Why Winter Is the Best Time to Visit Venice

The magical city of canals and bridges will come to life at nighttime with the illumination of the bridges and boats all dressed up in colourful lights & lanterns. At this time of year, you can also enjoy a romantic stroll along the banks of the canal as you enjoy breathtaking views of the Grand Canal.


There are fewer tourists at this time of year as the summer crowds have left, and the restaurants and shops are less crowded.

You will get a much more authentic experience of the city, especially if you're planning on visiting one of the museums and sights, as they generally have fewer visitors during the winter months. It is also cheaper and more convenient to find accommodation as it is off-season and many hotels are much cheaper during this time.

The city becomes even more romantic at night with live music from the cafes and small bars.

The weather during winter in Venice will be a bit cold (average temperature of 38°F (3°C) in January and 41°F in February), but visiting Venice in winter is quite enjoyable. Always keep yourself warm and dry during your stay in Venice.

Winter in Venice is generally between December to February, but months such as November and March can feel wintery in Venice as well. Winter in Venice means Christmas decorations and Carnival, a foggy fairy-tale world, and the occurrence of snow and lesser crowds to fight. The skies are clearer, which means you can see beautiful sunsets over the canal.

Venice is also beautifully decorated in winter, with beautiful Christmas lights and decorations throughout the city. Some many shops and cafés are open year-round, where you can relax and enjoy the Christmas atmosphere.

A visit to Venice during the winter can be very relaxing and enjoyable as you don't get as many tourists, and it can be very easy to escape the tourist areas and explore parts of the city that are usually closed to the public in summer

Quitting Amazon KDP

I recently published a book on Amazon KDP that is now blocked for copyright. The photozine is a collection of aprox 30 images of HM Queen Elizabeth II, Images that I have taken during the years.

This is although I am the sole photographer of all the images and of course, I do own the copyright. Worst service ever! I am just about to give up on this project because I don't want to go through this hell again and waste all my time on this madness.

I never had a problem with any of the pictures before on Amazon KDP. I have sold several books of my work on Amazon. No one had ever complained about the pictures in those books either.

What happened? I have no idea. I have made several requests to explain the reasoning of the decision, but no one from Amazon has responded. I have sent to them all the info they may need showing them that these are my images, I have sent the cuts from newspapers and websites where they show I was the photographer.

The score is that the book is not available on Amazon anymore but you can buy a much better quality on my website and is here or on Etsy and is here

During the next few weeks, I will remove all my books from Amazon and sell them only on my website and Etsy

Concentrating on Flipboard and Vero

Social Media

A few months ago, I made a major change to my social media strategy. I stopped actively using Instagram and Facebook, automatically posting only and concentrating on Flipboard and Vero.

I initially decided to abandon Instagram and Facebook because I felt like their platforms were too saturated. Many of the people I followed were posting content that didn't appeal to me, and hadn't posted in weeks or even months. As a result, I wasn't getting much value from the platform. So, I decided to try out some new platforms and focus on the ones I thought would better fit my brand and audience.

I'm pretty happy with my decision to switch things up. My engagement on these platforms has increased substantially, and my follower count has also grown. Now I feel like my social media strategy is more focused on what I want to achieve as a business, resulting in more meaningful connections with my followers and increased revenue for my business.

I used to post many photos on Instagram and Facebook, but my posts got lost in the shuffle. I spent more time creating engaging and exciting posts than growing my business and connecting with my customers.

The Instagram algorithm made it challenging to follow friends' content unless you paid for it or followed many accounts, which meant that many people weren't seeing my updates or following me on the platform. At first, this was a bit of a disappointment for me. But over time, I realized that I could focus my attention and energy elsewhere - like on other platforms where I knew people would see my content and give me valuable feedback.

I found Flipboard a great app to promote my blog and posts, curate exciting content, and reach a wider audience. The app is easy to use and free, which made it appealing to me as a small business owner with a limited marketing budget. I got excellent results when I used the platform to grow my brand.

Vero the Social Video Platform, was created by Ayman Hariri, and is a no spam no algorithm one so hopefully at least at present no “Instagram risk”

Engagement is more than counting your views or followers. It's about measuring the interactions that your audience makes with your content!

You can follow me on

FLIPBOARD https://flipboard.com/@msecchi

VERO https://vero.co/marcosecchi

Elizabeth

The Queen is one of the world's most iconic and well-known figures. She has been the monarch of England for over sixty years, and during that time, she has seen many changes.

These are my favourite images of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II,

Colour Photozine on Amazon with 90gr Paper

You can find it now on our website here: Elizabeth or ETSY. both 150gr Paper

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Photographing Fall Foliage

Fall is one of the most beautiful times of year and photographing it can be a joy. There are so many different types of fall foliage to photograph, and the best place to find it is often just around the corner. Here are just a few ideas to get you started on your autumn photography journey.

Where is the best place to photograph fall foliage?

The best places to photograph fall foliage are always nearby (usually only a few miles) from where you live. The further you travel to get to a park or scenic location, the less likely you are to get great shots – especially if you're on a family vacation or other vacation.

