Author: Justin Sather

A Few Tips For Optimizing Your Black And White Photography

Who would have thought that we would still be using black and white photography after all these years? Everyone assumed that, with the invention of color photography, black and white cameras and pictures would simply fall by the wayside and be forgotten. However, they did not take into account the human drive toward nostalgia. There is something about those old black and white photos that still appeals to many of us. For older people, there is a particularly strong feeling when viewing black and white photographs. It brings up mental associations that are at once both comforting and a little unsettling. It reminds us that the past was real, but also of the fact that it is gone.

One thing you need to consider is filters. Often, you will want a filter that produces a long exposure for your black and whites. You might think that using a color filter will turn your picture into a color photograph, but this is not so. You can use color filters to give your pictures a different tint and to help bring out certain features that may not otherwise be particularly visible. Playing around with the different filters available to you is sure to give you some ideas.

Most cameras will allow you to film something in color and then change it to black and white later. You must carefully consider whether or not you wish to use this option. On the one hand, it will make the process easier. You don’t have to set anything up or tweak your camera settings, and this can be very convenient. However, if you are a purist like me, or if you are someone who wants to produce a photo that looks older than it really is, you should shoot the picture in black and white from the start.

It is also very important to choose a lens that is suited for black and white photography. As with all other accessories, lenses come in many different kinds. It would make no sense to shoot these colorless photos with a lens that is meant to bring out colors. Rather, you should seek out one that is marketed for black and white use.

What you photograph is almost as important as how you photograph it. When choosing subjects, you should focus on objects that are not particularly light or dark. These objects tend to become white or black blurs in the final product. For instance, let’s say you want to photograph a very light-skinned woman in a white dress against a bright summer sky. Probably not the best idea.

If you really want to get into black and white photography with the minimum amount of fuss and trouble, you can simply snap some pictures with your phone and use an app called Monokrom to render it in black and white. There are several other smartphone apps that can accomplish the same thing. While this is certainly not the professional option, it is the easiest one.

As a side note, it is important to get out and live a vibrant life if you truly want to produce vibrant photos. Take, for example, a popular blogger named William Bronchick. William Bronchick is a food and travel blogger who took his passion for fine food and turned it into a career that takes him all over the world. You can bet that he gets a lot of opportunity for good photography…far more than the average person at the very least! This is a good example of the fact that you cannot be a great photographer by sitting at home, taking pictures of the birds in your backyard. You have to get out and live!

Ismail Sirdah Shares 7 of the Best Places to Photograph in Los Angeles

Ismail Sirdah

Los Angeles is an incredible city. With more than four million residents, this huge area has a wealth of photography spots. If you search hard enough, you can find some real hidden gems that go beyond the conventional vacation shots.

Photographer Ismail Sirdah says that Los Angeles is one of his favorite US cities to shoot in for its sheer diversity. Here are some of his favorite places to shoot in the City of Angels.

Griffith Observatory

Day or night, the iconic Griffith Observatory is one of the best lookout points you’ll find over the city. Its long balconies provide a great selection of different angles to choose from. And on a clear day, you’ll get views all the way over to the Pacific Ocean.

Santa Monica Pier

There’s no better place for that great California beach look than Santa Monica Pier. You’ll get some incredible sunsets and this is an excellent place to test out your use of silhouettes.

Whether on the pier or by it, there will be some of your favorite shots of the city.

Venice Beach Boardwalk

For a taste of Los Angeles life through a lens head along the Venice Beach boardwalk and start grabbing some stunning pictures. The colorful buildings and an equally colorful cast of locals and tourists will provide you with something new every single time.

Ascot Hills Park

The Ascot Hills Park is one of the newest sections of Los Angeles, after opening up in 2011. Here there are lots of hiking trails that will take you through both canyon scenery and city panoramas.

On the best days, Sirdah can shoot everything from the Hollywood Sign to the notoriously bad LAX Airport.

Behind the Hollywood Sign

From Hollywood Boulevard, the famous Hollywood Sign can seem so far away. Get up close and personal with it by getting behind the sign. If you can get there at dusk, you’ll be able to have the letters set out against the darkness as the floodlights switch themselves on.

