Fine Art Adventures

Trying out Hello Fresh

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Mon, 13 Feb 2017 16:46:00 +0000

A wonderful friend of mine offered a free week of Hello Fresh for me to try so I gladly accepted. I have never been one to have trouble planning meals or throwing together random ingredients to cook. I love to cook, so I figured this may give me some new ideas and a preplanned menu for the week is always welcomed. The sign-up was very easy and I was a bit surprised by how much it was on a weekly basis, if I were to actually pay for it- almost $60 a week for 2 people, 3 meals. I compared these three meals to what I would spend at Trader Joe's for three meals for two people and I can spend half of that there for the same things. For cost effectiveness, I would definitely prefer to shop myself and plan meals. For not having to think about planning meals, Hello Fresh was nice. However, it is only three meals so I still have to go shopping for the other nights of the week anyway!

The box arrived Monday afternoon at my front door and was extremely well packed with a large ice pack. Everything was organized by meal and the meats were packaged separately.

Each meal came with a protein, vegetable and a starch, detailed instructions and a recipe that was super simple to follow. I wanted to add my own touches to things but decided to test it out as advertised to see the results.

The first meal we prepared also ended up being my favorite of the three meals. Chicken Dukkah. I loved the spice mixture for this one and will definitely incorporate it into more meals.

The major takeaway that I enjoyed from this experience is to make more sauces with the ingredients that I already have at home after I cook my meat.
Hope this quick recap helps you make your decision whether to try Hello Fresh!

Lightroom Presets: Sleeklens

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Fri, 20 Jan 2017 20:17:00 +0000

Lightroom is an integral part of my workflow when processing, developing, and editing photos. I consider myself a minimalist with editing photos as I am a tad bit old school because I still enjoy film and processing photos in the darkroom. However, I have almost completely switched over to digital for all of my professional work. When I travel, shoot an event, take family portraits, etc, I usually have hundreds of photos to sort through. Lightroom is wonderful for this and for organizing, selecting favorites and then doing basic edits. When working on anything more complex, I will begin in Lightroom and then continue to edit in Photoshop. For years, my colleagues have been advertising and selling presets for both programs that help them move through their workflow faster. Presets are nice as you can just click on the chosen preset and Lightroom automatically adjusts the photograph. I find that their presets are usually too harsh for the type of photographs that I produce. I’ve created my own simple ones that I use, but I am always looking for some that could work for my type of photography. Every photograph is different, so there will never be a perfect preset for every single photograph you take, but combined with some precise editing, presets do have a place in the digital editing workflow.

When SleekLens reached out to me to look into their Strike a Pose Portrait Presets (also known as SaP), I was intrigued. They claim that their presets are “instant photo boosters.” Could these presets provide the outlet that I’ve been looking for with simple, modern edits? Let’s find out.

Installing the “Strike a Pose” presets and brushes (there are over 69 different brush options!) was quite simple. Within a few minutes, I was up and running. With so many different preset and brush options, I wanted to try them all out and see what worked. I chose a couple of portrait images that never made my final cut as I was not thrilled with the edits and wanted to investigate whether these presets would help. For each photo, I will show the before raw file and the after edited file using one of the SleekLens presets. I tried almost all of the presets on these photos, and for examples I’ve chosen a few to show how they can affect each photo. Some work and some don’t, but each preset can always be a base for more editing as well so you can easily tone some of them down or make them stronger when developing. (which I recommend to make the presets work for you)

Portrait 1:

Before & After, SaP All In One Catch Me If You Can

This all in one preset really enhanced the little guy and brought some needed brightness to this raw file. I do not like that it also brightened the background, but that is easily fixable using a vignette preset or just doing it yourself in the vignetting section in Lightroom. These presets are very easy to use and they can be stacked on top of each other as well.

This is the final version with the vignette stacked on the preset as well as a bronze preset just to bring back a little warmth:

Portrait 2:

For the second example, I wanted to test out their system of presets for the SaP. It’s very easy to follow as a 1-6 step preset process for a photograph. Step 1 is called Base, Step 2 Exposure, Step 3 Color Correct, Step 4 Tone/Tint, Step 5 Polish, Step 6 Vignette. These are the basics to editing any digital photograph, so it’s nice that they provide a simple step-by-step approach to use their presets. The previous example was using one of their All-In-One’s so it incorporated all of these steps into one full preset. Handy when time is of the essence.

This is the before and after of this photograph just on its own, using no presets and how I had edited it quickly before:

Step 1: SaP Base, I chose to use the Auto Tone (Color) preset as I know this image needed some white balance correction.

Step 2: SaP Exposure, More Highlights. Wanted to give the photo a little more intense contrast.

Step 3: SaP Color Correct, fix red skin. Babies are notorious for having super red skin. I usually adjust this manually in the luminance editing section, but this preset does pretty well to accomplish a similar effect.

Step 4: SaP Tone/Text, Summer Ten. There are many nice presets in this section, but for this photograph, the summer ten wins out. It’s a nice balance of warmth without overpowering.

Step 5: SaP Polish, Soften. Normally, I do not soften images, but for this demo, it seemed appropriate to test it out. It makes this image dreamier. What do you think? There are only 5 options in the Polish section. If I weren’t doing this example, I probably would not use any of the Polish presets for this photograph as none of them specifically work well for this photograph. For some of my other photographs, I could see the high and low contrast and the sharpen presets working well.

Step 6: SaP Vignette, Black Dreamy. Always end with a little vignette; the rule of thumb when in the darkroom and the same applies for the digital darkroom.

