wait the whole year for the Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals to get everything we need.
It is the best method to save thousands of dollars each year and get things that normally very expensive.
This article is a showcase of 41 awesome Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that cover many topics – WordPress full support service, WordPress themes, plugins, SEO and translation services, collaboration tools, front end and back end products, and much more.
You will also find rates with no discounts, but these rates are already very low and competitive. Such an example is FixRunner – a top WordPress maintenance service, but you will find below also other such solutions.
Creative Tim has a super team of developers and designers that work closely together to create some of the best UI Kits and dashboards in the world, built on top of Bootstrap, React, Angular, and Vue.js.
They have over 1,3 million users from all over the world, everybody loving their products.
For Black Friday, they have the best offer in the industry for you.
Get a bundle of 63 premium UI Kits and dashboards for $99. The normal price is $3,945 and the discount is 97,5%, the biggest in the history of Black Friday.
- Total – The Most Complete WordPress Theme
Total is a premium WordPress theme that is loved by over 43k users from all over the world.
This theme is the most complete in the industry, it is quick and simple to use, and it is packed with tons of awesome good stuff.
You will find included everything you need:
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The Gray Dot Company has an incredible team of SEO experts and they are ready to make your website stand out from the crowd. They have significant experience in this industry, resulting from their work with numerous mid-size companies located all over the world, from many different niches.
After you work with them, you will be amazed by the results. They optimize what you have to work with and find smart ways to generate organic traffic for your website.
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Avidon Marketing Group, Los Angeles SEO
Avidon Marketing Group is a powerful SEO company that helped thousands of both small and large companies increase their organic traffic.
They create fully personalized SEO strategies based on your needs and after they do a very in-depth analysis. What is very cool when working with Avidon Marketing Group is that they always come with fresh ideas and they overdeliver.
On the case studies page, you will find impressive results that Avidon Marketing Group generated for their customers.
Your website will get similar results, you only need to get in touch with them.
On Codester, you will find everything you need:
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- Hugely discounted items
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Browse Codester and pick everything you need for your projects.
All freelancers that make over $400 per year, are obliged to pay taxes.
Find all the information you need and calculate your taxes using this comprehensive self-employment tax page.
Everything is offered for free, by Bonsai, the popular creator of dedicated tools for freelancers.
Webdesign Toolbox will help you with 965 premium resources structured in 78 different categories.
They handpick all the tools they include on their website, be prepared to find only efficient and top-quality web tools.
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Taskade is the favorite all-in-one collaboration apps for remote teams from all over the world.
They use it to chat, organize, collaborate, and get things done.
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Mobirise is the best offline website builder in 2020, being loaded with everything you need:
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Goodie is a professional and highly known web development service that is mostly used by web designers and companies from all over the world to amplify their online presence.
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With the code "BLK5G2020" you'll receive 5% discount for your first project.
CollectiveRay created the best in the industry tutorials, tests, and reviews for WordPress, Joomla, and web design.
For Black Friday 2020, they spent a lot of time to gather the very best deals on the market.
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Mailmunch is an all-in-one email marketing tool that you can use to massively increase your email conversions.
Use Mailmunch to create awesome emails, landing pages, autoresponders, and opt-in forms. You will find included tons of premade designs and an easy to use drag and drop builder.
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Unlayer is the most advanced, yet simple to use, email template and landing page builder for SaaS and CRMs. Embed it on your website and let your audience create awesome emails and landing pages, using the included premade designs and the easy to use drag and drop builder.
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Use Schema Pro WordPress plugin to quickly add all the necessary schema markups on your website, helping it stand out of the crowd and get more organic traffic.
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Rank Math is a free WordPress SEO plugin that will help your website rank higher in search engines and get more organic traffic.
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Acowebs are creators of some of the most powerful WooCommerce plugins in the industry, having over 25,000 happy customers from all over the world. Some of their leading plugins are WooCommerce Product Labels, WooCommerce Checkout Manager, WooCommerce Wishlist, WooCommerce Add-ons etc which all can supercharge your WooCommerce store and help it stand out of the crowd in terms of sales and traffic.
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Heroic Inbox will help you manage customer support emails directly from your WordPress interface.
Save tons of time and make the process more enjoyable.
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Bonsai is the most popular name in the freelancer tools world, creating some of the best tools in the industry for:
- Building professional invoices
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Now they help you with a free 1099 tax calculator that will help you estimate how much money you need to pay.
- UPQODE - WordPress Web Design Agency
UPQODE is an eCommerce marketing agency that applies Shopify platform and Woocommerce plugins on WordPress websites to create fast and responsive web stores that everyone can browse quickly and smoothly on all devices.
For years, UPQODE has been a sales-booster for online entrepreneurs, with SEO practices that increase traffic and conversion rates.
Whether it’s Shopify or Woocommerce, UPQODE chooses the best ecommerce solution for their client’s needs. Given that UPQODE’s fees vary for each project, small and mid-market businesses can also benefit from their services.