It’s possible to hike to the sign, but some of the trails can be taxing if you have a bunch of camera equipment.

El Matador State Beach

If you don’t mind the drive, go down the Pacific Coast Highway to El Matador. It’s on the coast of Malibu and is just another example of the diverse array of landscapes you’ll come across in Los Angeles.

These interesting rock formations and white sand will give you some of the best pictures you’re likely to shoot during your stay.

Urban Light

The final entry on this list is Urban Light at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. 202 street lamps from the 1920s and 1930s have been restored and arranged in a grid formation. Circle around this forest of lights and get some shots that you’re not going to find anywhere else!

After all, the key to great photography is to shoot a perspective that others have missed out on.

 

10 Best Cosmetic Surgeons in Los Angeles

Undergoing a procedure of cosmetic nature is one of the most common surgical endeavors nowadays. Whether it is to spot-reduce fat through maneuvers like liposuction or something else, people are realizing that these nearly risk-free surgeries are the easiest way to fix any unwanted physical flaws. For those that reside in Los Angeles, however, there are enough plastic surgeons to turn a simple decision of picking a specialist into a nightmare. To that end, below is a comprehensive list of the top ten locations you may need to consider.  For more options, check out the 10 best Beverly Hills plastic surgeons. There is no particular order as every office is equipped with qualified and experienced professionals.

Profiles Beverly Hills

Located in the heart of Los Angeles at the West Sunset Boulevard, Profiles specializes in Rhinoplasty that is provided by a surgeon duo that includes Dr. Peyman Solieman and Dr. Jason Litner. Both of these individuals have over 10 years of education while their experience adds another decade to their overall career length. If combined, they hold prominent awards like the Cody Gold Medal, multiple U.S. medical device patents, and have written popular books in their area of expertise.

Rady Rahban, M.D.

With a graduate degree from the University of California in Los Angeles, Dr. Rahban is one of the natives of this area. He fluently speaks and comprehends three languages that include English, Spanish, and Farsi. This enables him to help a wide client base that has nothing but positive reviews for his services. Having started his career with notable distinguishments like summa cum laude, he is now known as the person that other professionals refer to in case of emergencies.

Beverly Hills Body

Led by Dr. Richard Ellenbogen, a board-certified expert in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Beverly Hills Body provides services like facelift, eyelid surgeries, and neck rejuvenation. As a three-times fellow, Dr. Ellenborgen holds countless awards and has been featured in many prominent media outlets to express his professional views. Due to his talents, he has visited both South Africa and Israel as a guest speaker.

Dr. Usha Rajagopal


Unlike any of the other doctors mentioned on this list, Dr. Usha Rajagopal holds an all-female office that guarantees a sensitive approach derived from two decades of experience. Her office contains features like Vectra-3D Imaging, Femilift, and Coolsculpting that many others are still working to get a hold of. As with most other people featured here, Dr. Usha Rajagopal is certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. She is also known for her community contributions like the scholarship that she annually opens to the students around the United States.

Geoffrey R. Keyes, M.D.

Having served as the President of the California Society of Plastic Surgeons, Dr. Keyes knows everything from simple procedures to how to properly run this industry. His knowledge has helped him land interviews with CNN, FoxNews, and even the Wall Street Journal while his patients continue to expand his practice with positive word-of-mouth referrals.

Marina Plastic Surgery

Featuring a modern design and state-of-the-art tools make this office stand out when it comes to any medical facility. It is led by three doctors who have partnered to help individuals address any physicals imperfections. These include Dr. Grant Stevens, Dr. Luis Macias, and Dr. Ziyad S. Hammoudeh. The fact that there are three qualified professionals is what makes this office very dangerous to compete with.

Dr. Gabriel Chiu

Working out of the Beverly Hills Plastic Surgery, Dr. Chiu provides patients with a judgment-free zone where all of their wishes will be approached systematically and thoroughly. Platforms like Vogue, Bazaar, and Everything Entertainment have featured reviews that pertain to this particular location as it is one of the leaders of the local market.