A popular place to photograph fall foliage is The Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. It contains plenty of woodlands and has views of the surrounding hills. Another good option is Joppa Flats in Maryland, which is surrounded by picturesque woodlands and farms. Try visiting these locations during golden hour for the best light conditions.

Brown also suggests visiting nearby small towns that have more scenic overlooks and are less crowded. Some of my favorites are Stone Mountain in Georgia and Pawtuckaway State Park in New Hampshire. Stone Mountain has a large, rocky outcropping covered in trees that gives a great view of the surrounding area. Pawtuckaway State Park has lots of open fields for fall foliage photos.

Another great idea for photographing fall foliage is to get off the beaten path and visit an out of the way park or local hiking trail. These places often have better views than popular spots like parks and trails in cities and other tourist destinations. Brown also suggests getting low and close to your foreground subjects. This can give your pictures a unique perspective and create a stronger composition. Make sure you watch out for distracting elements in the background when shooting. For example, if your subject is a tree, make sure there aren't other trees behind it taking up space in the frame.



"Show the subject in its environment."

Many photographers make the mistake of composing their shots in such a way that nothing interesting appears in the photo except the subject itself. A good example of this is the classic portrait of a person sitting in front of a beautiful mountain scene. When looking at this photo, all you can see are the person and the mountain, with nothing particularly interesting in the foreground. Brown suggests pointing the camera down slightly so that the subject is framed by the environment. This can make your photos more interesting and help draw attention to the subject.

Best camera setting to capture autumn foliage is Aperture Priority mode on a DSLR camera. This allows you to set your camera's aperture based on the type of shot you want to create and the lighting conditions in your scene. For example, Anne McKinnell suggests setting your camera to Aperture Priority mode, selecting an aperture of f/8 and a shutter speed of 1/500th second in bright lighting situations. This combination allows you to blur out the background and create an image with strong contrast between the subject and its background.





References

1. 10 Tips for Shooting Autumn Foliage (https://www.nikonusa.com/en/learn-and-explore/a/tips-and-techniques/10-tips-for-shooting-autumn-foliage.html)

2. Photographing Fall Foliage: Prediction Maps, Locations, & Tips (https://enviragallery.com/photograph-fall-foliage/)

3. The 20 Best Places to See Fall Foliage in the United States (https://www.marthastewart.com/2123839/best-destinations-fall-foliage-united-states)

4. Stone Mountain Park (https://discoveratlanta.com/things-to-do/outdoors/stone-mountain-park/)

5. 15 Tips for Photographing Fall Colors (https://www.maxfosterphotography.com/gallery/tips-for-photographing-fall-colors/)

6. How To Take Better Vacation Photos: 15 Composition Tips (https://www.travelawaits.com/2687170/how-to-take-better-vacation-pictures/)

7. Get Low and Aim High – How to Use Low-Angle Photography to Great Effect (https://digital-photography-school.com/get-low-and-aim-high-how-to-use-low-angle-photography-to-great-effect/)

8. Photographing Fall Foliage (https://digital-photography-school.com/photographing-fall-foliage/)

Reasons why I left Instagram for Flipboard and Vero

Instagram has been a huge part of my life for the past 10 or more years. I've been using it to capture moments and connect with friends and family. But recently, their changes have made it difficult for me to use the app how I want. So I decided to move over to another app called Vero, which offers more control and privacy than Instagram. It's also much more aesthetically pleasing. Plus, I like the fact that it now allows me to have multiple "stories" per day instead of just one. Now I can post photos, videos, articles, and even music! I also enjoy the fact that I can follow other accounts on Vero as well. Finally, I found an app that lets me share the things I'm passionate about without feeling like it's taking over my life!

When I signed up for an Instagram a long. I never thought it would one day become my main source of entertainment and information. It has allowed me to connect with others who share similar interests, but it's also introduced me to many new things that I would have never known about otherwise. It has allowed me to see the world through someone else's eyes, which is something I've never been able to do before.

But all of that is changing now thanks to recent changes to Instagram's policies. These have made it difficult for me to express my opinions and connect with people how I want to.

Endless algorithm updates, favouring short form over long-form content, constant changes to the interface, and increasing pressure to lean into short-form video content -
Long story short is I’m TIRED of it.

And now that I've discovered another app that allows me to post what I want without censoring my content, it feels like a breath of fresh air. I'm much happier now that I'm using Vero instead of Instagram!

You can find me here https://vero.co/marcosecchi



I am also dedicating more time to Flipboard that I have been using for quite a few years and that I love and find brilliant


Flipboard is a unique social networking app that allows users to combine content from various sources into personalised magazines. The app is incredibly user-friendly and offers a variety of features that make it an ideal platform for staying up to-date on current events and staying informed on topics of interest. Here are four reasons why I love using Flipboard (in no particular order):

1. Access content from a wide variety of sources - Flipboard has partnerships with thousands of publishers and news organizations, allowing its users to access articles from virtually any source they choose. This includes traditional media outlets such as the New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fox News, etc., as well as popular blogs and websites such as ESPN, the Huffington Post, BuzzFeed, and Reddit. And because the app is cloud-based, you can access your content from virtually anywhere at any time.