Notism is the favorite design and video collaboration app of tons of creatives from all over the world. It is packed with lots of useful features, and the best interface in the market.
With Notism, you will save tons of time and make your work more enjoyable.
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Our offer ist 50% discount for 3 months with the voucher code (Please include that in the copy)
- Now or Never Deal for Admin Dashboard Templates deal on WrapPixel
WrapPixel will help you with some very cool admin dashboard templates. All these products are pixel-perfect and look great on all devices.
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FoxMetrics is a modern cloud-based web analytics platform that you can for any kind of website you have, to understand which of your marketing efforts work and which should be improved.
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ChimpRewriter is the favorite rewriter tool of 31,316 marketers from all over the world. It uses AI and NLP (natural language processing), and it is the most efficient tool in the industry.
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Joanna Vaoiu is the right SEO specialist for you, no matter what industry you are in and how high are your targets.
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BeTranslated offers professional translation services for all your translation needs. Their team of dedicated freelance translators can handle any translation project and deliver it on time.
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- WPAOS – Your Remote WordPress Partner
If you have multiple WordPress websites, or just one, but it takes you tons of time to properly take care of it, you should hire WP AOS and let experts in this industry do the job in your place.
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Use coupon code BLACKFRIDAY2020 at the checkout to receive a 50% discount on all WordPress services.
SEOWorks is a professional SEO agency that won 15 awards and which works with tons of international companies from all over the world.
For each customer, they create specific SEO strategies and tactics, delivering measurable results.
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WhatFontIs is a free, yet the most powerful font identifier in the industry, being loaded with 700k indexed fonts, and being the only system that can identify both free and paid fonts.
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Landingi is the favorite landing page builder of marketers, agencies, and business owners.
It has included beautiful premade designs, an easy to use drag and drop builder, and an intuitive interface.
For this year’s Black Friday, Landingi offers 30% off the Automate plan in the 6 or 12-month subscription.
Fotor is a professional background remover and online photo editor tool that is popular among top marketers and business owners from all over the world.
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- Blabber - All-in-One Elementor Blog & News Magazine WordPress Theme + RTL
Blabber is the single biggest, most powerful, and fastest-growing WordPress theme for blogging, online magazines, and online media stores. In the package, there are over 23 various demo styles and hundreds of unique subpages waiting for you to install them with a single click of your mouse. You can further enhance those pages with custom widgets, shortcodes, premium plugins, and completely change their appearance with the help of the awesome Gutenberg and Elementor page builders that are included in the package.
What’s even more intriguing is that blabber fully enables you to use it as a platform for selling both digital and physical products with its own WooCommerce store. Furthermore, the ThemeREX Addons plugin adds a number of new options for managing the theme’s backend, MailChimp for WP enables you to easily set up your own email newsletter, and Instagram Feed lets you link up your Instagram profile and share the most awesome of your content with your users easily.
- Topper - All-in-One Elementor Blog & News Magazine WordPress Theme (Pro Plan)
Consider using the Topper WordPress theme if you need a Gutenberg-ready WordPress theme. It’s perfectly suited for the launch of a blog or media-related web resource. It’s also compatible with the Elementor page builder. Topper also supports all the major WordPress plugins and extensions, both free and premium. It lets you download any of its premium skins for $5, along with advanced plugins and customization options for your web resource.
Use Pixpa builder to create engaging and high-converting websites in no time, without having any design skills or previous experience.
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Use RumbleTalk to add a moderated chat on your website, in just a few moments and clicks. No experience or skills are needed.
For Black Friday 2020, they’re offering a 50% discount – 200 seats, 3 rooms, 3 admins, and 10 keywords.
Heroic WordPress Glossary plugin is the best in its industry, helping you add a glossary of terms on your website in just a few moments.
Help your website audience understand all the technical words you use.
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- Gutentype - 100% Gutenberg WordPress Theme for Modern Blog + Elementor
Create a unique web resource with a ready-made WordPress theme. Gutentype WordPress theme is a great proof of that. The theme is based on the Gutenberg page builder and includes a wide choice of homepage demos and inner pages. It will work well for blogging and eCommerce purposes. Modifying the theme’s design can be achieved code-free with the Elementor page builder.
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- XSTORE - Responsive Multi-Purpose WooCommerce WordPress Theme
XSTORE is the most complete and customizable WooCommerce theme on the market, being loaded with a massive library of 95+ shop designs that look amazing.
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Used by millions of marketers, web designers, web strategists, coders, and business owners, from all over the world, Iconscout is the best marketplace to visit if you want to get the best royalty free vector icons, illustrations, 3D elements, and Lottie Animations (coming soon).
They even included a built-in editor to customize the icons and illustrations for your projects.
On Black Friday 2020, they offer a massive 50% discount for all the Annual Subscription plans.
StarterTemplates is the most complete professional package of 600+ Pre-Built website templates for every niche. All the templates look amazing and work effectively with any WordPress theme and page builder. Join the 600,000+ users that already use with huge success these gorgeous templates. Free download!
