25 Ways To Improve Your Health

1. Brush twice a day!

2. Dress right for the weather.

3. Visit the dentist regularly.

4. Get plenty of rest.

5. Make sure your hair is dry before going outside.

6. Eat right.

7. Get outside in the sun every once in a while.

8. Always wear a seatbelt.

9. Control your drinking of alcoholic beverages.

10. Smile! It will make you feel better.

11. Don't over indulge yourself.

12. Bathe regularly.

13. Read to exercise the brain.

14. Surround yourself with friends.

15. Stay away from too much caffeine.

16. Use the bathroom regularly.

17. Get plenty of exercise.

18. Have ! your eyes checked regularly.

19. Eat plenty of vegetables.

20. Believe that people will like you for who you are.

21. Forgive and forget.

22. Take plenty of vacations.

23. Celebrate all special occasions.

24. Pick up a hobby.

25. Love your neighbor as yourself. 

Household tip: Dealing with nuts

Blanching Almonds:

To blanch shelled almonds, put them into boiling water and let stand 3 minutes. Drain. Slide skins off with your finger. Spread nuts on absorbent paper towels to dry. Roasting also will loosen the skins of peanuts, either shelled or unshelled.

Chopping Nuts:

If you need large nut pieces, simply break nuts like pecans or walnuts with your fingers. For finer pieces, use a knife or chopping bowl. Almonds may be chopped in a blender or food processor, 1/2 cup
at a time for 30 seconds on high speed. Or, place nuts in a zip lock bag and pound with a mallet or the bottom of a small sauce pan.

Roasting Nuts:

Roasting improves the flavor of nuts. To roast, place blanched or blanched nuts on a baking sheet in a preheated 300° F. oven. Bake for about 5 to 10 minutes, turning frequently to avoid scorching.
Watch closely, as the nuts may be golden one minute then turn dark brown the next.

Storing Nuts:

Store nuts in their shells to protect from light, heat, moisture, and exposure. If already shelled, store tightly covered in cool, dark, dry place or in the freezer. Salted nuts are more prone to rancidity than unsalted, so we recommend refrigerating after opening.

Humour: Do-It-Yourself Tips (don't actually try them at home)

* Leak stain on ceiling.
Cut a piece of plywood into a square. Nail it over the stain. Put a handle on it. Tell everyone it's the door to your attic. (Not recommended for basement apartments).

* Ant invasion.
In a four-litre pail mix together two litres of water, 500 grams of abrasive cleanser and two tablespoons of dish detergent. Find the spot where the ants are getting into the house, pick them up one-by-one and drown them in your pail. Or simply squoosh them with your shoes and use
the mixture to clean up the mess.

* Crayon marks on wall.
Grasp in right hand one paint scraper about 30cm long. With left hand, grab rotten offspring who made the marks and threaten to apply scraper to his video game collection if this happens again. Break all his crayons.

* Doggie-doo on lawn.
Carefully measure one litre of unleaded gasoline into metal container. Place container under coat and follow offending dog and owner home. Burn down their house.

* Crabgrass.
In one corner of your lawn, assemble your mower, rake, shovel and weed killer. Using right index finger, dial any asphalt company. Have them come over and pave your lawn -- mower, rake, shovel and weed killer included.

* Cigarette burn on rug.
Cut one lemon in half. Squeeze juice into large glass of gin mixed 50-50 with tonic. Add ice. Drink enough glasses of this solution until burn becomes blurry. Move couch over mark.

* Dirty paint brushes.
Soak brushes in pail of paint remover. Read paint remover directions carefully. Notice they say solvent should not be inhaled. Move brushes and can to airy place -- like the backyard. Notice that solvent can kill grass. Move can and brushes up off lawn onto suitable surface like, say,
barbecue. Now notice that solvent is highly flammable ...

* Annoying drips.
Don't invite them over anymore.

How to build a culture of innovation - 50 tips

Fostering innovation in an organization is one of the most difficult things to do. You have to let people be creative, and yet ensure that the work required to be done by your organization still gets done.
Here is the link for 50 tips on how to foster innovation (link)
Some examples from the site are:
- Make new mistakes.
- Have more fun. If you're not having fun (or at least enjoying the process) something is off.
- Ask questions about everything. After asking questions, ask different questions. After asking different questions, ask them in a different way.
- Encourage everyone to communicate. Provide user-friendly systems to make this happen.