2. Easily access the content you care about - In addition to accessing content from a wide variety of sources, Flipboard allows you to organize your articles based on various categories. This way, you can quickly access all of the articles that interest you without browsing through many irrelevant articles and ads. This allows you to tailor your experience to suit your specific needs and interests.

3. Follow interesting people and read their content - Because you can follow interesting people and subscribe to their publications, Flipboard makes it easy to stay up to date on their favourite topics and posts. You can scan your newsfeed for headlines that pique your interest and click through to read the full article when you find something you like. This saves you time and effort compared to reading countless news articles to find something that catches your eye.

4. Share your reading experience with your community - Flipboard has a social component that allows you to share your reading experiences with other community members. For example, you can post links to your favourite articles and share them with your friends and family on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Similarly, you can comment on other people's posts and share your thoughts on topics that interest you. This provides an excellent opportunity to connect with other like-minded people and share your opinions with others who are interested in the same issues as you are. This enables you to expand your social circle and engage with other members of the community who share the same interests as you.

You can find me here https://flipboard.com/@msecchi



Where to get unique Bougainvillea

Bougainvillea is a genus of thorny ornamental vines, bushes, and trees with flower-like spring leaves near its flowers. Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus. The name comes from Louis Antoine de Bougainville, an admiral who discovered the plant in Brazil in 1768.

Due to their ease of care and propagation, as well as their tolerance for drought, bougainvillaea are a very popular landscaping plant in subtropical and tropical climates but will survive brief drops below freezing. For example, Locarno in Switzerland has displayed two large specimens outside the Villa Mairea (Alvar Aalto) since 1950. They are now about 25 m high and have been pollarded to form a tree.

The plants are relatively pest free, have no major disease problems, and tolerate light frost with little damage to the plant. Their high salt tolerance makes them ideal for planting around coastal areas. In the landscape, it makes an excellent hot season plant, and its drought tolerance makes it ideal for warm climates year-

I fell in love with this plant a few years back but I noticed it is not easy to find unique varieties, finally I found a fantastic place that stocks some unique variety and they are very good in shipping in Europe

Lots of photos and nice descriptions of the flowers

My favourite bougainvillaea is white, but they have also other colours.

www.bougainvilleawebshop.com


“This is NOT a sponsored blog post, and all opinions are my own”:

How to spot fake photos online

Sometimes the internet is full of so much information that it can be hard to know what is real and what isn’t.

This is particularly true in delicate times like the present days.

When it comes to news stories, sometimes they are just not true. However, sometimes photos can be used manipulated to make it look as though a story is real, even when it isn’t. Today we are going to look at some tips you can use to spot fake photos online in seconds.

A picture that is currently widely shared and that made me write this post is the following one

As photojournalist, I have quite few brave colleagues at the moment in Ukraine documenting the war, when I saw this image so many things did not feel right. so the result is that

it was not taken in these recent days. This picture was part of a photoshoot for the Ukrainian army celebrating 27 years.

It is probably a real picture but staged and edited.

The photographer Dmitry Muravsky was dismissed by the Ukraine Defence Minister in 2016 over staged photographs.

It is being shared as a current photo on Twitter and other Social Media outlets.


This is another image went viral in these hype times.

  • The picture is nearly 2 years old

  • The gun is a toy (see label)

  • Image was staged

How to spot fake photos online

You can spot fake photos online in seconds if you know what to look for. The majority of the time, fake photos are used for a comedic effect. However, sometimes people will use fake photos to prove a point that is not true and make it appear as though it is true.

The first thing you should always do when you come across a photo that looks suspicious is doing a reverse Google image search. This allows you to see where the image has been used before and will often show you if it is real or fake. If you manage check for the Metatada.

  • Google : https://www.google.com/imghp?hl=en

  • Yandex : https://yandex.com/images/

While it is easy for people to create fake images today, there are also ways you can spot them. Here are some tips you can use to spot fake photos on the internet:

1. The first thing you are going to want to do is to look at the image itself. Images that have a resolution that looks too high, or too low can be a sign of a fake photo.

2. The next thing you are going to want to look at is the background. If it looks too ‘perfect’, this could be a sign that something is wrong with the photo.

3. Now we are going to look at the foreground of the image. Look for things that might not look right or objects that might have been copied and pasted into the image in order to make it seem more interesting.

4. Now we are going to look at any text in the image, do they look like they were added by a human or was there some sort of text generator used? If it looks like the text was added in an unprofessional way, then this is most likely a sign that the image has been faked.

5. If you see an image that has things such as lens flare or other special effects in them, see if they seem too perfect or not real enough to be true, sometimes these effects can be manipulated online using software, so if it doesn’t look quite right, then it’s probably fake!

6. Look for shadows and reflections, do the match? Is there continuity??

Finally think from a photojournalistic and news point of view. If is to perfect and it looks staged it is probably staged.

NFTs for Photographers I

The world of photography is rapidly changing. When you think about it, a photo is really just a bunch of information—a ton of metadata. And that means it can be tokenized and sold in new ways.

The power of the blockchain means that photographers, in theory, can take control of their images and make them into NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain. It means they can set the rules for their photos, including how many times they're allowed to be licensed, how much money they're worth in real-time, how long each license lasts, and so on.