Rivkin Westside Aesthetics

Located on the outskirts of Wilshire Boulevard, Dr. Rivkin’s office is one of the best alternatives to surgical procedures. Patients who come here will experience a wide range of improvements that will match those achieved with surgery. Nonetheless, there will be no invasive maneuvers whatsoever. The way positive outcomes are achieved is based on many different therapeutic techniques with minimum risks.

Eugene Kim, M.D.

With another alternative in Beverly Hills, people will definitely have a lot of options to review. Dr. Eugene Kim, a double board-certified plastic surgeon, also operates in this area. Besides helping countless patients, Dr. Kim currently teaches at the University of California. Some of his best skills are in the area of tummy tucks, facelifts, and breast augmentations.

Ghavami Plastic Surgery

To finalize this list, which could undoubtedly keep going with many other successful doctors in LA, Dr. Ashkan Ghavami must be introduced. He is yet another Beverly Hills-based professional that specializes in reconstructive surgery. Patients who had the pleasure of utilizing this facility for their procedures often praise Dr. Ghavami and his staff for their compassionate care and custom-made plans.

Agile Testing Management and Impact to Business Development

Testing your applications before you send them to the market is a vital step towards ensuring you release quality products that clients will find pleasure using. And this is one of the facts that software development companies must understand as the role of ensuring the software released to users is great lies not in the hands of their clients, but within their confines. Many customers ordering for their applications or software to be developed by tech companies place their trust on the engineers tasked with handling the entire exercise, but this does not preempt the possibility of them losing traction along the way due to challenges like testing and management of teams.

Whenever issues of management are put forward, the next question that must be posed is how to optimize the entire process to ensure the software development teams appointed discharge their duties seamlessly. One idea that has helped to solve many problems that companies can adopt is working through an agile methodology. In agile testing, teams are consolidated and their effort reflected across the entire process, so whenever changes are submitted the information is shared across all parties involved in the development process.

Transparency
To ensure the product developed is in line with the requests placed by the customer, transparency is necessary. Agile test management allows for transparency through the entire process by tagging along all parties supposed to put effort to make the development of the software a success. Such groups include designers, architects, developers, and engineers. The customer can as well be included in the decision making process by taking ideas about the progress of the project to ensure it is in sync with the requirements of product architecture and quality. This transparency provides for a seamless integration of ideas and consultation allows everyone to be responsible for whatever input they make.

Fast and predictable delivery
Most projects are timed and to satisfy the requirements of the timing it is necessary to adopt measures that are supposed to make development more efficient and focused on the goals put forward. An agile testing system gives room for the development of a timeline within which the project is to be completed and different stages are defined and individuals assigned the duties of working on those stages. Therefore, this organized system allows a progressive delivery of solutions and within the prescribed duration the project is pursued to completion.

But what helps to minimize the time consumption is not necessarily the inclusion of a timeline or having teams placed within different sections, but the design system that ensures there is no room for passing errors and mistakes to subsequent levels of development. Every issue that arises is addressed on the spot and this is made possible by the fact there are scanning mechanisms put in place to detect errors and log the information in real-time so all parties assigned to the project can see. Most importantly, managers of a group are able to see the performance of each individual assigned a specific role, and this makes it easy to switch roles depending on who can perform what best.

Quality-centered development
Quality is something that matters in the tech industry and when you embark on working on a project assigned by a customer, you have to make sure the quality requirements put forward are satisfied. Agile testing and management is focused on quality and this is the reason across every step of development metrics about performance are shared with managers. It is also the reason errors are logged in real-time and the system kept in strict conformity with the requirements laid out by the client.

Managing Finances for a Small Enterprise

Running an enterprise calls for proper business management. As a business owner, you need to manage your finances professionally. This will allow you to achieve your organization goals. Poor finance management can result in bankruptcy. Therefore, it’s important to keep track of your transactions at all times. Below are a few tips for finance management of a small company in Los Angeles.

Finance management entails observing and organizing monetary resources. In a small business, you’ll need to control finance resources to make sure that you have enough funds to run the enterprise successfully. As a manager, it’s your responsibility to ensure that every coin is accounted for. Also, you must ensure that the money is spent in the best way possible. If you’re dealing with employees, ask them to try and minimize the operational costs.

