What are Lightroom Presets & Why Should You Care?

If you’re interested in the photography, blogging, or the creative world, chances are you’ve heard the term Lightroom Presets thrown around before. But what actually is a Lightroom preset?⁣

⁣Let’s start with the basics: Lightroom is a powerful photo editing program from Adobe, & comes in the same package as Photoshop. However, Lightroom is very user friendly, & easy to use once you know your way around.⁣

Lightroom also offers a 100% free mobile app which you can download for both Android and iOS. When you open the app, you can import & organize your photos from your phone, edit them, & then export them back to your photos to upload wherever you wish.⁣

Here’s the problem that presets solve: editing your photos can take HOURS. It’s easy to get lost in all the different editing options in Lightroom while trying to create a certain aesthetic for your photo. This is especially true for those who are new to Lightroom.

Most of us don’t have time to spend several hours editing our images to be just right. This is where presets come in. A preset is a set of adjustments made on a photo in Lightroom, which are then saved so the same adjustments can be added to other photos. This is what creates a consistent & aesthetic looking Instagram feed, or branding for your business’s website & content.⁣

How Stressful Situations Can Help Us Grow

Today I’m telling you the story of my bike ride around Lake Brienz in Interlaken, Switzerland in the fall of 2015. If you know me, you’ll know that this is one of my favorite travel stories to tell because it was truly an eye opening and soul changing experience, and one that I will never forget.

Our story begins in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, where I was staying in a 6 bed hostel room traveling solo. I had read the night before about a beautiful bike path that went around one of the lakes in Interlaken, and I was determined to try it. That morning, I hopped on a local train and departed an hour later in the tiny town known for extreme sports like paragliding: Interlaken.

After finding the bike rental store and being told there was no need to lock up the bike because ‘this is Switzerland, no one will steal it’, I consulted my offline map and started to bike toward what I thought was the beginning of the path.

About 45 minutes later I realized that the ‘path’ was just the side of the road. I made my way down the main street, passing cows and sheep, and pausing to take photos periodically. I was already stunned by the beauty that spread out around me. I’ve never seen water so blue in my life. It was a perfect fall day, crisp and cool but sunny, and I was ecstatic.

I stopped for a snack in the next village, and for a cappuccino in the village after that. A bit farther on I saw a large church tower and decided to check it out. I passed more cows grazing in their fields, bells tinkling, parked my bike (no need to lock it!) and walked up to the top of the tower. There was no one around and I could see the entire lake, complete with snow capped mountains and puffy clouds. It’s still one of the most beautiful moments of my life.

LifestyleNicole MorleyAugust 2, 2019personal growth, lifestyle, stress, travel, writing exampleComment

How to Spend a Weekend in Lower Manhattan

In my six years living in New York, I can only remember a handful of times spent below Canal street. I worked and played from Soho to Harlem, from Alphabet city to Chelsea, but somehow the Financial District never got much love from my well traveled city feet. Once I moved out of New York I began spending much more time south of Houston visiting friends who had moved downtown. The past two weekends have given me a taste of everything I was missing!

My friend tipped me off to a great new hotel app, Hotel Tonight which I used to book both of my weekends in the city. Download this app for access to discounted prices on rooms that hotels have yet to book. It's extremely helpful and very easy to use. The first weekend we stayed at the Courtyard Marriott Downtown for just $99 (a ridiculously cheap price for NYC). We were upgraded at check-in and had a beautiful room with floor to ceiling views of the Freedom Tower. This past weekend I booked a stay at Gild Hall, which was very luxe. We were treated to prosecco upon arrival which we sipped as we unpacked and changed for our evening ahead.

Let's start with the must-knows: Navigating Lower Manhattan can leave you walking in circles; it's a maze down there. I highly recommend that you're familiar with navigating Google Maps, or my personal favorite offline map app Ulmon Pro. None of these streets are numbered, and there is no grid to follow, just a lot of weird intersections and street names like Gold and Fulton. A map is a must!

The Art of Listening

What does the word 'listening' mean to you? We have the ability to listen and hear so many different things throughout our day that sometimes we take this beautiful sense for granted. We can listen to the sounds around us, we can hear our own bodies and listen to them internally, and we can listen to the people around us, and to those that we love. Take some extra time today and exercise your auditory range.

Start with a familiar action. Wherever you are right now, take a moment and listen to the sounds around you. Perhaps there is coffee being poured, perhaps birds chirping, planes passing overhead, wind through the trees. Maybe there are voices talking around you, cars driving by, mechanical engines humming. For a few seconds, close your eyes and listen.

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Taking the time to focus only on the sounds around us brings us into the present moment and allows the mental chatter in our minds to quiet down. Notice how you feel after taking the time to listen. Make no judgements about what you've heard, just allow these sounds to be.

Next, focus on the sounds your own body makes. Again, release judgements. Close your eyes and listen to your breath. Inhale. Exhale. Notice the rustle of your clothing, the beating of your heart, the way your shoes land on the pavement, the brush of your hands against an object. For a few moments, listen to your own sounds.

LifestyleNicole MorleyJuly 20, 2016yoga, listening, thoughts, art, meditation, homeyoga, writing exampleComment

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