More importantly, it means that photographers can finally say goodbye to the big platforms and agencies that've been taking huge cuts from sales for years.

Now, with the Ethereum blockchain, there's no gatekeeper to pay off. All the profits can stay in your pocket—and all the power stays in your hands.

Imagine what could happen if a photography startup built a blockchain-based marketplace? Photography lovers could buy, sell, protect and track their photos.

What are NTTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFT) are a digital representation of a single, unique asset. It can be a collectable, like a CryptoKitty, or ownership in a house or artwork. The great thing about NFT is that they are cryptographically secure and easy to use.

Projects like CryptoPunks have created the first wave of NFT assets, and we've seen them proliferate across games like CryptoKitties. This is just the beginning of what this new asset class will allow us to do online.

NFTs redefine digital art as something unique and irreplaceable, like a photographic print or a painting. Now there is the greater reason to own artwork as an NFT; digital media is no longer just a source of entertainment or stimulus, but a repository of value and an object of scarcity. For the artist, this means more money to be made from each piece of art produced, and vastly increased viability for digital art as a business or career.

Wallets

There are 3 main types of crypto wallets: hot wallets, cold storage, and hardware wallets. For this post we will concentrate on Hot Wallet

Creating a wallet is easy. It can be as simple as installing a browser plug-in. Creating and securing your wallets (including backups) is the responsibility of each user. If you lose your private key, you lose your bitcoins. So be sure to keep it secret and secure, and don't share it with anyone.

The following wallets can be used on multiple platforms and devices, including iOS and Android systems:

  • Coinbase Wallet – Best for Beginners.

  • Electrum – Best for Bitcoin.

  • Mycelium – Best for Mobile.

  • Ledger Nano X – Best Offline Crypto Wallet.

  • Exodus – Best for Desktop.

  • Metamask (Is the one I use regularly) and Being both a browser and mobile-based wallet, is hugely popular among crypto admirers.

Here are some of the best NFT marketplaces right now.

  1. OpenSea. OpenSea is the leader in NFT sales. ...

  2. Axie Marketplace. Axie Marketplace is the online shop for the video game Axie Infinity. ...

  3. Larva Labs/CryptoPunks.

  4. NBA Top Shot Marketplace.

  5. Rarible.

  6. SuperRare

  7. Foundation.

  8. Nifty Gateway.

How To Create Moody Monochrome Landscapes

Moody monochrome landscape photography is an art. With just a change in how you see the landscape, through your eyes and through the camera lens, you could get some great black and white photos of the outdoors. This article will give you tips on how to capture those magical moments for making the best out of all kinds of outdoor photography. We will look at techniques, equipment, and other important factors for creating timeless masterpieces in monochrome.

Monochrome photography is one of the more challenging types of photography to master. Even with the right gear, it can be difficult to get the proper depth of field that helps create a moody and compelling image. In this blog post, I'll share my tips and tricks for shooting in monochrome, so you can learn how to create your own moody landscapes in no time.


Monochrome photography can be a great niche for your e-commerce photography business. It's not very common to see monochrome product photography, and people often have a hard time imagining what it looks like. But monochrome is a versatile and interesting style that lends itself to a variety of photographic applications.

The most striking thing about monochrome images is their simplicity. There's no color to distract you from the subject. Whether it's a person or an object, all you see is black and white, which makes it easy to imagine the subject as it really is — something quite different from the way you perceive it in colour.

Monochrome pictures tend to be gloomy and serious, but they can also be quite cheerful. In fact, one of the benefits of shooting in monochrome is that you don't have to choose between warm tones and cool tones, because there are no warm tones at all. Any colour tone in the scene will look good with black and white, so you don't have to worry about "matching" one tone with another.

Black and White is an effective strategy to create your own style. When shooting in monochrome, the composition is the most important aspect of a photo. It's not about whether you use colour or not, it's about how you see the world as a photographer and how you capture that vision with your camera.

Tone and mood are very important when shooting in black and white because it changes the way people perceive a scene. For example, if your goal is to create a dark and moody atmosphere, then different elements need to be emphasized within your frame.

Below are some tips to achieve this particular look:

Forecasts that include the proportion of cloud and rain, the wind speed and direction, and the temperature become crucial. A forecast indicating a 50% chance of rain and a wind speed of 15 to 20 miles per hour can be encouraging. Essentially, seek out sunny spells punctuated by periodic showers.

Clearing (or approaching) storm clouds against a deep blue sky with dark patchy shadows scudding across the terrain are photographers' dreams, yet such dramatic settings come at a cost. By definition of desiring storm clouds, the likelihood is that you may become wet, chilled, hit by hailstones, or perhaps snowed on, but trust me on this one, it will be worth it.

Days with fog, low clouds, rain or snow could be perfect for Black and White photography

The more contrast on an image, the darker it looks. If you have a lot of light areas in your photo, then it will tend to look brighter than if there aren't any bright spots in the image at all. Shadows can add a lot of contrast to an image, so if there aren't any shadows present in your scene, try adding them with artificial light sources or reflectors.

Because brightness values are inverted when converting from colour to black and white, you can use your camera's exposure compensation function (often found under the "manual" mode setting) to make scenes brighter or darker in post-processing.

