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Some cool 2. how to images:

how to dress for success in business part 2


Image by tiny banquet committee
An illustration by designer Edith Head, from the 1967 Random House edition of her book How to Dress for Success.

How to put pretty stuff in those drops. Tutorial below:


Image by Steve took it
Water Drop Photography Tutorial

Or how to squeeze flowers into those teeny-weenie drops

I have always been drawn to nature and wildlife photography. I love taking my camera way up north to capture images of seldom-seen animals and exotic scenery. Unfortunately, we can’t always plan distant adventures to shoot photographs of moose and northern lights. But we can train our eyes to find the unexpected beauty in our own backyards.

My fascination (some might call it an obsession) with water drops began when I bought a Nikon D200 last summer. Sadly, the lens I wanted was out of stock. There was no way I was going to just look at my camera body while I waited, so I picked up a Nikkor 60mm macro. Through that lens I discovered worlds of complexity hidden within the simplest tiny drops of water.

I’m often asked if the images inside the water drops are real or the product of Photoshop. Let me assure you they are real, and anyone can find them if they know how to look. Simple physics produces these tiny, beautiful and common images. Water is cohesive, it naturally bonds together in the shape of a sphere, and in that shape it functions as a miniature lens that will refract nearby objects. Using that organic lens as seen through your technological lens, will allow you to explore those tiny, complex worlds.

The water drop photos on my stream have been the result of an evolutional process. My most viewed, most faved and most interesting photo (according to flickr) was taken almost by luck, lying flat on my belly using a Diet Coke can as tripod. But after a great deal of trial and error, I’ve come up with a few simple, consistent steps for more easily creating a water drop photograph.

1. Focus
2. Focus
3. Composition
4. Background

1. Focus: No, that’s not a typo; focus is listed twice, and for a very good reason. It’s necessary to consider the focus of the water drop itself as well as the focus of the subject displayed within the drop. My initial concern is the water drop itself and the plant on which the drop is located. I like to set my camera to aperture priority to control the depth of field. The trick is to have enough depth of field so the drop and the plant (and maybe some nearby drops) are all in focus, while leaving the background sufficiently blurred so it doesn’t compete for attention. I generally use f8 to f10 but I’ll sometimes stop down to f18 if the background does not need as much blur. I also find I get a sharper focus by backing away just a little and cropping the photo, rather than getting as close as possible in an attempt to get maximum magnification.

2. Focus: As seen in the example above, the water drop is in focus as is the image of the flower seen through the water drop, but the flower itself is not in focus. That effect is achieved not by adjusting the camera, but by relying on the water drop to act as a fixed focal lens. In other words, instead of adjusting the camera I adjust the object I want to appear within the water drop. I simply move it back or forward until I’ve found the clarity of focus I want. Some photos look better with blurred refractions. For the greatest clarity I’ve found the object should be 3-4 inches behind the water drop. This, of course, may vary if using a different macro lens. Be sure to experiment.

3. Composition: Obviously, the guidelines for good composition apply to water drop photographs. Attention should be given to the Rule of Thirds, to simplicity, to the geometry within the frame, and to all the usual elements of visual composition. It’s important to remember, though, when photographing water drops that the very shape of the drop influences compositional decisions. Since the lens of the water drop is spherical (or nearly so), slight adjustments in the camera position…left, right, up, down…can have a radical effect on what is seen within the drop. Again, experiment.

4. Background: If you’re working from nature, your control over the background is necessarily limited. You have to work with what you’ve got. As mentioned earlier, the unique qualities of the organic lens formed by a drop of water allows you to make minor adjustments in the camera position that will have a profound effect on what’s seen within the drop. With a few simple props, you can gain better control over the background. For example, I often rely on a large sheet of insulation, which is bright blue on one side. I originally used it to block the wind, but noticed that even on the dreariest of days it can mimic a perfect azure sky.

Other Considerations: Almost every time I set out to take photographs of water drops, I learned something new. There was always some new factor to consider. I learned, for example, I could get bigger, more cohesive and more interesting drops on humid days. I discovered that even the slightest wind could have disastrous effects on macro focusing, as well as on the water drops themselves. I found that very slightly adjusting the exposure (-0.3EV to –0.7EV) would compensate for the natural sheen of the surface of the water drop, keeping it from being somewhat burnt out. Most important, I had to teach myself to remember that because a water drop acts as an organic lens, it presents everything upside down and in reverse (just like a pinhole camera or a large format camera).