5 tips on buying a camera lens (contd..)

Tip 1 (What are Canon's EF vs. EF-S lens): Deciphering what the acronyms written for the lens mean can be confusing for people who don't know what they mean. Till 2003, all the lens prepared by Canon were called EF (electrofocus); however, in 2003, Canon introduced the Digital Rebel series of cheaper DSLR's. For this new camera, there was a new lens introduced that was known as EF-S. All new Canon digital cameras are EF and EF-S compatible. However, the main difference between the EF and the EF-S lens are that EF-S lens have smaller mirror boxes, and smaller sensors. The EF-S lens work with the current range of Digital SLR's, but because of their smaller sensors, they will not work with any full frame cameras that Canon releases.

Tip 2 (Same lens works differently on film and digital cameras): Consider the above case again, where the EF lens will work on both film and digital cameras. However, the EF lens on a film camera will show more of the scene that a digital camera (except for a full frame digital camera).

Tip 3 (When the lens has the term full frame equivalent or 35mm equivalent): This term refers to the fact that most digital cameras have a sensor that is smaller than on a film camera, and as result, there is a factor known as the cropping factor. So a digital camera with a cropping factor of 1.6 will mean that a lens with a 60mm focal length will actually be the same as a lens of 96mm focal length on a film camera. Keep this calculation in mind when deciding to purchase a lens.

Tip 4 (Read the focal lenghts printed on the lens and the box): Many times, people are confused when they read all the acronyms printed on the lens (and on the lens box). One of these acronyms refers to the focal length, so a lens with the text 80-200mm refers to a zoom lens with the focal lenght between 80mm and 200mm

Tip 5 (Aperture printed on the lens): Lens also have the aperture printed on them. If you don't have a high end lens, it is likely that your lens will not have the same maximum aperture at all zoom lengths, it is more likely that your zoom lens has the following text: 1:2.8-4.5. This means that the lens will have an aperture opening of 1/2.8 at the mimimum zoom, and 4.5 at the highest zoom, which means that you will have less light, and is certainly not a fast lens.

5 tips on buying a camera lens (contd..)

Tip 1 (Prime lens vs. zoom lens): If you want better optical quality, then a prime lens would be more suitable for you; but there is an inconvenience involved in terms of not having the convenience of being able to get distant objects easily (as is possible through a zoom lens)

Tip 2 (Do you need a lens in which the motor does not make a sound): For specialistic needs such as wildlife, you sometimes need a lens that makes almost zero sound when focusing or shooting, else you will scare away the animals.

Tip 3 (Are you worried about distortion): Many zooms, unless they are of a very high quality, can have distortion in the photos produced (this may be unacceptable if you are photographing architecture, or producing designs). You need to check the lens beforehand to determine whether it will be acceptable.

Tip 4 (Compare the cost of camera and lens): If you are able to afford a really good quality camera, then you should also budget for some great lenses. After all, the quality of the photo is also dependent on the lens. On the other hand, if you are learning, then a cheaper lens should be fine.

Tip 5 (Differentiate between manual and automatic focus): Manual focus gives you a lot of control, while in automatic focus, the camera does the focusing for you. In some situations such as where there are multiple objects in the photo, or when you are focusing in a crowd, or in bad light conditions, you should go in for a manual focus. Accordingly, ensure that your lens has both manual and automatic focus.

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5 tips on buying a camera lens (contd..)

Tip 331 (Low budget lens): Typically lens from third party providers are cheaper than those from the camera manufacturers such as Nikon, Canon, etc. These third party manufacturers are names such as Tamaron, Sigma; they are good to start with, but make sure that you have studied them before you go in for the purchase.