Creating moody images is about creating drama, and you can do this with filters such as gradients. When you're shooting in monochrome, you can use these filters to darken a scene, by introducing more shadow. You can also use them to brighten a scene if you want more light contrast. One of the most popular monochrome filters is a three-stop graduated neutral density (GND) filter: these come in a circular shape and darken skies evenly. A six-stop GND filter is also available, which allows you to darken skies even more. Another popular filter for landscapes is an 81B warm-up filter; this adds warmth to the sky, which can be useful when shooting in overcast conditions or at twilight.

Possibly the best-known software for creating black & white images is the superb Nik Silver Efex Pro. It is a very creative and powerful program with many presets but it too has its limitations. It can be a very aggressive piece of software so you need to check your images carefully for any deficiencies and imperfections that it may create.

Taking a B&W photo means choosing which colours are important enough to preserve and which ones to discard. This isn't hard if you're taking a picture of something like a red barn with a blue sky behind it. The blue sky is irrelevant and the red barn becomes the subject of the photo. But take a landscape photo where every detail is equally important — for example, an image shot in soft light with a lot of subtle colours — and you'll have a lot more decisions to make about what stays and what goes.

Black and white photos appear timeless because they work with the viewer’s imagination. You see the value of a black and white photo very quickly and easily, while color often distracts us. The fact that no one has created the same image before you will free you up to create your own vision.

How to Photograph Your Winter Landscape

Winter presents a photographer with a unique set of challenges and opportunities. The cold temperature and lack of sunlight in winter can make it hard to take good photos, but they also create some beautiful effects. Snow reflects the light differently than other subjects and brings out the contrast in your images.

Take advantage of the low light and contrast of a snowy scene

If you're brave enough to go outside, you can capture some breathtaking scenes. Here are some tips that will help you photograph your winter landscape: Use the right equipment. When it's cold out, it's important to protect your camera from the cold. Bring along a protective cover for your camera and use gloves or hand warmers when handling your gear. Even if you don't feel like it's that cold, keep in mind that your fingers will get cold and start to lose feeling after just 15 minutes of exposure at 0 degrees Fahrenheit. Setting up a tripod is important because camera shake is more prevalent during very low-light situations and will result in blurry pictures that you don't want to have to deal with later on. Work fast. The only real way to capture winter light is right at sunrise or right at sunset, so work quickly when shooting those times of the day. If possible, try to time your shoot so that there is still some light left in the sky while

Play with shadows

Lighting is what makes landscapes special. There is something about the way a camera sees these natural scenes that is different from how the naked eye perceives them. The difference between a landscape photo and any other photo is the way light plays on the scene. It can be harsh, or soft, but it is always special. The most important part of photographing a landscape is getting the exposure right. This means making sure there isn't too much light or too little light on your subject. You measure this by using your camera's histogram to see if the image has bright areas, mid-tones and dark areas all in proportion to each other. While you are at it, check your overall composition as well. Try taking several photos of your subject with different exposures (your camera will do this automatically) and then choose which one looks best.

Be patient with your camera

There are a few ways to photograph the winter landscape: some more complicated than others. The following tips will help you get great winter pictures of your surroundings in any season. The first thing to remember is that with a digital camera, you can take as many pictures as you want without paying for film or worrying about whether you have enough room on your card. It's easy to shoot several frames of the same scene, and then choose the best one when you're done. Be Patient With Your Camera If you're just starting out with taking pictures, it can be tough to get everything lined up perfectly on the first shot. When photographing the winter landscape, it might be tempting to walk around the area until you have everything framed the way you want it - but if it's windy out and there isn't much snow on the ground, that could be dangerous. Be patient, and try to get everything lined up as well as possible before pressing the shutter button.

Go wide

Going wide is a photography term meaning, "zoom out." It's the opposite of getting in close. And in landscape photography, it is often the way to go. When you're photographing mountains or valleys or any other expansive vista, you want to get as much of it in your frame as possible. You want an environment that feels big and open and full of possibilities. Going wide gives that to you. The best way to do this (if you're using a standard point-and-shoot camera) is to simply zoom out all the way, which will probably put your lens out of its normal focal range. That's fine—you can switch back and forth between that and the zoomed-in view on your LCD screen until you find the combination that works for you. If you're using an SLR camera, there are a couple of extra things you can do: Stack lenses: If your lens has a smaller focal length than what you want, you can use an additional telephoto lens with it to get closer to your subject while maintaining the wide-angle view. You just have to make sure both lenses are compatible before buying them.* Use a wide-angle lens and shoot at a longer focal length: This is particularly handy

You don't need a lot of gear to take great photos of your winter landscape

There is nothing quite like a winter landscape. Trees and bushes are covered in snow and the ground is blanketed with pure white powder. It's a magical time of year, and you'll want to capture this beauty for future enjoyment. There is a lot you can do with your camera to make the most out of your winter landscape photos. You don't need a lot of gear to take great photos of your winter landscape, but there are some tricks that improve the quality of pictures significantly.

Hotels etc My New Favorite Travel Website To Save Money

Hotel etc is a travel hotel club reservation system, which will provide you with the most comfort and maximum discount. You never have to worry about prices.

