Tips to take good photograph / Picture using cell phone camera

Cell phones (mobile phones) are now-a-days used for talking, sending or receiving text or picture messages (SMS), hearing radio, viewing video, listening to music, browsing the web, taking, sending and receiving photos / pictures. Recent built-in cameras have acceptable mega pixels with advanced technology.

Tips:

• Clean the lens before taking a picture, using a glass cleaning cloth.
• There is a time lag between the pressing of the click button and the capturing of image by the camera. So practice to know the time difference in the particular phone.
• Hold the phone using both the hands and click the button to avoid blurring of the picture.
• Divide the picture into vertical and horizontal lines in your mind. Place the main subject of your picture on one of the lines or at the intersection or at the middle, whatever you feel good instead of simply centering the subject.
• The view finder of cell phone is of low resolution. The picture may look bad while viewing through it. You can edit and improve your results using computer. This includes changing the color at required area and removing the unwanted portion.
• Take advantage of the convenience of the cell phone camera.

Play safe Holi

Holi, the festival of colours is popular in North India, where people smear each other with loads of powdered colours and throw coloured water at each other.
These coloured powders usually contain special herbs such as henna (maruthani), margosa (veppilai / neem), kumkum, turmeric (manjal /haldi), and bilva (vilvam / bel).
Gulal can be made at home by mixing red sandalwood powder with a little flour (maida or atta). Red coloured water can be made by boiling red sandalwood powder with water.Bright yellow powder is obtained by mixing turmeric powder and gram flour (Besan / kadalai mavu). Mix the paste of green leafy vegetables in water to get green coloured water. Plain henna powder mixed in water will give a vibrant orange colour. Mix henna powder and gooseberry (amla / nellikkai / peru nelli) powder in water for a bright brown colour. Synthetic dyes and colours sold in the markets sometimes have a very harsh and toxic effect as they contain dangerous toxins such as lead and mercury. Therefore buy only skin friendly natural colours.

• Before playing, apply petroleum jelly or edible oil on exposed parts, to prevent colours from coming in contact with the skin. Wear clothes that cover maximum body, to protect your skin.

• While playing, ensure that your eyes remain protected at all times. Use sunglasses to protect your eyes from coloured water.Use a hat, cap or anything like that to protect your hair from being coloured with hard-to rinse dyes.
  People with a sensitive skin type and those prone to skin allergies should avoid being exposed to colours for a long time.
  If you feel pain or burning sensation after playing Holi, splash cold water on your eyes.

• After playing, dust off the colour as much as possible. Combing leads to breaking of hairs. Massage the scalp with lukewarm oil and rinse off with shampoo. While washing off the colour, use lukewarm water and keep your eyes closed. It is easy to remove the
  colour if you apply baby oil before playing Holi.

Incline sit-up for flat stomach

This exercise is useful to reduce belly (to lose belly fat), love handles and to have flat stomach.
Incline sit-up is a good exercise to train upper and lower abdominals.If incline sit-up bench is not available at the workout place, we can raise the height of a normal bench in one side and use. Some one can hold the legs of the person exercising in this case.

The exercise:

• Adjust the inclination of the board / bench according to your convenience.
• Sit on the sit-up bench, hook your feet under the foot pads and lie down with your feet at higher level than your head.
• Just touch both the ears by both the palms or cross the arms on the chest or place the hands on the hip.
• Start moving the upper body and bring close to vertical level.
• Slowly lower the upper body, keeping the back round and inhaling at the same time.
• The upper part of the back should not touch the bench.
• The downward motion should be a little slower than that of the upper.
• Now move up again and exhale at the same time.
• Repeat conveniently.
  

Beautiful face

Exercises to enhance beauty of your face and to be free from double Chin, sagging cheeks, crow’s feet, mouth wrinkles (laugh lines) and forehead wrinkles (worry lines).

• Double Chin: place a hand on the neck. Slightly pull the skin downward, moving your hand to the base of the neck. Smile lips closed and slightly raise chin up by looking towards the ceiling. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times.
  
• Sagging cheeks: let the cheeks be puffed up with air. Place both the fists on both cheeks and press providing resistance. Let the air come out slowly. Repeat 10 times, for a lift to the face.
  