Tip 332 (Lens from the manufacturers): These lens tend to be more expensive than a third party lens for the same type of specification. Once you enter this area, a lens could keep on going higher in price depending on the specification; for example a zoom lens with a constant aperture (constant maximum aperture) value would be more expensive than that with a variable aperture (at some points in the zoom range, the aperture could go down, limiting the amount of light you can capture)

Tip 333 (Evaluate a lens before buying another): So you have money to spend, and another lens is also looking very attractive; however, make sure that your current lens is unable to meet your complete requirement before you go ahead and purchase another.

Tip 334 (Look at the weight of the lens and carrying needs): It is a matter of regret that some of the lens with superior capabilities (such as the constant aperture zoom lens) are much more heavy. The lens may look great, but it is you who will have to carry it everywhere, so take that into account as well.

Tip 335 (Large aperture needs): So, you look at a lens with a large aperture (a f number of f/2.8 or even f/1.4), and it looks like a great lens to you. However, a lens with such an aperture is ideally meant for conditions where the light is not so great, or where you want a very shallow depth of field (where only the desired object is in focus, and everything else is blurred / out of focus). If you don't have such needs, then do not go for such a lens. These lenses are much more expensive, are heavier, and need more care (because of the large lens area).

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Make money from Blogs - Learn more about Adsense success stories

For people who write blogs, there are various approaches with regard to making money. There are some people who disdain the idea of anything to do with advertising; there are others who believe in their writing, but don't look away from the prospect of making some money on the side; there are others who fill their sites with ads (including Adsense ads) and whose sites can look fairly ugly; and then there are the ones who learnt a lot about how to use Adsense optimally and started a huge jump in the amount of money that they have started making.
Wouldn't you like to make more money from your blogs ? More money means that you can devote more time to your hobbies, to doing things that make you happy rather than toiling away on a job ? Well, it can be done, but it is not a one day effort. People who have learnt to make a lot of money from Adsense have done so after doing a lot of reading, trying out tips, experimenting and deciphering what works for them, and what does not.
One good place to start is by using the success stories posted on the Google Adsense Help page at this link.
As an example, consider the case of a site called http://seatguru.com, where the creator of the site originally was struggling with several affiliate links, and then finally stumbled upon using Adsense. After experimenting with different formats, he uses channels to determine which of these experiments are successful, and hence has worked out a lot of optimization to increase his Adsense revenue.

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Here are some more videos from Youtube that might help you.

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AdSense Optimization by Lockergnome

5 tips on buying a camera lens

Tip 1 (Zoom lens and apertures): A zoom lens may seem great, since you can get different focal lengths in the same lens. So, if you have a lens that covers say from 70-300, that lens should supposedly be great. Unfortunately, there are some problems that start coming up. For example, most zoom lens don't have a constant maximum aperture, and you may find that you are not able to shoot at the maximum largest aperture, and hence start finding inadequate light in some cases. For zoom lens that have constant maximum aperture, the cost can be much higher.

Tip 2 (Difference in magnification power between digital camera and film camera): If you have a film camera, or a digital camera, the magnification power varies, and is generally higher on the same lens fitted digital camera.

Tip 3 (Aperture and maximum apertures): You would have heard of aperture many times, so what is it ? Aperture essentially defines the size of the opening on top of a lens that lets in the light, and as you might imagine, a larger opening lets in more light. Apertures are defined in terms of f-stops, and confusingly, is in reverse, so a larger opening has a smaller value, and hence f/1.4 lets in much more light than f/2.8, which lets in much more light than f/22.

Tip 4 (Fast lens and slow lens): Sometimes you hear about fast lens, and slow lens, and you must be wondering about these terms. A fast lens lets in much more light than a slow lens, and is essentially related to the aperture of the lens. A fast lens allows for better photography when the light is less.

Tip 5 (Keeping a grip on prices): Lens can increasingly get very expensive, so super-zoom lens are very expensive, and also fairly heavy, needing their own tripod support. Further, fixed aperture zoom lens are much more expensive than lens on which the aperture is not constant, and you should evaluate as to whether the need for constant aperture is important to you.

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5 Photo Tips for shooting photos in the sun

Tip 1 (Look for reflected light): One of the problems with harsh sunlight is that the side facing light gets a sharp glare, while a face or profile in shadow is far more reduced. You can either set up reflectors, or look for a place such as a parking lot or in front of buildings, where there is far more reflected light. This ensures that the images don't have unseemly shadows in some parts.

