How I Edit My Pictures!

I’ve gotten some questions on how I edit my pictures from a yellowy shade to a more cool toned one. So I thought I would let you know the photo editing apps I use, the filters I like best and the filters I use on pictures like this. So here we go!

The first app I use is FaceTune, and as you can probably tell, I don’t use it to tune my face. I use it to make sure that the background is completely white before I apply any filter. This app costs £3.99 but honestly there is no other app like this. So I just use the ‘Whitening’ tool (which is normally used for teeth whitening haha) and make sure the white shades are as white as they can be – in this case the table, the bowl and the yogurt (see the left screenshot). You can use the erase tool if you went a little overboard and made something white that you didn’t mean to (see the middle screenshot). The last step in this app is using the ‘Details’ tool. I just use this to accentuate certain things. On this picture, I just made sure that the raspberries stood out more than the rest, adding a bit depth to the picture.

 

The next app is FREE! YAY! It’s called VSCO. So here you can add whichever filter you’d like. The blue and cool filters that I use are HB1 and A5, I just test and see which one I like the most. I never use the filter fully, I normally go up to +5.0 but since this photo was quite yellow, I went up to +9.0. I added a little bit more exposure and contrast to make the picture brighter. I use clarity to make the colours in the photo stand out more (I never do over +1.0). I add maximum of +2.0 highlight and if the photo is still too yellow, I change the temperature to be a bit cooler (-0.8).

 

 

I hope this helped you a little bit if you have some yellow toned photos that you’d rather edit to be cooler toned. Have a great weekend!

Be kind, be humble.

– Helina x

 

Moving House.

Hello everyone! To most of you, this blog post won’t be that different. But for me life has completely transformed. I’ve moved house! I’m still in the United Kingdom but as I just finished my Bachelors Degree at University College Birmingham, I had to move out of my student accommodation. I’ve lived in student accommodation for three years and I can definitely say that’s enough for me. My future is now in Loughborough, where I will be studying for a Masters Degree in International Management.

And because my boyfriend is also a student at Loughborough University studying Civil Engineering, we thought why don’t both of us move out of student accommodation and rent a whole house for ourselves instead?

So here I am, sat on the floor of our living room (because I can’t find my long laptop charger and the plug is too far from the couch), hotspotting data from my phone (since we still don’t have any Wi-Fi), and thinking of how lucky I am.

When I first moved to England, I had no idea that I would end up in Loughborough. I wouldn’t even have dreamt of living in a house with someone I love after my Bachelors Degree. But here I am, happier than ever.

For the past few days, we’ve been putting together furniture and I can honestly tell you that putting together IKEA furniture is far harder than you think. If you think you can put together 10 big pieces of furniture in one day, think again. It’s taken us around 2-3 days to put together all furniture, we’ve had numerous nights of staying up until 5 am but it has been so worth it. I finally feel like home in England. It used to feel kind of like a stop along the way of my journey, but now it finally feels official. I live in the United Kingdom. Who would’ve ever guessed that. I cannot even express how happy I am. My lifelong dream has finally come true at the age of 22, and this is just the first step of my journey. I have so many more hopes and dreams, so many places still visit and so many experiences to still go through. I am so excited for everything that the future holds, and this is just the beginning.

So what’s better about living in a house rather than in student accommodation? Well, here’s a shortlist I can make in two minutes flat:

1. No noise. Yes, neighbours can be noisy but we are quite lucky as so far we haven’t heard anything at all. It’s so nice to finally have peace and quiet.
2. No parties. This kind of goes together with the first point but this also means that you can sleep whenever without anyone waking you up in the middle of the night. And this I’m so happy about!
3. CLEAN KITCHEN / LIVING ROOM! Now this is by far my favourite thing about living in our own house. No filthy food in the sink, no mountains of unwashed dishes, no someone’s week-old leftovers, no stinky fridge, no oily cookers, no mess. I honestly cannot express to you how disgusting living with 10 people gets, especially when you like everything clean and tidy. I feel a thousand times more motivated and happy now that I don’t have to walk through a dirty kitchen every day. YAY!
4. SO MUCH SPACE! Another very important part is the space. In student accommodation I had 2 little cupboards that barely fit any food inside. Plus, in the fridge I had just half a shelf as well as one shelf in the freezer. Now we’ve got the whole fridge and freezer to ourselves. There’s just something about having all that space to ourselves and knowing we are keeping it clean – not just throwing our leftovers in it.
5. Just us. In our house, it’s just us. I honestly appreciate alone time so much. Most of the time in student accommodation, I’d run to the kitchen, cook something quickly, run back to my room, put my headphones in and ignore the world haha. Now, there’s just no need. Some of you might like having people around constantly but not me.

Overall, living in our own little house is amazing. We are only getting started with all the decorating but it already feels like home. I hope you guys are having a lovely time enjoying your time off from university, but life’s too short to waste days on doing nothing. Do what I did and make at least one of your dreams come true this summer.

Be kind, be humble, make it happen.

– Helina x