Rhodos is a powerful, all-in-one solution for all types of business websites. To help you get started with your online project quicker, it features 12 demo styles, many widgets, shortcodes, elements, and a drag & drop page builder for the simplicity of customization. And to install it you only have to press one button. It can also perfectly support a blog and features a number of blog post styles and an email newsletter powered by MailChimp.
It also works perfectly for online stores, thanks to its integration with the latest version of WooCommerce. Use the fully-customizable galleries added by Essential Grid and make the most out of Revolution Slider’s attention-grabbing capabilities by placing it right on your homepage. The Events Calendar purpose is to make sure your users have easy access to your schedule of upcoming events and activities, and Contact Form 7 provides them with a simple and efficient way of reaching you directly.
Conclusions
Usually on Black Friday everybody is looking for huge discounted things, and this is the right thing to do. But don’t forget that there are companies like WPCustomify, that offer super rates all year long, even if they don’t apply discounts.
How to Play with Colors in Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is a photo editing software that is used by many professional photographers, video game artists, graphic designers, and meme designers. You can use it for all types of image editing, right from minor edits to creating quality graphics. With it, you can bring ideas to life by magically transforming images.
It uses images editing features, a layer-based editing system that allows image creation, and multiple overlays that support transparency. One can also add shadows and other effects to the layers. It includes automation features that reduce repetitive tasks. The software gives a “Photoshop CC” option that allows the user to work on content from any system.
How to Change the Background Color of an Image?
One of the biggest benefits of Adobe Photoshop is its ability to reframe your favorite photographs to make them look more attractive, beautiful, and flawless. Once you know how to do it, you can change the background color of any image in Photoshop using a very easy method. Let’s find out how to do it:
Open your image in Photoshop and then click on the quick selection tool and drag it to make the selection. Then you need to check for other details that you may need to fix. You can enter the quick mask mode and then use the brush tool to brush the parts of the image that you want to fix before changing the background. Once you have fixed everything, exit the quick mask mode. Then click on the fill or adjustment layer and select a solid color that will add color to the background. Next, change the blending option of the adjustment layer into the multiply, and your image with the changed background is ready.
Photoshop’s photo and backgrounding tools are tremendous and are designed for professionals who need all the bells and whistles for their flawless work.
How to Change the Overall Colors of Photos
Changing colors of objects is the typical use case for Photoshop software, and there are plenty of ways to do it. Let’s talk of some tools that can make the task of changing colors in Photoshop easy:
Colour replacement tool: It is the easiest and quickest tool you can use to make a color change in an image. The best thing about the tool is that it maintains the shadows and highlights of the original image so that the changes look realistic yet beautiful. Colour Replacement works by sampling the original colors and replacing them with the color you select.
The color range command: The tool allows you to select specific colors of your choice on the image you are editing. The user gets multiple options for making selections such as color picker, tonal selections of highlights, shadows, mid-tones, and skin tones.
Hue/ saturation: This command lets the user adjust colors in the photograph based on its hue, saturation, and lightness. Hue is the color; saturation is the intensity of color and lightness controls the brightness of colors.
Selective color: This tool allows the user to cross blend individual color channels using sliders with Photoshop. It is used to add hues to shadows, tones to highlights, and everything in between to give your photograph an in-depth detail.
Why Marketing Automation is Rocket-Fuel for Remote Workforce
When 2020’s coronavirus pandemic hit, it gave a massive push forward to the growing popularity of remote work. Many companies that had never had any intentions of achieving a work-from-home workforce suddenly found that it was thrust upon them and they had to adapt in a hurry.
The silver lining among all this cloud is that we’re living in a digital age. There’s no need for marketing teams to slow down or cancel their work, just because marketers have had to replace the office chair with a seat at the kitchen table.
However, many businesses found (and are still finding) the transition very challenging, and so did many employees. Shifting to remote work disrupted the normal rhythm of tasks that you’re used to in the office. Collaboration became more difficult, brainstorming became harder, and even something as simple as deciding when to hold a meeting can be a major undertaking when you’re not all in the same physical space.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be this way.
You and your marketing team can still offset and overcome these difficulties, once you find the right tools. What’s more, once you start using them you might well be so wowed and delighted with the benefits they bring that you’ll never give them up, even when you can return to the office. Here are 7 benefits that marketing automation tools can bring to your remote workforce.
1. Make better use of your time
Marketing teams can save time with advanced marketing automation tools that offer automated workflows. Use automated drip campaigns to nurture leads via email or text messaging, to free up marketers for other tasks.
Send personalized messages automatically in response to preset purchase or behavior triggers, and use automated lead scoring to track prospects’ progress through your funnel until it’s time to make human contact, so you can focus your efforts on qualified leads.
2. Produce more relevant content
The more you can tailor your marketing content for the precise pain points and interests of each customer, the more impact it will have and the more ROI you’ll enjoy on your marketing efforts. Advanced CRMs help by automatically segmenting leads into different categories, so you can send interesting content and relevant offers that are personalized for each contact.