During the initial stages of a small business, there isn’t much to spare. So, you should have an investment plan. Use your profits to grow your business. Estimate your annual income and determine the amount of money you’ll spend on salaries and other expenses. Without an investment plan, you might be tempted to spend on liabilities and leisure.

Remuneration takes up a huge portion of business expenses. Don’t hire more people than you need. A small business doesn’t need many employees. Try to look for workers who are multi-talented so that you can avoid hiring excess people who will ask for more salaries. Do your best to make the most out of your existing workforce.

Save as much as you can. You can apply for loans to supplement the business funds. Check the terms of the loan before borrowing money from a bank or lender. Go for loans with the lowest interest rates. Repaying your loan with little interest will allow you to save a significant amount of cash. It’s advisable to borrow a little money at a time. This makes it easy to repay the loan. In addition, it minimizes the overall interest. Borrowing money to run a business should be an entrepreneur’s last option.

Martin Joseph Stallone advises business owners to avoid mixing their taxes with other funds. Most business managers make the mistake of spending tax money on various expenses. This is a mistake that can cost you your company. The taxman will need you to pay your taxes on time. Any delay in payment could result in penalties that will cost a lot of capital in the long run.

Learn the art of bargaining. Even if you can afford something at its original price, always try to negotiate for a better price. Buy goods from suppliers who offer their customers generous offers. You should also be able to bargain with your creditors. Negotiate for a grace period when paying your bills. Remember to honor your promises to avoid distrust between you and your creditors.

Financial management requires keenness. Observe your expenditure to ensure that you’re not spending excess money on something. Set your priorities straight. In addition, don’t borrow more than you can repay. This could cause financial strain that can be hard to deal with.

4 Main Deciding Factors for Those Looking to Buy Embedded Analytics

Embedded analytics have become a hot commodity. More companies are advertising them. More companies are using these tools to harness their bottom line. There is a wealth of information on the internet discussing these tools.

All you have to do is click on a link like Embedded Analytics: Built-In Data Analytics Offer a Wealth of Potential Benefits and you will be there. What about a buying guide? This is why I have come up with my own guide of talking points about finding the right embedded analytics tools for your business.

  1. Find out as much as you can about the company that is providing you with these resources and tools first.

2) You need something tools for embedding that are easy to use. The last thing you want is to take time out of your work day to copy, edit, and paste something that can be done on its own. You also need something that will give you a detailed analysis of the problem areas without too much trouble. Check out the site above for more details.

3) You need scalability. You need tools that will work with the flow of your company. Tools that will serve every user without infringing on their access. You need tools that will grow your business. Embedded analytics tools that will grow in size as your business grows its numbers.

4) Security is a big deal for computer users. It is more important today than when computers first began. The last thing your company needs is to worry about who is going to hack in. The last worry it needs is which employees have been compromised and how.

You need to find the right analytics tools to handle the job. Not everyone embedded analytics tool works the same. You cannot assume what works for the company across the street is going to work for you. Investigate. What are your current needs? Go after the embedded tools that achieve these goals. These tools should also come with a dashboard report.

The Spirit of It All

Using embedded analytics on your computer is like choosing to do spiritual work on your soul. Making the choice to do it is the easy part. You then need to make the commitment to move forward. Figure out who you are, where you have gone wrong, and what you need to do to get your soul on the right track. This is where the real work comes in.

The same can be said about embedded analytics with your computer. You need these tools to see where your system is and what you need to do to move forward. How can you move forward when you do not where your blockages are?

Why Upcoming Tech Companies Should Adopt qTest Management

Companies in the tech industry encounter a lot of challenges, most of which emanate from operational inefficiencies and lack of sufficient resources to pursue growth. Upcoming software firms are the most affected by the high levels of competition because they don’t have a solid ground on which they can present their products to the market. This is the reason most of them have embraced qTest management tools to ensure their production process is not only efficient, but also affordable. With qTest management tools, an upcoming software company can oversee its projects more accurately and is able to do away with the failures that bar growth among growing companies.