• Crows feet: Place index and middle finger together, at the corner of each eye. Shut eyes and crunch them, squeezing tight with care. Hold for a few seconds and then open your eyes. Repeat 20 times, to reduce the wrinkles.
  
• Mouth wrinkles: Smile wide by keeping lips together. Hold for 5 seconds. Push mouth outward by bringing your lips together in a pout. Hold for 10 seconds. Repeat 10 times. This will reduce laugh lines.
  
• Forehead wrinkles (worry lines): Press the forehead using interlocked fingers and move your eyebrows upward. Move your eyeballs, first up and then down. Feel the movement of the forehead muscle. This will reduce worry lines.

Home treatment for cracked feet (from heel to toe)

• Keep feet clean and dirt free.
• Rub pumice stone on the cracked part of the feet while taking a bath, to remove dead skin.
• Before going to bed wash and dry the feet. Apply olive oil or a mixture of Vaseline and lemon juice on the cracked portion of the feet.
• Do not walk barefooted at your home. Use slippers conveniently.
• Consume a diet rich in calcium, iron, zinc and omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins.
  
  Milk, cheese, yogurt, goat’s milk, fortified soy milk, cereals and broccoli are excellent sources of calcium.
  Cereals, millets, pulses and green leafy vegetables contain iron.
  Meat, chicken and fish are good sources of iron.
  Oysters, chicken, crab, kidney beans, yogurt, brown rice and spaghetti are Zinc rich foods.
  Tuna, salmon, flax and walnuts are good sources of Omega-3.
  Vegetable oils, green vegetables, cereals, wheat germ, whole-grain products and nuts are Vitamin Enriched foods.

Dark circles under eyes, dark spots, pimples, scars and blemishes on face

Home treatments:

• Slice cucumber. Chill the slices. Wash your face. Close your eyes. Place the chilled cucumber slices over and around eyes. Relax for a few minutes. Gently rub the slices on dark circles and dark spots. Wash your face again.
• You can also apply cucumber juice or potato juice on the dark circles or dark spots on face with the help of cotton for about 20 minutes.
• Multani mitti is a kind of mud. It is also called Fuller's earth. Apply a pack of it to treat pimples and dark circles. Suitable for oily skin only as it absorbs dead cells along with excess oil. Best to apply as mask by making a paste with rose water.
• Apply tomato juice mixed with 2-3 drops of lime juice on the face. Wait for 20 minutes and wash the face.
• Mix powdered orange peels and curd into a thick paste and apply on the face except eyes. Allow the paste to dry and wash thoroughly with cold water. This removes scars and blemishes.
• Make a paste from cucumber and lemon juice and apply on the face. Wait until the paste dries and wash your face. This also removes scars and blemishes.
• Mix rice powder and orange juice to form a paste. Apply on the face and neck. Let it dry and wash it off. This makes the skin to glow, improve complexion, removes pimples, black heads and white heads.
• Apply raw papaya juice on pimples or acne.
• Rub papaya pulp gently on the face twice in a week to make it clean and glow and to avoid pimples or acne, black heads, white heads and spots.
• Rub mixture of Bengal Gram flour and yogurt gently in upwards direction on the face. Wash after 10 minutes. This is to get the skin glow, reduce or remove pimples or acne, and black heads.

General care for face

• Drink at least three liters of water in a day.
• Eat fresh fruits and vegetables.
• Avoid excessive exposure to sun light and cold weather.
• Avoid very oily creams. They clog pores.
• Wash your face with water before going to bed and in the morning.
• Steam bath deep-cleanses the pores and stimulates blood circulation.
• Get enough sleep.

Tips to grow taller / Tips to gain height

Height is determined by genetics and one’s growth is according to heredity.
However, some efforts will help us to grow taller.

• Jumping, cycling and swimming, running, pull-ups, skipping or jumping rope and participating in games like volley ball and foot ball are some good exercises to grow taller.
• Adequate sound sleep also helps to improve height.
• Eating healthy and nutritionally balanced food for the development of muscle and for strong bones is also important to grow tall.
• Drinking plenty of water helps in metabolism and flushes out toxins from the body more readily thereby helping to grow tall faster.