Here’s the final image with all 6 presets stacked! What do you think, did it work?

Overall, I am impressed with these presets. I certainly had my doubts and there are some presets that go overboard and are not my style, but there are also presets that work for my photographs and that is different from most of the other presets out there. Adjusting individual presets to my style and either reducing or enhancing them is simple and easy. They are a great base to any photograph.

Presets work for some photographs and not for others. Though I may not use presets for every photograph I edit, it’s always nice to experiment and play while editing to see what works. That’s the artistic process and I highly encourage trying, testing, playing, and messing up. If you’re not failing, you’re not learning. Try out these presets and see if they will work for you.

SleekLens Workflow Link

A rainy green smoothie day

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 17:32:00 +0000

Today's smoothie is trying to use up some of the ingredients I have at home that are close to their expiration. Bananas are great for this as they turn brown and are not very appetizing on their own, but are perfect when blended! Three smoothies a week are actually a lot for me. I'm not someone who likes to eat the same thing everyday, as I like to mix it up. I also feel that it's better for your metabolism and body to vary what you eat. Although, I would be okay eating greek yogurt every day for a few days, I cannot eat it for weeks or months at a time. My body tells me what it needs and sometimes it craves granola, sometimes oatmeal, sometimes eggs, sometimes yogurt and sometimes smoothies. For the sake of this blog, i'm trying to do some more smoothies, hence why three are a lot for me! If I have the fruit and vegetables around the house, smoothies will be made!

Today's smoothie:
1- Organic Banana
2- Kiwi's, peeled
1- Apple, peeled

9-10 raspberries
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon almond butter
pinch of cayenne pepper
2 cups frozen kale
2 cups cold water

Blend it all together and enjoy!

Quick, fruity way to start the day

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 16:32:00 +0000

It's Monday! Time to start the week off on a good flavor. I don't always have the time or patience to make smoothies, however this one took less than 3 minutes and that includes prep time and clean up time! Takes me longer to drink the smoothie than to make it!

Super quick, fruity smoothie:

1 organic banana
2 organic kiwi's (peeled)
1 organic apple (peeled)
1 tablespoon organic almond butter
1 teaspoon lemon
1 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon chia seeds

Blend it all and enjoy!

On a side note, to clean my Vitamix, I put a little soap and water into the blender and blend it for 15-30 seconds to clean the container. Works like a charm and then I just rinse and am ready to go for my next smoothie!

Green Smoothies!

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:56:00 +0000

It's been a while since i've posted on here and i'm looking for a place where I can share some great things without having to use my travel blog. I figure my fine art adventure blog can encompass lots of things and since I would consider cooking and experimenting a form of art, why not?!

When I come up with something worthwhile sharing I will post it here!

Today's post is about a smoothie. I know when people hear green smoothies, they may want to turn the other way and ignore everything about it. However, I have tried many, and I mean many (!) green smoothies and some are good, some are great, some are just really gross. I tend to not like bananas in smoothies as they are overpowering and for some reason bananas tend to make me crave sugar and that's not a good thing! This smoothie does have a banana in it and it's not overpowering at all. I enjoy experimenting with different ingredients and I'm sure someone else has created something similar before, but here's my take on one version of a green smoothie that will fill you up and is healthy!

Wake me up Green Smoothie!
1 organic banana, peeled (could use a frozen banana too)
2 organic kiwi's, peeled
2 cups kale (I like to freeze my kale and then use it for smoothies)
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon organic almond butter
a pinch of cayenne red pepper (secret ingredient!)
~1-2 cups of water, depends on how thick or drinkable you want your smoothie

Mix everything together in your blender and enjoy! I prefer to enjoy my smoothies in mason jar's :)

I invested in a Vitamix many years ago and I have never looked back. One of the best investments I've ever made.

*No one is paying me to write about this recipe or my blender, just my honest thoughts and opinions.

Any questions? Comment away. And feel free to share!

Updated posts

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Wed, 09 Sep 2015 20:56:00 +0000

Tune in to my travel blog to find out what i've been up to: http://travelwithrs.blogspot.com/

Miami, what?!

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Fri, 01 Aug 2014 01:43:00 +0000

I am not exactly typical Miami. However, I just returned from a wonderful trip down there and posted on my travel blog about it. Check it out. http://travelwithrs.blogspot.com/

Next Adventure....

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 14:16:00 +0000

Ok, I know I may be slacking a bit in the blog department and I've been on many adventures recently. I will try to be better, I promise. :) My next adventure is a sailing one. Prepping for it now:

Exciting!!!

Made my day!

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Wed, 08 May 2013 20:20:00 +0000

Just discovered that sometimes Facebook screens your e-mails. Well I discovered this one in that stash and had to share. It made my day and I hope it makes yours too!

"What a nice and sparkling smile. I wouldn't trade that smile for anything. I don't know you, I was searching for a friend, when I stumbled on your profile. I got entangled by that wonderful smile, couldn't stop myself from saying hello. Please always wear that smile."

The last photo of the year long journey!

noreply@blogger.com (rs) — Tue, 01 Jan 2013 03:28:00 +0000

Last day on my 366 day journey of a photo every day of the year! Some how, I forgot to count along the way, but every day is on here. Enjoy! And there will be a few things i'm working on using all these images in the future!
I will continue to post on my blog, so stay tuned for more fun stuff! And thanks for following!

http://instagram.com/p/T6fe5TDjSv/