How To Take Awesome Photos With Your iPhone

I literally wrote a lot of this before the hurricane so if anything sounds out of place that might be why Hello. It is me. I am here. I am Nabila. Today I am talking about photos. And iPhones (although this will apply to pretty much apply to any phone).

Who will this help?

-You

-Your friends

-Everyone you know

-bloggers

-non-bloggers

-anyone who has social media

-anyone who has a phone

-unicorns

-and the troll under the bridge

-your little sister

Pretty much everyone. Pretty much everyone who either has a phone or has access to one. If what I looked up was correct, 77% of all American adults own smartphones. I mean that is a lot and doesn't even include teens and tweens. In this post, I'm going to list 13 tips/things you should if you want to get cool photos with your iPhone. These are super user-friendly so don't fret if you are very new to this whole "Taking photos thing". 

How To Take Stunning Photos With Your iPhone

1. Use The Rule Of Three's

I originally heard about this when I was in 4th grade (I think). I was doing this after-school computer club thing where we made silly videos and it was actually a lot of fun (it was pretty much just a bunch of technology geeks which are of course the best people). The teacher who was in charge of the class mentioned the term but didn't really explain it. I asked my dad about it and he explained it to me. Pretty much the rule of 3's says that the actual subject of the photo should take up about a 3rd of the photograph while the other 2/3rds of the photo should just be background. You can find the actual definition here. This doesn't apply to all photos but you should always keep it in mind. Maybe you are taking a picture of a plant. Instead of just getting the plant show the plant and its surroundings. This makes the photo more interesting and unusual. 

2. Put On The Grid Feature

This goes along with the point above. When you put the grid on when you are taking a photo there will be 9 equal squares. This helps so that you can make a photo look exact and use the rule of 3's. It is super easy to turn this on and personally, I think it really helps. All you have to do is go to the settings app and scroll down to the thing that says "Photo and Camera". Once you are there you just have to scroll and tiny bit and then you should see something that as "Grid" that you can turn on. For some people, this makes it harder to take photos as it can be a bit distracting though. 

3. Don't Use Flash

Most of the time flash just makes a photo look fake a weird. Unless it is dark and you are taking a photo with your friends try not to use flash. I did actually have an example but I can't find the photos so you know...

4. Try Not To Zoom

Whenever possible try to physically get closer to whatever you are taking a photo of. Yes, I know more walking is almost never a good thing but it will make your photo better. I, of course, get using zoom because sometimes you have to. Whenever you do zoom in though it degrades the quality of your photo and makes it really fuzzy. 

5. Clean Your Lens

Don't look at me like I'm a crazy person this is a thing. I promise. It is a good idea to clean your lens everyone once in a while. The lens on your camera can get dirty super easy. I mean think about where your phone has probably been in the past few hours. Maybe in your pocket, in that drawer you haven't cleaned in like 10 months, and maybe even a bathroom. That is both gross to think about but it also means that there is probably a lot of dirt on the lens. Any soft cloth will do the trick. If you happen to have one of those things that are supposed to clean glasses than those also work super well for this. 

6. Try To Use The Rear-Facing camera

This means instead of what I like to call your selfie camera or the camera on the screen side of your phone. There are a couple reasons for this. Number 1 is that personally, I think it is a million times easier. Second though and most importantly the rear-facing camera is a lot better quality than the "selfie camera". 

8. Get A Tripod

You might be confused but yes there is such thing as a phone tripod. I was actually looking them up on Amazon recently because I really want one. The average price is about 10-40$ which isn't like that expensive. They are really useful especially if you have really shaky hands which I definitely do. 

9. Pay attention to lighting 

This is really important for basically every photo you ever take. Things like lighting are essential. I kind of have 3 things for. Number one is when you can if you are taking photos outside get the sun behind you. This makes whatever you are shooting a lot brighter and easier to see and less weird shadows. Number two which relates to number one is that you should always use natural lighting when you can. Number three is..... Something. I actually did have a number three and then I forgot because as I said I have memory problems. 

10. Edit Your Photo

Last but certainly not least is edit your photos! I love editing photos and although it might sound complicated it's pretty easy. I use an app called VSCO on my phone which is really easy to use but also has a lot of features. So I personally love VSCO but there are also a lot of other super cool editors out there and there are some like super professional ones if you are willing to pay money for it.