Marketing automation that dynamically adapts content when it detects the recipients location allows you to target specific geos, cities, and regions, no matter where you are physically located.
3. Keep track of marketing assets
When you’re in the office, it’s not a serious distraction to ask someone at the next desk to send you a report or a white paper, but it can be a much bigger disruption when you’re all at home, and probably “at work” at different times of day. The average knowledge worker is interrupted 13.9 times a day by questions or the need to find information, which significantly affects their concentration and productivity.
Marketing automation platforms give you a single location to store all your marketing assets, and enables employees to quickly and easily produce reports on any topic, reducing frustrating interruptions and increasing employee efficiency.
4. Empower teams with data
Data is fundamental to effective marketing campaigns. With new marketing automation tools you can gather, process, and analyze data from multiple sources, like Google Analytics, Facebook Ad Manager, email campaigns, social media monitoring tools, and more, in a single platform. Then create reports at will and use the insights to track customer journey on a granular level, understand customer behavior, and identify your most popular ads and content.
5. Streamline workflows
When you’re waiting for everyone to sign off on a new idea, the frustration is real. Brainstorming at a distance can be challenging, too, which is why you need project management tools like a digital whiteboard, so everyone can share their creativity no matter where they are located. Shared marketing boards and to-do lists mean that every member can see which tasks are waiting for them and track overall progress whenever necessary.
6. Work more closely with sales
It’s ironic, but having to work from home can bring marketing and sales closer together than when you were both in the same office space. Marketing automation can serve both marketing and sales teams on the same platform, helping you to share materials, collaborate on lead scoring, and gain a better understanding of the overall process from both perspectives.
7. Prove business impact.
Only 34.9% of marketers feel able to prove the quantitative impact of their marketing efforts, although another 43.8% say they have a good sense of their qualitative impact. But when you track the process of planning marketing campaigns, producing content, preparing ads, and nurturing leads in a single platform, you’re better able to demonstrate RoI on your efforts, helping you keep track of the time and effort you put in and the results that you receive.
WFH can lead you to marketing automation tools that bring more benefits
Remote work was the final straw that pushed many businesses to adopt marketing automation, but the software brings benefits that you’ll keep on enjoying even after you can return to the office. By helping you to streamline workflows and empower teams with data, enable better access to marketing assets, produce more relevant content, and work more closely with sales, your marketing teams will be able to save time, work more efficiently, and prove the business impact of their actions to increase revenue and profitability.
Once you discover marketing automation tools, you’ll find how they can make your business more resilient and future-proof regardless of what may come your way.
How to Become a Full-Time Creative and Do What You Love
An incredible amount of people are dreaming about quitting their 9-5 job and pursuing their dream of becoming a creative. The very vast majority never pursue that dream and let it stay a dream throughout their entire life. “Why is that?” one may ask. Is it the uncertainty of not having a stable income to support the wellbeing of themselves and their loved ones? Is it the fear of discovering they did not have the talent or the passion they thought they had? Or is it simply because they prioritize other things in life and don’t think they have the time to pursue their dream as an creative? At creativeforce.io they are experts in helping people make their creative dreams come true. In this article we have talked with creativeforce.io to discover how those people who actually make it as a creative start out? Do they go full-time from day one? Do they work day and night? Do they even have time for friends and family? This and much more is revealed in this article for you to read and get inspired.
Consider if its a dream you really want to pursue
First of all, one of the things you should consider is - how much of a dream is this? Are you actually interested in spending the rest of your life doing this and making it a source of income. If the answer is no, then you should probably only pursue it as a hobby and spare-time interest. There’s a chance you will lose interest in your passion and become tired of it. This can only cause stress and anxiety - which can cause harm to your mental health. If the answer is yes on the other hand, you can start planning how you want to make the switch from normal worker at your regular job to becoming a full-time entrepreneurial creative.
Throw away everything and pursue your dream?
If you are young you have almost nothing to lose by pursuing your creative dream. If you are older you might have family and loved ones to support, which can make it more difficult to pursue your dream without securing financial stability first. Therefore you should adapt your jump form being worker to entrepreneur depending on your own speed and will. Design your own road to glory instead of just jumping head first into life as an entrepreneur. Pursue your dream for sure, but also think how you can do it in a smart way!
Colors, Human Growth Hormones, and Creativity
Most physicians and scientists will agree that the human body is a complex system. And this is for good reason as it is an extremely well-organized structure comprising of cells that work collectively to accomplish a myriad of functions necessary to sustain life. To further put this into perspective, the human body is home to approximately 37.2 trillion cells, all of which are responsible for performing specific functions. Some of these functions entail enabling the body to absorb nutrients from food and then converting it into energy. As impressive as cells are when they work independently, they are even more impressive when they work collectively. For example, when cells in the body group together, it leads to the development of tissues. These tissues play an integral role in terms of developing and maintaining vital organs, some of which include the brain, heart, liver, and lungs. It is worth noting, however, that For cells to carry out these numerous functions in the body, they require help from the endocrine system.