Tip 2 (Use ND Filters): Using filters can really create some interesting photos with different light affects. These filters help in giving a much bluer look to the photos, with a greater contrast in the photos. You can use a graduated ND filter such as this one - Cokin CH250 P-Series ND Grad Kit

Tip 3 (Use the light to good effect in creating silhouette): The strong light may not help in creating soft portraits, but it sure does help in creating some interesting effects such as silhouettes, when you allow the light to be behind the person. The light creates a great outline of the person, and with some creativity around exposure, you can use multiple people to get some stick like effects.

Tip 4 (Shoot in black and white): With the temptation to get good color contrast, and achieve a high color tonality being difficult in harsh light, the strong light actually aids in achieving a good effect in black and white photos. These black and white photographs are great to emphasize structures, shapes, especially when you are shooting something less curvy, and more stark and sharp.

Tip 5 (Shooting indoors or in areas that typically get less light): There are some advantages to having all that light. There are many places such as small alleys, between tall buildings, and indoors, where the amount of light required for good photos is available only when the sun is overhead, and the light is hard.

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5 photo tips for taking photos in the sun

Tip 1 (Underexpose your photos): If you get too much light in your photo, then you lose detail. It is always slightly better to have a slightly under-exposed photo rather than a over-exposed photo; since you can recover from a slightly under-exposed photo; if you lose detail in a photo, then you cannot recover those details.

Tip 2 (Use polarizing filters): Using polarizing filters can help reduce the amount of light in the photo, and also removing the harsh glare caused by the sun. Tiffen 58MM Circular Polarizer Glass Filter and HOYA 72mm Circularizing Polarizing Filter are two such filters you can use.

Tip 3 (Get your models to look up): In order to avoid the shadow under the eyes caused by the light of the sun, you can be on a higher point than the model. This way this forced the model / person to look up and avoids the shadow. Make sure that you the person is facing away from the sun, else they will have to squint, and this will spoil the photo.

Tip 4 (Don't uner-expose, do light metering): A tip above had mentioned that it is better to under-expose rather than over-expose. This remains correct, but you do need to be a bit careful that you don't under-expose too much. This can cause noise in the photo, so do light metering before you go in for under-exposure.

Tip 5 (Use HDR): Shoot at different levels of exposure, and then combine in a HDR to get an image that has enough detail. Make sure that people in your photos are following the rules about not looking towards the sun, and are not squinting.

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Ear ache - Natural Home Remedy

Earache refers to the inflammation of the middle ear or the outer ear. It usually occurs due to cold and is most common in winters and spring months. It is most prevalent among children. In severe cases the infections and aches can cause hearing loss.

Causes of ear aches :
· infection of the middle ear.
· colds.
· allergies.
· sinus infections.
· buildup of ear wax or fluid.
· something stuck in the ear.
· teeth problems.
· ear injuries.
· changes in air pressure in a plane.
It is observed that earache is more common in the nighttime than during the day. This is because during the nighttime, the person lies down and stops using the throat muscles. Due to this, the Eustachian tubes can get more congested and hence there is more feeling of pain.

HOME REMEDIES FOR EARACHE :
- Put few drops of 3% hydrogen peroxide in each ear for 10 minutes. It will help curing the infection.
- Warm onion juice and put 2-3 drops in each ear. This is simple and effective home remedy for earache.
- Puncture a piece of garlic and pour the juice in the ear. Garlic being a natural antibiotic will help to take the pain away.
- Warm some sesame oil and immerse a few leaves of the castor plant. Dab this oil around the ear.
- Take some oil of ajwain and sesame seeds in the ratio of 1:3. Warm this mixture and apply it in the ear. Four drops of this would be effective in treating earache.
- Grind some basil leaves to form a paste. Warm this at room temperature. Once it becomes at a bearable temperature, put four to five drops of this oil in the ears.
- Take a few mango leaves and extract the juice. Warm this juice a little and apply it on the ear putting four drops at each ear. This would help cure earache.
- Chop a radish into small pieces. Immerse this into mustard oil and warm it. Store this oil in a glass bottle and put a few drops when there is pain.
- Extract some ginger juice and put a few drops of it in the ear. Warm this and put four drops of it. This would help treat earache.
- If the earache is due to flying, pop in some candy or chewing gum. Work the throat muscle as this would relieve from the earache.
- Add fenugreek seed to mustard or linseed oil. Warm this oil and filter it. Once cooled, put it in each ear in four to five drops.
- The following remedy works if there is a discharge of pus from the ears along with the pain. Take a piece of the guggulu herb (Commiphora wightii) and burn it. Extinguish it before it burns completely. It will start smoking. Let this smoke enter into the affected ear. This will reduce the pain and also stop the pus from oozing out. This is one of the earache home remedies.

