Macro Photos...without the macro lens.

Hello hello,

I was a bit bored today and was playing around with my camera when I remembered reading about a technique to take close-up shots without having a macro lens.
I tried it and I was quite happy with the result, and it was fun!

 

 

So the method is to take off the lens and turn it around. You have to hold the lens against the camera as it doesn't click on backwards. And voila! shoot away and play around to see different methods.

I find these pictures look very arty. I don't think you'd get good close-up pictures of insects and that but it's fun being able to get closer :)
Since the lens isn't attached, the camera doesn't allow me to change the aperture which is constantly on 00. This is why the pictures are quite blurry, but I find it gives a lovely dreamy look to them.

Here are some pictures of how close I can normally get with the lens put on correctly on the camera:

 

As you can see, my prime 50mm lens doesn't allow me to get too close. With a zoom lens, you could get much closer I am sure.

The only problem with this method is that it can let in a lot of dust on the sensor. I was a bit worried about that at first but then I just did it and I don't see too much dust on it.

Well there you go! I learn something new every day :) I'm definitely going to take more in the next days.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Nutella Brownie (or Cookie)

Today I finally tried the recipe I found on the internet.
As you might know, I'm an au pair at the moment in Ireland and the family I'm staying with are not the type to cook anything other than chicken and spuds, so imagine them baking!
I didn't want to ask the mother to buy extra things for me to bake cause that kind of felt impolite so this recipe is perfect!

It's a 3 ingredient recipe: nutella, flour and egg. Things you can find in your kitchen (and that I found here!)

But before I begin to show you how to make this, I have to tell you that I slightly changed the recipe by reducing the amount of each ingredient (otherwise I would have ended up with 12 cupcakes and on my own that would have been way too much). I also didn't find any cupcake pan in the house, so I used a regular cake one... which makes my creation look and taste more like a cookie than an actual brownie.
Well, next time I will try and use a different tray!

Ok so let's begin.

 

 
Ingredients:

. 2 and a half tablespoons of flour
. 4 tablespoons nutella
. half an egg
 

 

 
This was the tray I found. I think it would have been better to use a cupcake pan so that the mix isn't spread too much and becomes more fluffy inside (my one was very crispy; more like a cookie).

 
You can add whatever you want on top: nuts, chocolate flakes, etc. These white decoration toppings were the only things I found in the cupboard that I could use.
I only put them on half of my brownie as a test. Couldn't really taste them when the brownie was finished but it's one way of decorating it.
 

 

 
I was using my phone to know how much time to put the brownie in the oven.
I put it in the preheated oven for 30 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius.

 
I was quite amazed when my brownie started rising after only a couple of minutes. I was quite happy cause I had no idea if this was going to work or burn or go flat.

 
30 minutes later it's time to take it out of the oven.

 

 

And this is how it looks like!

 

 

 

Voila!
I really enjoyed it. However, it was very dry and I had to drink a glass of milk with it but maybe with some crème anglaise or some chocolate cream this would have been perfect!

The real recipe is for a much bigger amount (don't be surprised if your nutella pot is empty afterwards). If you want to make the original one, here is the recipe:

- 1 cup (280g) nutella
- 10 tbsp (62g) flour
- 2 eggs

Bake them the same way I did this one and you will end up with about 12 cupcakes. Great to share with the family!

Well, it was fun sharing this with everyone and I was happy to end up in 35 minutes with a brownie (cookie in my case) in my hands :)

Have a great weekend and hope to post soon again!

100 comments + discovery!

First of all, I'd like to say a little hurray cause I've reached 100 comments on my blog! yay!

For most bloggers this must be a small number, but for me it's a lot.

I visited a lot of blogs and websites these last few days, so I've decided to sometimes do a "discovery" post, where I make a small list of the new blogs I've discovered and liked.

(p.s. nothing is sponsored, it's all my opinion)

Tout d'abord, je voudrais dire un grand youpi pour avoir atteint 100 commentaires sur mon blog! yay!

Pour la plupart des bloggers ce chiffre est insignifiant, mais pour moi c'est de la joie.

J'ai visité beaucoup de blogs et de sites ces derniers jours et j'ai donc décidé de parfois écrire un article sur les "découvertes" que j'ai faites, où je parlerai des blogs que j'ai vraiment apprécié.

(p.s. je ne suis pas payée pour ces listes, tout est mon opinion personnel)

- Amy-Rose King Photography is a blog owned by a wedding photographer who makes beautiful pictures: sharp, colourful and dreamy. I normally prefer reading and looking at photography blogs created by beginners, or just those who enjoy this hobby. But Amy-Rose's pictures are so perfect that I just wanted to share this with everyone.

-The Saccone Jolys is a couple from Ireland =D who do daily vlogs of their funny lives. She does makeup/beauty videos and he does his own videos but I don't remember what they were about. Anyway, their vlogs are very funny, filled with dogs, puppies, shopping and a baby on the way!

-Freckled Italian is a blog owned by a young woman called Megan. I enjoy her fresh, fun blog and she just had an ad space giveaway (oh well, I lost!) but I find these type of giveaways great!

So those were my little discoveries of these last two weeks, and I hope you'll like these just as much as I do!

Have a  great weekend!