What Is the Endocrine System?
When it comes to the endocrine system, the long and short of it is that it is a chemical messenger system comprised of hormone-secreting glands. For reference, the glands that make up the endocrine system include the pancreas, pituitary, thyroid, parathyroid, and adrenal glands. The testes, in men, and the ovaries, in women, are also part of the endocrine system. That said, when these glands secrete hormones, they enter the blood or extracellular fluid. From there, they begin looking for target cells that have matching receptors. Once found, these hormones will bind to these cells and dictate the role they are required to perform in the body.
To understand how all of this comes together, let's take a closer look at how human growth hormones (HGH) interact with cells in the body. According to data published by the Research Collaboratory for Structural Bioinformatics (RCSB), HGH, which is secreted by the pituitary gland in the endocrine system, targets fat cells to help reduce stored fat, promotes protein synthesis, regulates blood glucose levels. All of these actions are essential in regulating metabolism. The role of hormones secreted by other glands in the endocrine system is quite similar insofar as they target specific cells to carry out functions necessary to promote health and also sustain life.
How Is the Endocrine System Related to Cognitive Function?
Along with targeting cells to help regulate metabolism, growth, and even cell reproduction, human growth hormones are also essential in terms of cognitive function. For context, cognitive function is a term used to describe a host of mental abilities that enable individuals to learn, think, reason, and make decisions. One study, in particular, which was published by the National Institutes of Health, revealed that growth hormones (GH) coupled with IGF-1, also known as insulin-like growth factor-1, helps protect against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease. At the same time, these two hormones also have a positive effect on memory, reasoning, and other cognitive functions, according to researchers involved in the study.
Creativity and Growth Hormones
For those who have spent any significant amount of time around writers, musicians, artists, and the like, you know just how amazing it is to witness their creativity on display. What you may not realize, however, is that creativity and growth hormones are interconnected. And this is because the pituitary gland, which secretes GH, is attached to the hypothalamus. For reference, the hypothalamus is located beneath the thalamus, the part of the brain responsible for relaying sensory information. This sensory information plays a role in the creation of novels, art, music, and much more among those who are exceptionally creative.
How Colors Can Affect Our Mood and Energy
When it comes to sensory information, and the role it plays in terms of creativity, colors are a part of that equation. The same applies to emotions, stress levels, behaviors, and overall mood. For example, some studies show that when we observe warmer colors, such as red, yellow, and orange, in our environment, it can trigger feelings of comfort and warmth. These same colors can also serve as an impetus for feelings of anger and hostility. Conversely, when we observe cooler colors, such as blue, purple, and green, for example, they tend to have a calming effect. However, it is worth noting that these same cooler colors can also evoke feelings of indifference or melancholy. All in all, colors, along with GH and other hormones produced by the glands housed in the endocrine system, can influence not only mood but also energy. After all, if you're feeling sad, angry, or anything in-between, your energy levels will go up or down accordingly.
Why Does an HGH Deficiency Affect People Over the Age of 40 the Most?
For all of the many miraculous things that take place in the body as a result of human growth hormones and their interaction with cells, it is worth noting that GH production naturally declines with age. To further illustrate this point, studies show that GH levels in men and women decline by 14 to 15 percent every 10 years after age 30.
For reference, at age 20, the pituitary gland secretes about 500 mg of HGH per day compared to just 200 mg per day at age 40. For this reason, many men and women develop a human growth hormone deficiency when they reach age 40. Here you may find a report of how effective hgh can be for men over 40. Fortunately, there are FDA-approved medications and dietary supplements that individuals can take to boost low human growth hormone levels. These medications and supplements help normalize Growth hormone production while resolving many of the unpleasant symptoms associated with an Human growth hormone deficiency, including memory problems and stunted creativity.
Bottom Line
In summary, HGH, much like the hormones produced by other glands within the endocrine system, play a significant role not only in our physical health but also our mood, emotions, and overall psychological health. That said, if you’re over the age of 40 and suspect that you have an HGH deficiency, it might be in your best interest to schedule an appointment with an endocrinologist as soon as feasibly possible.
Logo Design - Expert Tips For Choosing the Best Colors
So, you've come to the point in your company branding efforts when it is time to choose the best color scheme for your business logo. Or you will be the designer of that logo, piled up with tons of logo designs, colors, and elements your client finds inspiring. And endless possibilities can oftentimes lead to counter effect - a pile of crumpled papers tossed around the bin. That's why we present you with an ultimate guide, drafted by an expert logo design team, to the best color for logos in 2020.
Why is the choice of colors for a logo so important?
You may be asking yourself now "Why should I care? My logo is not important, what I sell is". And not to forget the designers who sometimes give in to the wishes and behests of their clients, contrary to their own opinion. Limitless options make it easy for both sides in the process to lose track of fine logo design practices. However, there's one thing to always bear in mind - logo is not merely a necessary illustration, it is your signature.