Rapid test planning

Test planning is one of the most important steps in the software development process. Using a qTest manager, it becomes easier for the company to plan and execute tests for a given piece of software. The system is designed to work on the process automatically by eliminating steps that delay the execution of these tests. Through a qTest manager, your team is empowered and can access leads quickly by adding and organizing test runs using linked associations, regression cycles and Meta data.

Effortlessly schedule executions

Execution scheduling is one of the most important steps that test managers should embrace to ensure the software they produce is relevant and serves the needs of the market. Using a qTest manager, one can take advantage of different frameworks like TestNG, JUnit and Cucumber among others to deliver solutions in real-time.

This technology eliminates the long wait that managers undergo while planning and executing software tests. Every change made is reflected immediately to allow for progressive decision making and to offer the manager better controls over the entire project. Therefore, a tech company looking to achieve growth should consider using qTest manager to boost performance in the production process.

Control your projects from one interface

Controlling a big project that is in the hands of more than 10 developers using native tools is cumbersome. You need modern technology that can offer you access to all the members to the project without necessarily interacting with them physically. This is what using a qTest manager allows you to achieve since all metrics about each developer are shared on their profile. The manager is able to manage profiles, so depending on the metrics achieved by a developer you can decide which roles suit him/her.

Additionally, the project manager can come up with clones, which saves time and resources when developing similar products. For a small company looking to achieve growth, employing this technology in the production process ensures there is seamless flow of activities and the amount spent is minimal. The qTest manager comes with 64 test metrics for measuring progress, quality, productivity & more. Automation ensures all logs are shared with the manager in time to inform decision making and to ensure the project is not brought to a standstill by few mistakes in one step. Basically, a qTest manager comes in handy as a tool that can be used to effect the production of perfect software.

7 Great Banks Headquartered in Los Angeles

There are so many great banks around the United States that it is hard to figure out which one is truly the best. Each bank has different services to offer that fit appeal to specific individuals. Large urban cities like Los Angeles are filled with many different kinds of financial institutions. Here is a list of some of the greatest banks in Los Angeles (in no particular order):

1) California Bank & Trust

California Bank & Trust first opened for business in 1998 as a merging bank. Just one year after opening, the bank grew large enough to purchase Fresno, California-based Regency Bank. Two years after that California Bank & Trust picked up Eldorado Bancshares. To this date, the bank holds over $11 billion in assets and has at least one hundred functioning branches. There is a total of 1700 employees managing all of the branches.

2) City National Bank

This bank is headquartered in the City National Plaza in Los Angeles, California. As of September 2014, City National Bank holds roughly $35 billion in assets. This bank offers a variety of services including banking, investing, and trust. As many banks in California continue to merge or close down, City National Bank has grown to be one of the largest, if not the largest, financial institution in Los Angeles. This bank has been able to sponsor movie events and build relationships with media companies.

3) First General Bank

First General Bank is independently owned and operated in Los Angeles. Several of the bank’s owners have ties to FGB’s service area. As of December 2016, the bank has reached $840 million in assets.

4) Golden Security Bank

Golden Security Bank is a private institution specializing in real estate loans. This bank opened its doors for the first time on August 27, 1982. It was originally built in Chinatown, Los Angeles, but recently moved to Rosemead, California in 2005.

5) New Resource Bank

New Resource Bank is covered by Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. This bank specializes in loans and deposit products. Personal banking is also included in the list of services this bank offers. New Resource was opened in 2006 and has over 200 shareholders.

6) Pacific Capital Bancorp

This bank was created in 2002 and grew to operate 49 locations in Los Angeles and San Jose, California, before being acquired by Union Bank in 2012.

7) Universal Bank

Universal Bank is an overseas Chinese financial institution headquartered in America. There are many different branches open around the Los Angeles area. They focus on providing mortgage loans and financing for real estate projects. Their target audience is Chinese/Asian immigrants living in Los Angeles.

College students currently enrolled in classes have a chance to win $1000 by entering into the River Cohen College Scholarship content. Visit the River Cohen official website for more information.

Arturo Alvarez Demalde Image

Create an exciting looking garden with different sorts of gardening presents. Your backyard ought to not search neglected as it is also a part of your home. You need to make it seem rather with the aid of gardening gifts. These presents are effortlessly obtainable online as properly as in any backyard garden shop. You should go for on the web gardening stores are they have been providing special reductions for Xmas.