Thanks to Aura (a cool digital picture frame company) for providing me with this awesome graphic!

And that was how to take awesome photos with your iPhone with the one and only Nabila! Actually, though I took a bunch of photos for this post right before the flood (this post has been pushed back and changed dates when it was supposed to be published like ten times) and it's both making me cringe and smile but also kind of frown and I HAVE NO IDEA WHERE THEY ARE.

So anyway how is life for you guys? Do you use your phone for photography? Are you a blogger? What are your iphone photography tips? Do you enjoy taking photos? What is your favorite photo you have ever taken? 

Totally Last Minute DIY Halloween Costume Ideas

OK so Halloween is next week and no I am not kidding. This actually blew my mind as well when I saw the calendar. I love halloween because between getting to dress up and also getting free candy it's pretty awesome. Fun fact my first post (which I might have deleted) although it was posted in november was about halloween. I for one though am horrible at halloween costumes both because I am cheap and not that artistic. In this post I am going to list 4 super easy and fun last minute halloween costume ideas. Most of these you can do with either stuff you have at home or with only a couple of things you can get easily from the store. Let's get started!

*pics from pinterest 

1. Ghost!

I know that this is super cliche and kind of cheesy but it's super easy and also super fun to make. All you need for a fun ghost costume is pretty much a plain white sheet that you are allowed to cut into. Cut out holes for your eyes and mouth and you're pretty much done. If you want to make it cooler though adding fun ghost like designs onto it will give more depth to the costume and also it's just super fun to draw on random things.

2. Teenager 

I thought of this the other day at school when someone asked me what I wanted to be and truly I think I'm a genius. Literally all you have to do for this is wear what you regularly wear or if you are older or younger get some clothes you think a teen would wear. Personally I think this would be the perfect costume for any dad because all of the dad jokes you could get out of this would be crazy. I imagine something like this. 

Friend- "and what are you dressed up as"

dad- "oh a teenager"

Friend- *looks at him weird and then looks at the teenage daughter* "interesting"

dad- "yeah there an interesting species of monster"

I don't know. It could be cool. It could be equally cool for anyone else including actual teenagers. I was thinking it would be like a funny monster teenager type thing becaue teenegares are supossed to be horrible you know. I don't know. Does that make any sense?

3. Queen Bee

This costume is a bit harder but also super easy. All you need is a striped shirt/dress/pants/any clothing item and a headband. You can find cute bee themed headbands online but if you want to do it yourself and stick with the queen bee theme you can put a little crown on the headband and other yellow things. This costume name references so many amazing things including things like beyonce and also me (my sister calls me queen b sometimes).

4. Cat

This is seriously so cute but so awesome at the same time. I'm just going to come out and say it CATS ARE AMAZING. There are some cat haters in the world who say that cats are "mean" and "unloyal" and say that "dogs are so much better". As you have probably guessed I love cats and desperately want one of my own. With this costume you can make it look like you put work into it while really you just put on some cat ears. For this costume clothing wise all you need is a black shirt and then some black bottoms. For the part that actually makes you look like a cat you can put on some cute cat ears and then draw a couple of whiskers on your face.

Sorry for the short post but I love halloween so much and am honestly so excited!

Do you enjoy halloween? What are you dressing up as this year? What are you plans for Halloween? What is your favorite thing you have done for halloween in the past?

My Goals For Fall

I am a whole month late for fall AND IT'S KIND OF KILLING ME. Last year I am not even kidding I did 10-15 fall-related posts but this year I am behind. When I was coming up with this post I was thinking of fall blog post ideas but it seems like I have already done all of them. Like seriously. I even have a post with 31 blog post ideas and I still couldn't think of anything. Finally, I decided to list some of my goals for fall even though I'm like a month late. Actually though even though I count fall as October and September, officially fall starts at the end of September and ends sometime in December so I'm not like that late. Kind of. Maybe. I don't know.

Let's get started!

1. Get a pretty fall photo

I mean you can't go through fall without getting some kind of orangy leaf photo. I love fall colors and I kind of want to just have a full fall photoshoot.

This photo is originally found in this post. 

2. Carve a pumpkin

Or at least have a pumpkin somewhere. The insides of the pumpkin are actually kind of disgusting but the outcome is cool.