With now pretty much every industry niche being quite saturated, it has never been more essential to make your business stand out among the competition. Spot on branding is crucial to the success of your business, and it all starts with a fabulous logo design.
The colors you choose for your business logo will be the building blocks of your future corporate identity. Therefore, in designing a logo you have to consider the message you wish for the logo to convey, as well as the psychology and the meanings behind different colors.
Colorful, monochromatic, or a black and white logo?
In response to us being visually bombarded via the Internet, television, or physical ads such as billboards, graphic (and web too) designers have, in the last couple of years, shifted their art towards a more minimalistic approach. While there are pros and cons on each side, the answer to whether or not your logo will be colorful, monochromatic, or black and white lies in your business niche.
For example, a children's toy store or a doughnut shop rely on attracting their customers using colors. Thus, going with a black and white logo would be a complete flop. On the other hand, businesses who wish to portray professionalism, expertise, and elegance should tone down their color choice. Here, a monochromatic or a black and white logo could prove to be a success.
Opting for colors will bring vibrance to your logo, highlight your brand's message and strength, and ultimately, evoke emotions in potential customers that will lure them to convert. Another benefit of going with a colorful logo design is enhanced recognition among your audience. We all undeniably know the brand colors of Coca Cola and McDonald's. Outstanding color choice and powerful brand message can do wonders for your business.
Why do you need a black and white logo?
There's a saying in the graphic design community that says that the logo is good only if it works well in black and white. If the logo remains effective, memorable, and associative to your business even after stripped of its colors - know it's a winner.
However, even if you go for a logo with colors, you'll still going to need its black and white version for various purposes, such as scanning and faxing, partnerships and collaborations, or printing special products.
Colors or not, it all boils down to the emotion you want people to feel when looking at your logo. And that's where color psychology comes in.
Color psychology - meaning of colors in logo design
The impact of colors on the feelings and behaviors of humans has been, for decades, in the spotlight of numerous psychological research. Surely, personal preference, context, earlier experience, and culture can affect the varied interpretations of the same color. Psychological research have, nevertheless, proved the existence of general connotations related to different colors.
White, for example, in the Western world symbolizes purity and innocence, whereas on the East it signifies mourning and bad luck. Moreover, a single color can sometimes represent conflicting ideas, such as red which is being perceived as both the color of love and aggression.
Understanding the implications and psychology behind colors can help you make the best decision for your company branding. Thus, let's dive into the meanings of colors and emotional responses they prompt.
Red for the burst of energy
If you're looking for a powerful, energetic, and passionate vibe for your logo design, red is your go-to color. The most attention-grabbing in the color wheel, red is intensive and exciting. It symbolizes love and romance, but also anger, blood, and danger. Red is shown to increase heart rate and blood pressure, which is why it is wonderful for the shopping and food industry. However, if you're aiming for a more professional, mature, and classic style, red may not be the best choice.
Blue - the perfect balance of modern and classic
Professionalism, wisdom, trustworthiness - this is what blue stands for businesswise. If you aim to evoke the sense of dependability, stability, and reliability in customers, blue should definitely be your choice. The color of oceans and the sky, blue signifies authority, calmness, intelligence, and spirituality. Considered rather conservative, blue is unsurpassed for any business where honesty and trust play crucial roles - economy, law, medicine, transportation, technology, etc. Conversely, blue rarely appears as the color of food in nature, so it shouldn't be used in the food industry.
Green is a step closer to nature
Green is an amazing choice for the food industry, primarily for organic, natural, and fresh products. It doesn't put a strain on our eyes, which is why it is perceived as calming, and thus a suitable color for environmentally-friendly products. Besides, green is, especially in the US, the color of money, but also the color of growth and health.
Yellow for accessibility and playfulness
A warm, happy, and optimistic color that stimulates the mind, increasing logical and analytical processes. Although it symbolizes open-mindedness, luminosity, and cheerfulness, too much of it causes feelings of anxiety, fear, and self-criticism. Yellow keeps people moving, therefore, choose it wisely where you want your customers to move. Adequate uses of yellow are fast food restaurants, outlet stores, and entertainment businesses.
Brown - reliable and natural
Darker hues of brown stand for seriousness and trust, whereas lighter, earthier tones signify friendship, warmth, and nature. It's a mature and reliable color that shows off the strength and comfort of your business. This color is a fine choice for any outdoor, farming, nature activities.
Orange is adventurous
Taking the best of both worlds (red and yellow), orange stands for socializing, optimism, and self-confidence. It sparks motivation, creativity, and joy for life, making us talk and spend more. This is why orange is often a choice of restaurants, travel agencies, and children's toys.
Purple - luxurious and mysterious
Sexy, rebellious, powerful, sophisticated - purple color is not for just any business. As it symbolizes extravagance and wealth, use purple if you're aiming primarily more well-off customers, lovers of antique, handcraft, and especially women.