Diet for ear ache - Intake of good amount of vitamin C fights infection.

5 photo tips for taking photos at noon

Tip 1 (Learn about the characteristics of shooting at noon): Shooting at noon is normally avoided since the light is harsh and getting the tonal details is difficult, getting facial photos is difficult because of the shadows of the eyes and nose. However, if you learn more about the characteristics of light at noon, you will be better equipped to shoot at such times.

Tip 2 (Get down to avoid the shadows): In some cases, you should literally take the low perspective. Takes photos by going much lower to the ground, and gettting more of the blue sky in the photos. Doing this ensures that the colors of the photo seem richer.

Tip 3 (Keep the sun behind you): Contrary to opinion, the sun is actually overhead at noon only if you are at the equator. Hence, when shooting, try and keep the sun behind you, since that enables a better coloring of the sky.

Tip 4 (Embrace the harsh light and shadows): Sometimes the harsh light and shadows can enhance the look of a photo. If you are taking a photo of a rugged terrain, then the harsh light and consequent shadows can actually make the photo look better, and convey the impression that you are trying to project.

Tip 5 (Watch for colors): Lighter colors tend to get washed out in the harsh light of noon, but deeper colors such as red and blue tend to look more saturated in this light. You should embrace these colors more, since they will give your photos a richer look, if you need to shoot at noon or when there is harsh light.

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5 Photo tips for morning / sunrise photos

Tip 1 (Shoot beaches in the morning): Getting good shots of beaches, especially the play of water over the sand, is fun. However, in the harsh light, the whole scene tends to get a bit flattened. Shooting at the beach in the morning enhances the effect of the play of water and sand, and you can capture the texture of the sand particles much better. Plus, there is less chance of their being garbage being thrown by people, and less crowds.

Tip 2 (Dew laden plants): In the morning, plants look fresher, and the presence of dew on the leaves, and on the tips of the petals of flowers can give a great look. If you use a macro lens, the dew at certain angles combined with the slanting rays of the sun can shine.

Tip 3 (Inspiring photos): Photos of people exercising are always inspiring. Capturing the photos of people working out, jogging, or other such exercise when the sun is just coming up gives you a good collection of such photos. In addition, if you collect stock photos, the light can help hide the face while enhancing the outline of the human body.

Tip 4 (Shooting from a low height): Given that shadows in the morning are longer, and the contrast between the shadow and light is not as stark or sharp as it is in the daytime, you can get some great photos where there is a low height sun on the horizon, and long shadows on the ground.

Tip 5 (Take photos from inside): Consider yourself inside a room where the sun is just starting to enter throug the window. Go close to the window and look at what you see. If you do this on a regular basis, you will start to see some great scenes to photo. If you are near a garden or park, you will be able to see some potentially great bird photos, or you can see people going about a routine that you would not be able to see during the daytime, or you can get photos of the play of the sun over neighboring buildings or similar structures. Even a simple photo of the comparative darkness of the area around the window compared to emerging light outside can come out great.

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5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Think differently): Sunrise does not always mean shots of the sun rising, or shining over water, through clouds or over mountains. Look for other photos; look at people sitting on the beach with the sun rising, people going about their work (early morning), people having breakfast, or even more interesting shots such as steam (whether from natural sources, or from hot tea and coffee)

Tip 2 (Check White Balances): The white balances needs to be checked when shooting around sunrise. The light can have a orange-color tint to it, with a hint of red (although this changes rapidly as time passes). Even though you may have never have set the color profile to 'incandescent', this is a good time to change the white balance. Experiment with making this change, to see whether you start getting a slight blue tinge to your photos.