Arturo Alvarez Demalde

If you know the place you’ll be staying make campground reservations in advance, notably throughout the primary travel season. This way there is often an internet site waiting for you when you arrive.

Great Salt Lake – At only fourteen ft deep (on typical), this is 1 of the saltiest waters in the world. You can litteraly float on leading of the h2o! Just a number of minutes west of Salt Lake Town (on I-80), you can visit the yacht club, or my blog a small north to pay a visit to Antelope Island with its beaches.

Actually, your ex girlfriend knows specifically what you are going to do as soon as she made a decision to conclude the partnership. However, if she doesn’t know what you are heading to do right after the crack up, then it is achievable that she will not try to stop the romantic relationship. It is deemed to be human Mr. Alvarez Demalde to know an outcome when they are about to do anything.

Kennesaw Mountain – If you are into photographing traditionally related websites then this is the place you would go in the Atlanta Location. They have previous cannons and you can see the bunkers they manufactured to disguise from the enemies’s mortar fire. The Civil War Park is now house to a bounty of character’s beauty but from the remnants it is not challenging to think about the war-ravaged landscape of yesterday.

If you like being in the wonderful outdoor and making an attempt to survival capabilities by residing off the land, why not go on an Australian Walkabout? These have increased in acceptance, particularly given that a single of the primary characters on the Tv set display Lost attempted one particular out. The concept driving an Australian Walkabout is that you and your fellow adventurers head out into the Australian Outback with a manual. Although you are on your walkabout, you dwell completely off the land. You gather your possess foods, assemble your possess shelter from the offered resources and get on any “elements” that may well come your way (climate, wild animals, and so on). It can be explained as extreme camping and can be really gratifying.

Some folks genuinely can’t get comfy in a mummy bag. They need space to move about. If you aren’t positive how you truly feel about this, there is one way to locate out: get in people luggage. See if you truly feel excellent in a comfortable mummy. Arturo Alvarez-Demalde Borrow 1 and commit a night time in it if you have to. A great mummy is the warmest sleeping bag you can get for the fat, but semi-rectangular may be far better for comfort and ease.

See the majestic Auckland War Memorial Museum without having are unsuccessful as this is the initial museum of New Zealand. You can discover many exhibits telling the heritage of the country. Auckland Artwork Gallery is a collection of hundreds of arts and paintings. There are aged artworks as effectively as new types exhibited in the gallery. Arturo Alvarez Demalde Also visit the Museum of Transportation and Technology (MOTAT). The Sky Tower is the tallest skyscraper in New Zealand and you can view the complete Auckland town from the observation desk. There is a revolving restaurant discovered on the leading flooring exactly where you can dine in for a coffee or dinner.

CreditUpdates.com Assesses the Economic Value of Clayton Kershaw’s Presence in Los Angeles

CreditUpdates BaseballConducting an economic assessment that accurately reflects the value of the subject is a notoriously difficult task, especially when there are so many collateral factors that influence the total value generated by the subject of the assessment. In sports, franchises are tasked with measuring an athlete’s value and constructing a contract that reflects the individual’s overall contributions to his or her team. While the use of advanced analytics has sought to reduce the inherent complexity of this process, CreditUpdates.com has pointed out that there are certain athletes capable of generating a great deal of additional value outside of the realm of competition.

In Los Angeles, there are a number of athletes that fit this description, but perhaps none more precisely than Clayton Kershaw of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Signed to a record-breaking contract that will pay him about $35 million per year through the 2020 MLB season, Kershaw has lived up to that exorbitant financial outlay with his play alone, as he has already earned three Cy Young Awards and an NL MVP while still only just entering his prime years as an athlete.

CreditUpdates.com would be likely point out that Kershaw’s on-field performance is only a part of his overall economic value to the Dodgers and the city of Los Angeles. As the co-founder of Kershaw’s challenge, the big left-hander has given back to the Los Angeles community as well as communities all over the world. His dedication to charitable endeavors is responsible for a great deal of additional value and demonstrates how conducting an economic assessment requires a detail-oriented approach that considers a number of varied factors.