Gold is for the winners
Prosperity, abundance, and wealth are what the color of gold is made for. Similarly to the purple, gold should be used to symbolize money. Gold is magnificent for marketing and packaging, however, it tends to look khakiish when used on websites – a fact to keep in mind.
Gray to show control
Conservative, long-lasting, and classical. Gray is a great choice for tech, legal, and financial industries as it implies reliability, endurance, and security. However, certain hues of gray may look dull and lifeless.
White and black - eternal classics
White is the color of purity, innocence, fresh beginnings, and blank slates. Black, on the other hand, symbolizes strength, formality, and sophistication. Used separately or together, both colors are majestic for any business trying to look sleek, modern, and classy. They're elegant, luxurious, and sophisticated. Moreover, black and white complement all colors, in case you opt for tweaking your logo design sometime in the future.
How many colors should your logo have?
Less is more - and it's definitely true when talking about color combinations for logo design. Besides, it's an excellent idea to keep it to two to a maximum of three colors for your logo. Anything above that will look exaggerated and complicated.
Best color combinations for your logo design
As we've already mentioned before, black and white is endless color combination. However, they may not always the best fit for your business niche. Still, if you're aiming for a moderate vibe of your logo, a monochrome color scheme could do the trick. Monochromatic schemes use only one hue but can use various shades, tones, and tints of that hue to create the cleanest, simplest, and most memorable logo design. PayPal, Apple, Nike, and CocaCola are only some of the companies known for their amazing monochromatic logo color schemes.
The two-color combination is probably the color scheme most used for logo design. The industry standard, a combo of two colors creates an eye-catching effect. Some of our favorite two-color combinations are:
- blue and yellow/orange - Yellow and orange are vibrant, lively, and energetic colors, thus they tone down the seriousness and pragmatism of the blue, giving the logo a fun, modern edge. Blue remains indicative of trust and authority, but yellow/orange amplifies confidence and grabs attention.
- black and orange - this combination promises an adrenaline rush, as black evokes mystery and power, whereas orange lends the sense of thrill.
- purple and yellow - the perfect combination of extravagance that simply grabs your clients' attention and evokes the feelings of energy, creativity, and optimism.
- black and gold - for the ultimate sense of luxury, wealth, and elegance, eternal and mystic black will suit the sophisticated gold perfectly.
For a three-color combination, we suggest consulting a color wheel and trying out analogous or triadic color schemes. The first uses colors that are adjacent on the color wheel, creating a harmonious feeling pleasing to the eye. The latter color scheme uses colors equally spaced around the wheel. Triadic combinations of colors are orange-green-purple or red-yellow-blue, used by Burger King.
Let's wrap up
Your logo is the starting point for the entire branding process of your business, and thus, the color scheme you decide on for the logo design will transfer to every piece of your corporate identity.
An exceptional logo is memorable, distinctive, appropriate, and ultimately simple. Its elements should tell the story of your brand, and its colors apprise the message and evoke the feelings you wish your clients to have when interacting with your business.
Black and white are eternal classics and a principal square one for assessing the efficiency of your logo, but going colorful benefits you in terms of provoking a wide range of emotions in your potential customers.
Colors of your logo are a powerful tool that will enable your brand to leave a lasting impact that creates a more substantial connection with your audience. Therefore, take some time to consider what each color says about your brand, try out different combinations, and reach out to an experienced graphic designer who will assist you in making the best color choice for your logo.
See How To Add Color Back Into A Funeral While Still Showing Respect
Funerals for centuries have called for a pretty strict dress code, with black being the predominant color. Today wearing black is done to show respect for the dead as well as the family. Wearing colors to a funeral is thought of as disrespectful. So when we talk about adding color to a funeral, we are not talking about showing up in a bright yellow dress but adding color to where you can to celebrate the life of your loved one.
Adding Colors To Your Funeral Stationery
Memorial Programs
A memorial program is a great place to add a splash of color. Incorporating your loved one's favorite colors into the memorial service program template is a fun way to bring just a little bit of personality to the design. It can also help set the tone of the memorial and bring a smile to someone's face as they remember how kind, fun, and dear their friend or family was during their life.
On top of being a great way to bring color to the memorial, a memorial program is simply a great idea as you can outline the program, so guests are aware of the proceedings. This will help guests feel more included as well as help them be preset.
Celebration of Life Announcements
You may have family members or friends who cannot attend the funeral for one reason or another. Sending them a celebration of life announcements is a great way to include those not able to attend. Once again, you can use color to bring out the personality of your loved one that has passed. We recommend adding a photo to the front of the design with a colorful border or background of whichever was your loved one's favorite color to make it stand out. On the back of the card, including a favorite story, memory, or even quotes, will give those who did not attend a keepsake that they can hold onto and remember forever.
Floral Arrangements
Every funeral has beautiful floral arrangements, so why use these arrangements to bring even more color into the funeral setting. As many friends and family will offer to purchase a floral arrangement for the funeral, have a few different options selected that you can direct them to, you will be able to ensure that the colors are cohesive and that the floral arrangement represents your love one. So we recommend working with a local florist to have several arrangements put together that they can offer when someone calls in to buy an arrangement for the funeral.