Tip 3 (Experiment with focus changes): For landscape views, you should normally have a small aperture (from f/8 to f/22 and higher), since you get more objects in focus (from close to the camera to objects much further away). However, for sunrise, you should experiment with having shallower focus by having larger exposures. This gets you more light, and shows you some interesting photos with some objects out of focus.

Tip 4 (Shooting water scenes early in the morning): Shooting early in the morning, especially over water, gives a bluish tinge to the entire scene. The cast of the photo changes to having a bluish tinge, and if you set a long exposure, you get more of the water flow (can give a very smooth look).

Tip 5 (Sun is pretty small): If you are looking to get a good photo of the sun at sunrise, the sun will show up as a small section of the photo. If you do want to get the sun being a much bigger part of the photo, then you will need to use a zoom lens (and the bigger the better). You might need to use a tripod as you move to a bigger zoom.

5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Filters): Explore what camera equipment can do for you. For example, filters such as this Tiffen 62mm Graduated Sunrise Filter can help in making some beautiful sunrise photo.

Tip 2 (Use software): This may seem a bit odd, but if you are not able to get the required effect in a natural sunrise, then try going in for using software such as Photoshop CS4 or Photoshop Elements 7. You will be able to tweak your images to get the exact effect you want.

Tip 3 (Sometimes failure is best): It is pretty hard to expect that you will get the exact result every time. What you need to do is to have a feel for the settings (also, the photo captures the camera settings), and review the settings against the photo that you got. This sort of comparison and review helps you get the feel for which settings work to get you the best results.

Tip 4 (Atmospheric pollution): Sounds bad, but sometimes when you have an extra element of pollution in the atmosphere and it is not gone by sunrise, the photos you get have some additional colors in them, or rather, more shades of colors in the same photo. Not necessary to happen every time, and your photo may not have the clarity with distance, but the colors may be better (or atleast different).

Tip 5 (Keep the sun away from the center): Once I was at a beautiful vantage point on a cliff with valleys in the distance. A lot of photos had no detail beacuse the camera was focused on the sun, and settings for exposure were geared on the sun, sometimes involuntarily. Try and take some photos where the sun is peripheral in the photo.

5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Dream like quality of structures): Try this out. For a few days, go before daybreak near some structures that you like and admire, and then take shots before sunrise. What you will find is that many of these structures look very beautiful in the morning, since the soft light makes these structures seem more beautiful; if you are into poetry, you could feel that they feel floating, light, in the morning sunrise.

Tip 2 (Morning time and birds): If you are an early riser, you would tend to see that birds tend to be most active either in the time just before sunrise, or around sunset. You can get some great bird movement shots (including of larger groups, and those species whom you normally do not get to see) if you do this shooting early.

Tip 3 (Make an HDR): In the morning time, you get rapid changes in light levels within a short period of time. This is ideal if you want to make some great HDR shots in the least possible time period; as long as you shoot often, and adjust your camera for the changed light conditions.

Tip 4 (Sun and moon): You must have seen those shots, whereby the sun and moon can be seen in the same photo, without the moon or the sun being much brighter than each other. This is only possible soon after the sunrise, since the brilliance of the sun rapidly increases, and the moon will soon get lost in this extra light.

Tip 5 (Low levels of pollution in the morning): Morning time is when the pollution levels in the atmosphere and water bodies seem to be minimal, since the whole night with its slightly colder setting helps to bring down the levels of pollution. Combine this with much harsher light in the morning, and you can get great levels of detail in your photos, something that will not be apparent later in the day.

5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Camera can see what we can't): It is believed that if we can't see anything, then it is difficult to capture that on camera. However, people with experience in the photography business know that using the shutter speed, ISO and aperture options in the camera can be of great help in capturing images even at low light. So, if you are up before daybreak, and there is a faint light, do not worry that you cannot get some great images. Bump up the ISO, increase the aperture opening, decrease shutter speed (along with using a tripod), and you will be surprised at the clarity of images you get.