Once you become a member, we will offer you the best hotels around the world at great prices for every occasion.

Hotel etc is also a worldwide travel club, which offers its members the following benefits:

  • The best rates on hotels and flights

  • Free upgrades

  • Special rates to condos, villas & resorts

  • Exclusive promotions & discounts

  • A dedicated 24/7 customer service team

TRAVEL YOUR WAY - Find all types of Hotels from luxury to budget hotels across the globe. Compare prices, amenities and read reviews from real travelers.

EXPLORE THE WORLD - Book flights, rental cars, vacation packages and city tours to destinations around the world with Hotel etc.

SAVE BIG - Save up to 70% in local currency on your hotel bookings using Hotel etc' s exclusive corporate & group travel savings.

FIND YOUR PERFECT HOTEL - Easily choose your preferred hotel in any location by using our advanced search options such as price, star rating, hotel type and more.

BEST RATES GUARANTEED - Get the lowest rates on hotels and be sure that they won't go higher on any other website.

I use Hotel etc travel hotel club reservation system. I have been able to get maximum discount on city hotels, flights and rent a car. It is easy to use service, with no hidden costs, just great deals. I advise everyone to visit Hotel etc website and join this wonderful club of travellers!

I am a frequent traveller and I always love to book my hotel using their system. This is the best travel hotel booking website that offers the maximum discount on its services.

Check out their website and offers here

Ljubljana: Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

Ljubljana is tonight going to sleep covered in a soft mantel of snow!

You can check the small gallery below, making it a full size and scrolling through the images with the side arrows.

Catching the Social Media Wave

For many years I have had what I consider a strong and successful presence on Social Media:

  • I have more than 50,000 Followers

  • All my Social Media Accounts are Verified

  • Most of my sales happen through Social Media in different forms and way

  • I am Ambassador for quite a few brands

  • I have several Paid Posts/Adverts per month

  • My yearly turnover is above 100,000 per year

I am often asked what is the best way to succeed in Social Media so I decided to prepare a few posts .

Getting yourself set up online with social media is now becoming an absolute necessity for any business, whether based in a physical location or explicitly online. This article will show you how to effectively market your company using this new marketing outlet. It's not as hard as you might think it is.

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you.

To use social media marketing successfully you must be creative. The same material, sales, offers, and content will ultimately annoy your customer base to the point that they remove you from their page. Keeping things fresh and interesting makes sure they keep coming back for more, which means more sales.

To get a leg up on the social media marketing of competitors, embrace all forms of social media. Many companies assume that social media has matured and think they only need presence on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to cover their bases. Savvy social media marketers remember that MySpace is still out there. Use it plus rising newcomers like LinkedIn, SlideShare and Google+ to expose yourself where other players are not.

Respond with care to tweets that contain rude or hateful messages. Everything you tweet is a reflection of your business. It may be tempting to shoot back a sarcastic tweet but, that will harm you in the long run. Remain professional and calm when you respond. Remember, the whole world has access to what you tweet.

When deciding how to implement your social media marketing strategies, it is important to take into consideration the nature of your products and services. For example, if purchasing your products is something that most of your customers would prefer to keep private, then do not put Facebook-like buttons right next to the buy buttons! Eventually, someone will click it accidentally and then get angry at your business.

Make sure that your business social media content is fun, interactive, and interesting to read. People who engage in social media sites want to feel compelled to share information that they find. If they share your information, it is to your company's advantage. This is a great way to find new customers and keep the old ones coming back for more.

Keep your Facebook posts regular and consistent. People will look for new content from you when they check in on their Facebook page. If they don't see it regularly, they're likely to forget about you quickly. There are many businesses out there who do post regularly and those businesses are getting the attention of consumers. Make your business one of them.

Run fun and interesting polls on your Facebook page. This is a great way to engage your audience and involve potential consumers. Facebook has an easy to use a feature that can help you with creating polls, so take advantage of it. Polls don't have to be about information directly related to your business. They can be fun, interesting, and involve current events. The point of the poll is to keep consumers interested.

As you can see from this article, while social media can seem intimidating for someone who hasn't spent much time on it, it is really quite simple. As far as marketing goes, social media is actually something that is free and simple enough to do yourself without having to hire a professional.

There are several apps I use on Social Media but two that I use all the time and I would not be able to work without them:

  • Social Pilot : It is a social media management tool that helps you manage all of your social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many more. It is the software I use several times a day for my Social Media.

    Social Pilot helps you schedule posts to your social networks with a quick setup. You can even create recurring posts for certain days or times so that you never have to worry about it again. You can check it out here

  • IQHastags: Skyrocket your Instagram profile! The most frequently used tool for Instagram hashtags and analytics. IQhashtags is the latest, complete tool for creating the most effective hashtags on Instagram. Avoid shadowban on Instagram - find banned hashtags that you use, You can check it out here

Social Pilot: n1 software to succeed in Social Media!

Social Pilot is a social media management tool that helps you manage all of your social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest and many more. It is the software I use several times a day for my Social Media.

