Recently, I've been trying to teach myself how to use Photoshop. While experimenting, I worked out how to add a colour tint to photos. Today I thought I'd show you how you also can get this effect!




 2. Click the round circle.


 3. Click 'Solid Colour'.


 4. Choose the colour you'd like your photo to be tinted. (Hint: pick a light colour, dark ones give your photo a really unnatural look)


 5. Lower the opacity of the colour layer until you're happy with your photo.

I started my YouTube channel a year ago. In the time I’ve been making videos, I’ve made plenty of mistakes, learned a lot and enjoyed myself so much that today I decided to share my tips about starting a YouTube channel.

Plan your videos before you make them.
For my first videos I used to write a whole script before filming. I never stuck to the script, but writing it helped me know what I wanted to say.

Nowadays I don’t do that, but I still write down the main points I want to make in my video and the big things I need to remember to say.


It’s very important to make your videos as attractive as possible. If your video doesn’t look nice, no one will enjoy watching it.

Try to learn how to use your movie editing software. Learn all the tricks and make your videos as amazing as you possibly can.

When I first started making videos, I didn’t take much time over the editing. Looking back on my old videos I wince at how terrible they look compared to the ones I make now.


Putting up a channel header is really easy and it makes your channel look unique. You can make headers in Picmonkey. There are some great tutorials on how to do this on YouTube.

You can also make playlists of your videos. This helps showcase all your videos so that when people visit your channel they can watch all your old videos as well as your new one.


Sometimes videos don’t turn out brilliant the first time you film them. Maybe the lighting was bad, maybe you didn’t say what you wanted to say or perhaps something completely different happened.
Whatever the case, it’s very easy to say that your video is good enough and just upload it as it is. It takes a lot of work to film a video and you don’t want to go through that all again.

But will you be proud of that video? Will you want to watch it the future? Properly not.

Refilming is annoying, but in the end it’s worth it.


Most people won’t watch a video that’s much over five minutes along. They have a lot of things they need to do in their day and if your video is too long, it’s quite likely they won’t even start watching.

If you’ve got a really long subject to talk about try, if possible, to break it up into sections and turn the videos into a series.

Sometimes though, you just can’t keep your videos short. That’s alright, just try to keep them as short as you possibly can.

Do you make videos? Have you been wanting to start a YouTube channel? What is your biggest tip?

Watch out for a video on how to set up your YouTube channel!

 

Deryn Sharp is a commoner, disguised as a boy in the British Air Service. She's a brilliant airman. But her secret is in constant danger of being discovered.

With World War I brewing, Alek and Deryn's paths cross in the most unexpected way…taking them on a fantastical, around-the-world adventure that will change both their lives forever.

Thoughts: I've always been a fan of clunky machines and interesting animals, so Leviathan was right up my ally. The whole concept of this book intrigued me. I've never read a book like this one before.


I loved how this book was written from two different points of view. It was cool how you could see the differences in the way Alek and Deryn saw the world. There was nothing similar about these characters, yet together they told the story perfectly.

Out of all of history, the time periods I've studied the most are the World Wars. I was excited to find out that this book was based on World War 1. It's interesting to see what would have happened it Beasties and Clanker machines existed.

Have you read Leviathan? What did you think of it? Do you have my suggestions as to what I should read next?

Some days I just can't come up with ideas for blog posts. Nothing sparks my interest. Have you ever felt like that? Today I thought I'd share a few things that might help you get over this bump.
You spend a lot of time on your blog, writing posts, replying to comments, improving this and that. Maybe it's time to take a break.

Step away from your blog and concentrate on something else. While you're not blogging, your brain will recharge and soon ideas will start coming to you again.

There are millions of other blogs out there. Try and find some new ones. Read what other people are writing about. This may give you some ideas for your own blog posts.

Other bloggers are writing great posts, but a lot of the time I'm too busy with my own blog to go and find these posts and read and comment. But when I do read other blogs I find my head filling up with more plan for my own blog.

I have a notebook in which I write down all the blog post ideas I have. I like to keep this notebook on hand so that when I have no idea what to write about, I can just flip through my notebook and pick a post idea I've already thought of.

