#MusicMonday 2

(Sorry for the late post because I was really busy yesterday D:)

Hey everyone!

Today's post will be about my newest obsession: London Grammar. I love them so much! Their music is so soothing and unique. The lead singer, Hannah Reid, has an incredible voice and she sounds the same singing live, even hitting the high notes effortlessly!

I adore their whole album "If You Wait", and my favourites are probably Hey Now, Strong, Interlude, Stay Awake and Sights. Sights is their new single off the album, and it has easily become one of my all-time favourite songs.

I hope you will enjoy this song and this performance as much as I do. Happy Monday everyone! :)

Elsa

Fishie's Tutorials Series: Part 4

(Okay this is not related to the post but yeah. I came across this on Disney's Facebook page, and I think it's too adorable to not share. As you guys probably know (or not), I'm a huge bear lover. I love all sorts of bears, especially Winnie the Pooh. :) so check out this link! http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2014/04/29/10-signs-you-grew-up-with-winnie-the-pooh/?cmp=SMC|blgomd|OMDApril|FB|Winnie-WinniethePooh|InHouse|042914||esocialmedia|||)

HEY GUYS! :D

So I've decided to bring back this series from last December hohoho. I don't know why but suddenly I have this motivation to keep my blog active haha. Let's see how long this whole "keeping the blog active" thing will last xD

In this tutorial, I'll be showing you my basic editing which is done on the computer. I normally use Photoshop CS3, but I've recently upgraded to using CS6. :)

Here's a photo I took inside Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay, with my Canon EOS 650D and "nifty-fifty" which Juliana complained that the auto-focus is too noisy. I normally shoot in JPEG, unless in really bad lighting conditions, or for special "photo projects" (as I like to call them), which requires a bit more editing, then I'll shoot in RAW.

This is the original file, opened in Photoshop.

Next, I cropped the photo. Then, I decrease the exposure of the photo using Curves. 

I always increase the contrast of my photos, as I feel that adding contrast just add so much dimension to the photo, giving it a "pop". I used Curves to increase the contrast of the photo too. Sometimes I like to give the photo a fade-ish look, and to do that, simply drag the bottom corner of the line up a bit. I wanted this photo to have a softer look, and hence I gave it a bit of fade too.

Next, I use the Photo Filter tool to give the photos a warmer or colder tone, or to change the tone of the photo slightly. I normally use the "Warming Filters" to increase the vibrancy of the photo, and the "Cooling Filters" to add a tint of blue and make the photo somewhat softer. For this photo, I used Cooling Filter (LBB) to lower the yellow tone. And to give it a more natural finish, I lower the opacity to 75%.

To finish off, I used Magenta in Photo Filter to accentuate the pink in the petals, lowering the opacity to 50%.

And here's a comparison of the photo before editing and after editing:

Although the differences can be quite subtle, I feel like the minor adjustments to the photos just enhances the beauty of the flower even more.

I hope this is helpful for you! And oh an update of places you can find me (on the Internet, I mean)

• I've created a YouTube channel! I'll be posting behind-the-scenes videos, and some short videos that I have taken.
• New Instagram account that I share with my friend, Xin Hui: @metallic_hearts, where we'll be post before & after of our photos, and some short behind-the-scene photos. :)
• And of course my main account, @_outofwater
• My Flickr (the link is on the blog here, but I'll put it here in case you're lazy to scroll up)
• My VSCO Grid

So that's all for this post! See you guys soon. :)

Elsa

Tulipmania! Floral Display at Flower Dome, Gardens by the Bay

On a Sunday, my family and I visited the Floral Display, Tulipmania, at Gardens by the Bay. When I stepped into Flower Dome, the conservatory, I felt like I was transported to a temperate region in spring. Indeed, the Flower Dome is designed to simulate the Mediterranean climate and semi-arid subtropical climate, with plants from places like South Africa, California, and parts of Spain and Italy. There are so many beautiful and unique plants and flowers which are part of the permanent display inside the conservatory.

For the month of April to May, the themed changing floral display is Tulipmania, featuring 50 000 assorted varieties of tulips from the Netherlands, as well as different shades of hyacinths. Hyacinths remind me of bluebells so much that I instantly fell in love with them ahhh.

In the Flower Field, tulips of different colours were arranged as roads of Amsterdam, while the bluish purple hyacinths represented the canals. There were miniature Dutch-style buildings, and windmills amid the blooming (or ready to bloom) tulips. There were also Dutch wooden clogs lying around!

Okay enough with the words. Now I shall let the photos do the talking. :D If you want to see the more photos (photos of other flowers in the conservatory), go to my Flickr and the link is on the right side of the page. :)

(All photos are shot with Canon EOS 650D, with 50mm f1.8 lens. Some photos are edited with Photoshop CC, while some are unedited. Because I got lazy along the way hehehe.)

Miniature Model of the Dutch landscape!

The flower field!

Hyacinths!

More hyacinths hehehe.

These flowers look so cloth-like and they don't even resemble tulips!

Eileen with the Miffy postcard. Miffy is like the "ambassador" of Tulipmania event, and everyone going into the conservatory gets one Miffy postcard :)

Here are the Instax shots I took at Tulipmania:

And yeah, that's all for this post. Hope you have a great day or night, wherever you are!

Elsa