Social Pilot helps you schedule posts to your social networks with quick set-up. You can even create recurring posts for certain days or times so that you never have to worry about it again.

socialpilot

As a beginner, you should not be worried about the technicalities of your social media platform. It's better to concentrate on the campaigns and promotions you want to run.

There are a lot of tools available to help you do this, but few are as effective as Social Pilot. Social Pilot is a social media management platform that helps you automate your social media marketing campaign in a way that lets you monitor and manage them from one centralized dashboard.

Social Pilot offers a variety of features to help beginners start their social media marketing efforts. It has built-in analytics tools, which provide real-time data for monitoring the performance of your posts using Facebook Insights and Twitter Analytics.

You can also create custom reports from these data. You can also schedule your posts in advance to maximize their reach and impact among your target audience.

With Social Pilot's bulk posting feature, you can schedule up to 500 posts at a time. Social Pilot also offers an RSS feed importer that imports content from various websites into your newsfeeds for posting purposes. The RSS feed importer also saves you time by allowing you to import multiple RSS feeds at once .

Social Pilot's integration with Buffer allows you to add new content quickly from within Social Pilot or post automatically from RSS feeds using Buffer .

socialpilot

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you.



Create Your Best Photos with Luminar

Luminar Neo is one of my favourite tools. I have been using Skylum software for years!

It has a powerful engine for higher performance and flexibility. It also packs exciting and innovative tools that let you fulfil your vision.

Channel your creativity with the infinite possibilities of the new Layers feature. Relight an image that lacks lighting sources based on image depth.

Remove the background behind a portrait and use AI-based masking to speed up your workflow (coming in future updates). And more.

This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission but come at no extra cost to you.

Luminar is a powerful, easy-to-use photo editor that gives you control over your images. Use it to fix exposure problems, remove unwanted objects from your pictures, and much more. Like most professional photo editors, Luminar has a range of tools for fixing exposure problems.

The Basic panel offers a comprehensive set of sliders for adjusting exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation and so on. The Advanced panel provides tools for correcting specific issues. For example, the color noise reduction tool can be used to remove unwanted colour artefacts from your photos. From there you can use Luminar's five different panels to edit your photo.

These include the Detail panel for sharpening or softening various parts of your image; the Tone Curve panel for manipulating contrast; the HSL panel for adjusting hue, saturation and luminance; the Effects panel for adding post-processing effects like HDR or Vibrance; and the Effects Generator panel for applying presets like Cross Processing or Early Bird.

With so many tools at hand you might think Luminar is hard to get the hang of. But it's actually very simple to use thanks to its excellent user-interface design and comprehensive in-app help guides. Once you know what each tool does, it's easy to apply them



 

The Beautiful Life!

Leen and Wouter moved to Rönök from Belgium 9 years ago, wanting to settle in an area that would allow them to live close contact with nature, which they love and respect, and live a self-sufficient life.
They bought land in the area, and for a brief time, they rented to tourists some of the buildings on the estate, but soon they decided to concentrate all their efforts in making it the perfect environment for raising animals, cows and chickens, and grow vegetables. They also started building their own house, with traditional methods and using stray and clay, and wood and the pretty-as-a-picture building is almost finished. Now they happily share their land with a herd of 9 beautiful Jersey cows, who happily graze in the fields in spring and summer, with a rotation system that allows them to access a fresh patch of grass every day. The rich milk produced by the girls, how Leen and Wouter call them - and of course, they call each one of them by their names - is then transformed with patient labour and lots of love into different varieties of cheese, highly regarded by their many regular customers.
Three years ago, Leen and Wouter welcomed their first child, Emil, and a new baby is now on the way....

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Leen és Wouter 9 évvel ezelőtt költöztek Belgiumból Rönökre, olyan helyen szerettek volna élni, ahol az általuk annyira tisztelt és imádott természettel szimbiózisban lehetnek és önellátó életmódot folytathatnak. Vettek egy földterületet, ahol az ott található épületeket turistáknak adták ki, ám nem sokkal később áttértek az állattenyésztésre. Olyan környezetet szerettek volna kialakítani, ami tökéletes élőhely lehet a marháknak, csirkéknek és különféle zöldségek termesztésének, teljes figyelmüket ennek a célnak szentelték. Saját otthonuk építésébe is belefogtak, amelyhez kizárólag tradicionális módszereket és alapanyagokat használtak fel, többek között fát és vályogot, mostanra az mézeskalácsház már majdnem elkészült. A birtokukon boldogságban együtt élnek a 9 gyönyörű Jersey tehénből álló csordájukkal, akik a tavaszi és nyári időszakban a vetésforgónak köszönhetően mindig találnak maguknak legelhető területet friss fűvel. A ‘Lányok’ - ahogyan Leen és Wouter általánosságban hivatkozik a tehenekre (fontos, hogy mindegyiknek saját neve is van) - rengeteg tejjel látják el őket. Ebből időigényes és bonyolult technikák alkalmazásával és sok-sok szeretettel különféle sajtokat készítenek, majd ezeket eladásra kínálják, számos törzsvásárlóval büszkélkedhetnek. A párnak három évvel ezelőtt született meg az első gyermeke, Emil. Hamarosan pedig a negyedik családtag is megérkezik. 