I love writing, but I only seem to be able to do one kind at a time. When I'm busy blogging my novels always get pushed to the background.

So when I can't work on my blog, I like to give my attention to my other writing projects instead.

What are your tips? Have you tried any of these?

"Who's going to walk the dog today?" Mum asks.

For a few seconds no one volunteers.  It's cold outside and the wind is blowing hard. Everyone would much rather stay inside with the gas heater.

"I will," I eventually offer glumly.

"I'll join you!" Gemma-Rose bravely says.


We head off in search of warm clothes.

"You'll need gloves," Mum tells us.

"And I'd take a beanie if I were you," Imogen suggests. "I didn't take one yesterday and I regretted it."

"Scarves might also be in order," someone else adds.

Soon we're all kitted up. We look like we're going to the North Pole, but we're nice and warm.



Just as Gemma-Rose and I are about to go outside, Mum has a suggestion.

"Why don't you take your camera with you?" she asks.

I run to grab it. I should get some great shots. Our winter gear will be interesting props.


Finally, we head out the door and set off down the road to the bush tracks.

As we walk along, Gemma-Rose and I hunch down against the cold. The wind tries to get inside our coats and soon our cheeks are rosy.

Every so often I stop to take some photos.


After a few minutes of modeling for me, Gemma-Rose has an idea. "Can I borrow your camera?" she asks.

Hesitantly, I hand it over and Gemma-Rose become photographer and I have to pose for her.

I'm not used to being in front of the camera. I always feel awkward, but I still have a lot of fun.


Eventually I get my camera back, but there is a problem. I have no more power. I forgot to check my battery level before I left.

It doesn't matter though, we're getting rather cold. We hurry to finish our walk. It's nearly dinner time and we're hungry.

 What is the weather like where you live? Are you awkward in front of the camera or are you a natural model like Gemma-Rose.

2/3 cups of milk
1 tbs of lemon juice
2 cups of plain flour
1/4 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
115 grams of cold butter
1 cup of oats
1/2 cup of finely chopped dates
1 tsp of vanilla essence
1/4 cup of rice malt syrup (or honey)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 190°C.
2. In a small bowl mix milk and lemon juice together. Put this mix to one side.
3. In a big bowl mix together flour, baking soda and baking powder.
4. Rub in the butter until it becomes fine crumbs.
5. Tip in oats, dates, vanilla essence and rice malt syrup. Mix it all up.
6. Stir in the milk and lemon juice mix.
7. Knead until it becomes a dough.
8. Cut your dough into twelve scones.
9. Put your scones in the oven and cook them for twenty minutes.
10. Serve and enjoy!

Do you like inventing recipes? What was the last thing you invented?

"Does anyone one want to take Nora to the dog park?" Dad asks.

My ears prick up. Our dog, Nora, has never been to a dog park before. This should be fun. "I do!" I call, running to get my shoes.

Dad, Mum, Gemma-Rose, Nora and I climb into our car. Nora loves being in the car. She sits up tall and looks out the window the whole trip.

When we arrive at the dog park, Nora gets excited. She can see lots of other dogs playing in a fenced-off area and wants to go join them. I have a hard time holding her back.

Even though the park allows dogs to go without leashes, we decide to leave Nora on hers. She's not used to other dogs.

Dad opens the gate into the fenced area and Nora dashes inside. I hold on tight to her lead as a dog approaches us.

The dog and Nora sniff each other. When Nora walks off, the dog follows her. He's very cute.

After a while, Dad suggests we let Nora off her leash. I slowly unclip. I slowly unclip it.

Nora looks surprised at her freedom. She runs off to the dogs. I walk along behind her to make sure she doesn't get into any trouble.

A tiny dog comes up to Nora. They start to bounce around and play. The little dog, Poppy, barks in excitement. Nora starts to bark as well.

"What a massive bark your dog has," A lady exclaims. No one seems to mind the noise though.

I let Nora play for a while. She is having a great time. She doesn't like it when I put her back onto the leash to go home.

"Do you think she enjoyed herself?" Mum asks when we're back in the car.

"Oh yes!" I cry. Beside me, Nora grins.

Do you have a dog? Have you ever taken it to a dog park?