A funeral is always a difficult time, so why not add a little color to bring some of the joy and excitement your loved one brought to everyone else. These are just a couple of ideas of how it can be done, but there are always a thousand different ideas on how to do it. So if these ideas don't work for you, add color in your own way.
How to Tastefully Incorporate Color Into Your Wardrobe
Bold colors can be worn in such a manner that shows sophistication and great style. However, many haven’t quite grasped the art of pairing colors in a tasteful way. This may be limiting you from having a colorful wardrobe, where you may opt to go with neutral and cool colors to stay safe. However, do you know that adding color to your wardrobe may breath new life into what you already own? This is one of the reasons why you should stop playing safe and learn a thing or two about how to dress in color. When you pair your colors in the right way, you will get people’s attention, and your outfit will leave a lasting impact, uplift your mood, and even inspire others to try out a little color in their outfits. If you intend to look elegant and stylish even when you wear colorful pieces, here are some ways in which you can achieve this.
- Incorporate colorful accessories
If you are used to playing it safe with neutral colors or if you want to add some color into your outfit, wearing colorful accessories may be the way to go. You can wear a neutral outfit, but adding that bold accessory may take your outfit to the next level. You will look put together, and it will also look like you put effort into coming up with your outfit. For instance, you could wear an off-white dress and some nude pumps and add a scarlet coat on top of that. Adding a bold bag is also a great way to add a twist to your outfit. There are various luxurious bags that will add the much-needed pop of color to your otherwise basic outfit. Designer houses such as Bottega Veneta and Mansur Gavriel offer a variety of quality colored bags in a range of styles and shapes. Add that bold shoe, bag, or scarf to your look, and you will look stylish.
- Stay within the color family
If you are not comfortable with getting out of your comfort zone by going all out with bright colors, you can start by working with colors from one color family. For instance, if you desire to achieve a softer color look, you could pair pastels. For instance, you can pair a pastel pink pair of trousers with a pastel blue blouse. If you desire to achieve a bolder look, you could pair one primary color with another. Moreover, you can combine different shades of citrus to come up with a fresh look. By using this strategy, you will also be able to maximize the pieces in your wardrobe in the various seasons that you may experience in your region. For instance, you will be able to wear the different earthy colors in autumn and the soft pastel tones in spring.
- Break down the prints on your pieces
If you are wearing a piece with print, pick a color from the print to complete your outfit. Identify the most prominent colors in that piece and choose the remaining pieces of your outfit in those colors. For instance, if the prominent colors in the piece are lavender and blush, you can wear an accessory in lavender and maybe a blush colored top.
These are some of the tasteful and intentional ways you can incorporate color into your daily looks. The tips will help you achieve a fashion-forward and sophisticated look even when wearing bold colors.
Tom John Or-Paz is Turning Real Estate into Art with LightArt Branded Real Estate
As the world starts to recover and reopen to #life post Covid-19 one world that is slowly awakening form its slumber is the world of art. From art galleries to public events, street art acts to personalised projects, art lovers of all types around the world are reconnecting to their love. The venues, which had been closed for about three months, presented their current exhibitions to art lovers with their social distancing and hygiene rules. Screening fever at the entrances, using hand disinfectants and wearing masks are among the first rules of all these venues.
One recent collaboration that has got artists and art lovers around the world purring is LightArt, a Brand created by art lover Tom John Or-Paz which combines art & Real Estate. The power of art in Real Estate is not a new concept. For years, real estate entrepreneurs have used art as an integral part of their design and sales pitch to attract buyers and investors. But never has Art & Real Estate become one as in LightArt. In the words of the founder & creator Tom, ‘LightArt is our way of life. For us, art represents emotion, perfection, love, color and life. LightArt elevates a standard project to an emotional journey for the developer and the customers. We apply our color, emotion and electricity to the project, with our vision of art & perfection.’
Tom John Or-Paz, the creative brain behind LightArt is a multi-Millionaire entrepreneur born in Israel, with vast experience in the world of real estate and art. In his early twenties Tom launched FashionTV’s Branded Real Estate. The project was a major worldwide success and the projects were quickly sold out worldwide. In recent years Tom’s love for art has seen him collaborate in different projects with leading artists from around the world.
LightArt’s team of worldwide architects, designers and artists take over a standard real estate development and adapt the design, interior and exterior with their unique style and colorful touch. Taking a glance at the designs and drafts for their next project in Florentine, Tel Aviv, it makes you gasp in awe. The combination of the art with the building and its architecture within the neighbourhood is something that every artist dreams of. Tom tells us that artists from around the world have reached out, to be a part of this new and unique experience. LightArt is a brand that is creating artistic icons in cities around the world. If you are an art lover find out if there is a LightArt building near you and pay a visit, we guarantee you will not be disappointed.