Slovenian 🇸🇮

Leen in Wouter sta se v Rönök iz Belgije preselila pred devetimi leti, saj sta se želela ustaliti na območju, ki bi jima omogočalo tesen stik z naravo, ki jo ljubita in spoštujeta, in hkrati samozadostno življenje. Na tem območju sta kupila zemljišče in za kratek čas turistom oddajala nekatere stavbe na posestvu, vendar sta se kmalu odločila, da bosta ves svoj trud usmerila v to, da bi na tem območju ustvarila popolno okolje za rejo živali, krav in piščancev, ter pridelavo zelenjave. Začela sta tudi graditi svojo hišo, in sicer po tradicionalnih metodah in z uporabo brezdelja in gline ter lesa, pri čemer je zgradba, lepa kot slika, že skoraj končana. Zdaj si zemljo z veseljem delita s čredo devetih čudovitih krav Jersey, ki se spomladi in poleti z veseljem pasejo na njivah po sistemu rotacije, kar jim omogoča vsakodnevni dostop do sveže trave. Bogato mleko, ki ga pridelajo dekleta, kot jim pravita Leen in Wouter - in seveda vsako od njih kličeta po imenu -, se s potrpežljivim delom in veliko ljubezni predela v različne vrste sira, ki so zelo cenjene pri njunih številnih stalnih strankah. Pred tremi leti sta Leen in Wouter pozdravila svojega prvega otroka, Emila, zdaj pa je na poti nov....

You can find them here https://www.facebook.com/szedervirag/

 

A Dream Come True

In the heart of Vendvidék, in Örseg National Park, in Apátistvánfalva, Adam and his family-run since 11 years the beautiful Apát Panzió and Etterem.
It had always been his parents' dream to open a tourist accommodation in a beautiful area of the Country.
During a visit to the area in 2008, they were struck by its beauty and decided that this was the perfect place.
They bought an older building already in use for guests, and after a lengthy refurbishment in 2010, Apát Panzió in 2010 was opened.
Adam ran it with his wife Kinga for a few years, then his brother Zoltán and his wife Kati joined what is now a thriving family enterprise and a reference point for tourists and locals alike.

Hungarian 🇭🇺

Az Őrségi Nemzeti Park szívében a vendvidéki Apátistvánfalván Ádám és családja 11 éve üzemelteti az Apát Panziót  és Éttermet. A gondolat, hogy az ország e varázslatos szegletében saját panzió kerüljön felépítésre valójában Ádám szüleiben fogalmazódott meg, ők szerettek volt egész életükön át ide költözve maradandót alkotni. Egy 2008 táján tett látogatás során, teljesen magával ragadta őket a hely szépsége és úgy érezték megtalálták a tökéletes helyet álmaik valóra váltásához. Megvettek egy már korábban is vendégházként funkcionáló, öregebb épületet és hosszas felújítási munkálatokat követően kapuikat 2010-ben nyitották meg. A panziót kezdetben Ádám és felesége, Kinga vezette, majd néhány éve a testvére Zoltán és felesége Kati is csatlakozott a csapathoz, így vált mára egy valódi virágzó családi vállalkozássá. Mára a helyiek és a turisták számára is meghatározó jelentőséggel bíró szálláshelyről beszélhetünk. 

Slovenian 🇸🇮

V osrčju Vendvidéka, v narodnem parku Örseg, v kraju Apátistvánfalva, Adam in njegova družina že 11 let vodijo čudoviti Apát Panzió in Etterem. Od nekdaj so bile sanje njegovih staršev odpreti turistično nastanitev na čudovitem območju dežele. Med obiskom tega območja leta 2008 ju je osupnila njegova lepota in odločila sta se, da je to popoln kraj. Kupila sta starejšo stavbo, ki se je že uporabljala za goste, in po dolgotrajni prenovi leta 2010 odprla hotel Apát Panzió. Adam ga je nekaj let vodil z ženo Kingo, nato pa sta se mu pridružila še brat Zoltán in njegova žena Kati, zdaj je pa uspešno družinsko podjetje in referenčna točka za turiste in domačine. 

 

Format: Design your own professional photography website

If you're a photographer, you can use Format to host your photographs online. This means that you can show off your photos to the world without the need for a dedicated website.

It also means that your work can be found by search engines, which is ideal if you want to find new clients or get people interested in your services. Image hosting isn't free – it will cost you a single cent per photo uploaded (although you do get unlimited storage), but it's worth the cost if you want to make money from photography. If you don't make any money from your hobby, then there won't be any fee to worry about.

Format is designed with photographers in mind; it's very easy to use, and there are no complicated procedures on the interface (although these are available for those who like things more advanced). Format is compatible with Linux, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.

To use Format to host your images, first sign up for an account. You can then upload your images on the Upload tab on the dashboard of your account. Once they're uploaded, they'll be available on the browse page, where they'll be listed alphabetically by file name. You can also use Format if you want to share some images with friends or family

Flexible, customisable themes that make your work look great on any screen. The tools you need in one place: proofing, SEO, online store, blogging and more. Link Your Social Profiles. Unlimited Bandwidth. Mobile & Tablet ready.

No Credit Card Required. Free 14 day trial.

Click here to check it!