3. Make a fall-themed video on my channel 

I started a youtube channel recently and most of the videos are kind of terrible but they are improving. Kind of. But I'm thinking of doing like a 5 cute and comfy fall outfit ideas video. Comment down below if you like that idea!

4. Get into student council
I have been wanting to do student council since I knew it was a thing and I already applied now I just have to wait and figure out if I got in.

5. Survive UIL

This year I am in the theatre UIL class and even though it's super cool I'm also very very scared about it. UIL is basically like a competition and they have it for pretty much everything from sports to academics including theatre. I was cast as an understudy but a couple weeks ago my teacher told me that if we were to go on in the competition then I would actually be the one acting and its like super confusing.

6. Play in the leaves

This is so steryotypecly fall but it's also something that I like really want to do. In Houston weather wise it's pretty much fall until spring but leaf wise it's almost like none of the leaves change color and if they do it's usually because they are dead or at least look dead so we almost never get the cool leaf changing color pile thing. It's kind of annoying.

7. Read more books than usual

I feel like fall should be that cozy season where you curl up with a good book, a blanket, and a mug of hot herbal tea. For me, that is like my dream so I'm going to try to read more. During the summer I got super behind on my reading but with school and also Name That Book coming up I really need to read more.

8. Do Halloween

What I mean by this is actually get a costume and go trick or treating. With Harvey, everything is a lot more complicated but I am pretty sure we are going to go trick or treating although I'm still not sure what I am going to wear.

9. Do some kind of fall DIY

I did this garland thing last year and I am not even kidding I just haven't taken it down. Since I am in a new house though and a new room and I want to do something else and also just make the room more festive. Comment down below what DIY you think I should do!

10. Be more conscious of what I eat

I have been trying to be a lot more healthy lately and I would say I am partly succeeding but I want to try to continue that into this new season. I love food but sometimes that can lead to me eating a lot of food and not even realizing how much or not realizing the flavor so I also want to slow down when I eat.

11. Get a fall sweater

Sadly during the flood, I lost all of my jackets and sweaters which kind of annoyed me. One of my friends is letting me borrow one of her hoodies for things like school but I really want one of those cozy and big fall sweaters. In case you like, know me in real life and want to buy me a present this is a fabolous idea.

12. Eat lots of soup

Soup is by far one of my favorite types of food PRETTY MUCH EVER and it is perfect for the cooler months. Soup is simple, makes you warm, and can also be super healthy since a lot of soups are vegetarian but also taste amazing.

I love fall so much, it is by far one of my favorite seasons for just about ten million reasons. Haha. Make sure to follow my blog using either the little button to the left side of this post or using Bloglovin'. 

What is your favorite season? Do you enjoy fall? What are some of your goals for fall? What is your favorite thing about fall? 

 

I'm A Teenger | How It Feels + Lots of Screaming + Photos Through The Ages

I'm a teenager now.
That's kind of crazy for me to say.

I have always been very interested in names and what you can call yourself when.
I did a whole post about it a while back but I can't seem to find it now (annoyingly).

I have been wanting to be a teenager pretty much since I was 6.
Teenagers have always been this almost godly figure to me.

Those people in high school who have their own cars and phones and do social media and have a million friends.
As I have grown a bit older I realized that most of what I imagined wasn't really true.

Once you turn 13 you don't magically grow wings and the ability to make all of the friends you want.
It's still pretty cool though.

 That was like deep and kind of sad but now for the happy part of the post. I'M A FREAKING TEENAGER NOW AND I DON'T EVEN KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED. Wednesday was my birthday and thank you everyone both in real life and here on the blog for wishing me a happy birthday. The whole day I was just so happy and I really never stopped smiling. My mom woke me up singing the "it's your birthday, so happy birthday to you" song which was a pretty cool way to wake up. When I was walking to school with my friend she gave me this adorable bag that I'm kind of obsessed with right now and will definitely show you in my birthday haul post. I always get to school early so for that about an hour that we waited I kept running up to people saying it was my birthday which was seriously like a lot of fun. Throughout the day a lot of my friends told me happy birthday (after I reminded them but it still counts). During homeroom one of my friends even made a card and got everyone to sign it. As my mom likes to say my love language is words of affirmation which means I pretty much love compliments so my birthday is by far one of my favorite days of the year.