Tip 2 (Be attentive just around sunrise): Nature shows a wide variety of colors (including switching from one sky color to another) just before sunrise. Be attentive and ready, try again and again, and you will get some pretty swatches of colors lighting up your photos.

Tip 3 (Softness of light at dawn): When you admire panoramas, look closely. Many of them are shot such that the light looks a bit soft, and the structures or scenery do not appear washed out. This effect can be achieved by shooting panoramas near dawn. One advantage of this is that you are less likely to have to remove people from your photos.

Tip 4 (Shooting long exposures at dawn): As mentioned above, the color can change rapidly near sunrise. Using a tripod, try capturing this movement of colors through taking long exposure photos. You should get some great colored photos. It makes it even more remarkable if there is some structure that is getting highlighted in the different colors. A bridge over a water body would look incredible.

Tip 5 (Shooting structures in silhouette): As the sun starts to rise, use a building to cover the sun in such a way that you get a silhouette. You need to do this when the sun has not risen too much, and the sun rays are still soft. Experiment with different exposures while doing this, and then start to see that some of the photos will look real great. The ideal shot would be when the light is not very bright, and you get some detail of the front of the building, with light peeking from the corners of the building.

5 Photo tips (centered around the morning and daybreak)

Tip 1 (Daybreak and pre-sunrise photos): Even though for most of us, getting up early in the morning before sunrise can be painful, you can get some pretty good shots of sunrise. During daybreak / sunrise, the colors change pretty quickly, and you can get some very interesting colors.

Tip 2 (Daybreak photos, RAW, and White Balance): When you consider the time of daybreak (the time when you can start to see light, but not yet start seeing the sun on the horizon), try and capture multiple photos on RAW. With this, you can experiment with varying the White Balance to get some pretty interesting shots (many cameras also allow you to set the white balance, so you can experiment with those as well)

Tip 3 (Tripod for morning photos): When taking morning photos, if you want to get sufficient exposure, a tripod is almost necessary. Carry a tripod along; anyhow, if you are into photography as a hobby, you should get adjusted to the idea of carrying a tripod.

Tip 4 (Serene atmosphere at dawn): The climate and the environment at dawn is probably the time when you feel best about nature. The slight light, the cleanliness that seemingly surrounds everything, few people around, the peace, the good weather, all these will put you in a much better frame of mind, one with nature, and should translate into some great photos.

Tip 5 (Shooting in hilly areas at dawn): If you are in a hilly area, you must get up early to capture the situation at dawn. If you are positioned right, and you have got your timing right, the sight of the sunlight starting to come through far off mountains (through the gaps between the mountains / hills) can be an incredible sight.

5 General Photo Tips

Tip 1 (Look around you, keep a close eye): To you what seems like a neighborhood which has remained exactly the same over a number of years, may seem very different to others. To take good photographs, you have to visualize, and step out of your normal self. Try to see things around you with a different view, and once can guarantee that in many of these cases, you will find some of the photos you shoot can come out great.

Tip 2 (Decide on how obtrusive you want to be): Typically, an SLR gives you more control, and better quality of photos. However, there will be certain locations where you cannot be seen to be shooting overtly. For example, if you are in a religious festival, or a protest rally, or many such places, flashing a big camera draws attention to you. Always keep some good features point-and-shoot cameras with you.

Tip 3 (Shoot with a social conscience): In today's world, there are a number of places that you observe and move away. You can make a difference. Suppose, you are able to shoot photos of a polluting unit, then you should take the photo (while respecting property rights) and highlight them, or even send them to the nearby paper for publishing and putting pressure.

Tip 4 (Shooting sunsets): When you shoot a sunset, you can be sometimes worried that you are not getting the expected result from the camera. What you should do is slightly under-expose so that this brings out the colors of the sunset, makes them more saturated and brings out the variations in the shade.

Tip 5 (Shooting in a fog): When you try to shoot in a fog, never use the automatic focus, instead focus manually. A fog like situation can get tricky to focus in, and the automatic focus can fail at this.