So now I’m one of the few people who looks forward to really still, stifling, humid days. And even though my beautiful Nikkor 18-200mm has arrived, I still have my macro on more than half the time. Water drop photos are not only real, but also addicting to try to master.

That’s it. That’s how it’s done. It’s as simple as learning how chess pieces move, and just as complex as a game of chess. Good luck and think small.

how to perform a stomach fire burning – STEP 2: lay cloth soaked in alcohol and soaked in medicinal herbs


Image by Tricia Wang 王圣捷
Every Chinese Doctor I have been to says that I have cold energy in my stomach. So I am always willing to try anything to get rid of this cold energy. Rather than living a healthy life of constant physical activity, restricted computer use, and all the other modern things that we do to make us unbalanced creatures – I chose to put myself through ancient practices – like STOMACH FIREBURNING or MOXA (mugwart) steaming!!!!

So the philosophy behind fireburning is that the fire’s heat will warm up your stomach – it will start moving the cold energy out and help you restore your yin energy. After 5 times of lighting a fire and putting the fire out on my stomach – I felt so wonderful. In between each fireburning, the doctor massaged my stomach – it’s the best feeling in the world. It felt as if he was caressing every part of my large and small intestinal track and giving it lots of love and care. And the best part is that in the end- when the fire burning is done correctly – he takes off the saran wrap, medicine cloth, and starts Doggy Paddling down from the top of my stomach to the very bottom of my intestines – you can HEAR A RIVER of activity going on inside! it’s totalllly FREAKY – I could hear a river gurgling – as if he was totally giving me a full plumbing system overhaul!
he said that when performed with the right type of fire shapes, the doggy paddling takes all the released coldness and moves it out.

the whole entire time I focused on using qi gong breathing techniques – because I am super sensitive to energy I could feel the cold air flowing out of the bottom of my feet.

But then for a few min before or after the process – sometimes I feel that I am inadequate as a human being when I do these things because it reminds me of how out of touch I am with my body, the earth, and the stars. So going to the Chinese doctor for me is like a form of rebirth and a bit of self-punishment (for not being healthy when I am living in the states). But then I think – is it only when I travel – when I’m farthest away from everything and everyone that I intimately know – is that the only time I feel that I can take care of myself without feeling guilty? Is it only when I am unreachable that I recover from everyday life in the states – when my family stuff is so far away that it is absolutely out of my control? Then I start thinking that’s stupid tricia – peace is where you are – but sometimes I feel that the only way to really extract myself out of my own life is to leave the country and cross an ocean away. I wonder if this is a pattern of modern life now – middle class people overworking and then leaving for a few months every year or few years to prevent burn out and just to re-balance. It certainly has become a pattern in my life – is the amount of traveling we do equivalent to the amount of stress we have at home? sometimes I think so…

well anyways this is seriously the best form of self-punishment – when the doctor tells me that my yin-yang isn’t balanced – it actually makes me really excited to become more balanced again. I am always excited for them to say – "ok here your energy is blocked, so that’s why your hair is turning white or that’s why your bowel movements aren’t regular." When they tell me how unbalanced I am, I start thinking about how I can take better care of myself.

AFter fireburning, the doctor told me of all the herbs and foods that I should eat to heal my body. for example, I need to eat more lemon peels. This time the doctor told me that my health was pretty good, but my back and neck is messed up from years of sitting in front of a computer. Plus I haven’t been meditating or dancing as much lately

So I love this herbal/ancient practice – only in china…only in china. In India I tried going to the medicinal doctor – I actually went to 3 of them because I really wanted to give it a chance – well each on told me that I was too much of a "pita" and they threw my naked body on a slap of hard wood and started dumping herbal oil on me and then the woman rubbed the oil on me forcing my bones into the wood table and I slid around like a dead fish – I tried to grab onto the wood but it was impossible! – may sound wonderful-(hmm hands + oil) BUT NOT!!!!!! it was painful and the worst part was that I didn’t feel more balanced afterwards. SO I’ve decided China is the place for me to go for medicinal care.