I still can't even believe THAT I AM 13 and actually writing this post. I started this blog when I was 9 and I have grown so much since then. It's crazy to look back at some of my old posts and just see how the ways I have changed both in my thinking and appearance. 

This is a picture of me from this post dated february 2016. That's not even that long ago but first of all just look at this photo quality. It's kind of horrible. The photos on my blog aren't that great but they are improving quite a bit. I must admit though I still have that same shirt and it still fits me (I've matured but I haven't grown that much). 

Also this picture which was from december 2015 when I was doing Daily December. First of all I'm actually sick in this photo so I don't look that great. Second WHY DOES MY FACE LOOK SO FUZZY. Like why did you put this on the internet past Nabila? Third I actually look kind of younger in this photo. My appearance face wise I would say hasn't changed that much but my face looks kind of like a baby in this picture. Does anyone else see that?

I found another photo of me! This one was just a month earlier than the last one in November 2015. It was when I went to this cool art thing  My first point is again the quality. Like WWWHHHHYYYY. Second WHAT AM I DOING. I am not like the best at modeling for photos but I've been trying to get better at it (mostly so that I don't look so awkward in photos) and I would say I have definitely improved. 

Wow. Haha. Is it bad that I really like making fun of my older posts? No? Ok good haha. Ok another thing I am super excited about is that I now have an instagram account! I convinced my parents like two days ago that yes it is ok if I get instagram so you know... Follow me! But seriously though it's so weird that I am actually 13 now and I would love some advice in the comments! Also I might have changed my profile picture about ten times in the past week so I'm sorry but this will hopefully be the official one for now and so sorry if I confused anyone. :)

What is some advice you would give me as a new teen? If you're a teenager how did you feel when you turned 13? If  you are not a teeneger what are you looking forward to about being a teen?

Interview With Little Miss Wizzy

I have a very special guest on the blog today on this lovely Monday who goes by the name of Little Miss Wizzy. She is one of my best friends so I got her to start a blog (do you see a trend both here and here). She started it a couple months ago and hasn't posted that much but she is back on and posting on her marvelous blog weekly. She asked me if we could do an interview swap and I, of course, said yes because friends forever right? Maybe? Ok? So now welcoming LittleMissWizzy also known as Isabel to the few lucky people who know her offline!

What is your name and what does it mean?

Isabel, devoted to god

That's so cool and I actually did not know that. What is your blog name and what does it mean?

LittleMissWizzy, it came from a club name, wizzy, the club required a made up name that started with W or a breakfast food. I was having trouble coming up with a name. My friend took my nickname, Izzy, and added a W. Wizzy!

So like an online game or something I'm guessing. How do you spend an average day?

I like to start off my day watching YouTube. I love watching DIYs and recently bought a hot glue gun. I like to invite over friends or think about my next post.

Yeah, youtube is basicly life. What are your favorite hobbies?

I like video games and crafts. Inviting over friends are a light to my day!

So inviting me over is what I'm hearing pretty much. Interesting. Interesting. What is your favorite thing about me/Nabila?

Nabila is one of my best friends. Though I mess with her a lot, I really care for her. She is a great friend!

Awwwww thanks. Definitely did not just add that question so you would say that. Definitely not. How do you come up with blog posts?

I watch videos and get ideas from friends. Sometimes ideas just pop into my head! :)

Cool cool. Same. What does your blog mean to you and why do you

blog?

I got the idea to blog from my great friend, Nabila! Once again she is a great friend!

Because I'm of course very inspiring. If you could hang out/meet any living person for an hour who would it be?

Right now, Michelle Obama. I feel like she is an inspiring girl who deserves to be loved. I have a book about an amazing woman, and she's on the 3rd page!

That's awesome! What are you super annoyed about right now?

For annoyed, the answer will always be my sister.

Told you she was awesome! Make sure to go check out her blog and give her a follow.  She is a super cool person and an awesome friend. While you're at it if you haven't already followed my blog using that little gadget to the left of this post or with Bloglovin' make sure to go do so! Also, my birthday is like in 2 days and I'm like FREAKING OUT because I will be A TEENAGER and I'm like actually scared. SEND HELP. 

Do you enjoy my interview posts? Do you want to be interviewed on my blog (find out how to do that here)? What are your answers to some of the questions I asked Isabel? How did you find my blog? When is your birthday and how old are you? Have any advice to me as a new teenager?