Here are four amazing online photography (摄影) classes to improve your photos.

Mastering Lightroom & Photoshop (By Andrew Kerns)

Every professional photographer uses post-processing (后期处理) skills to make their images stand out. In fact, editing and post-processing your images is a major part of the photography work. Luckily, Andrew Kerns has put together an amazing online class to help you learn the latest professional Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop skills.

Wildlife Photography Workshop (By Charly Savely)

Professional wildlife photographer, Charly Savely, has recently decided to share her secrets with the world through her online Wildlife Photography Workshop recorded in Alaska’s Katmai National Park. Learn how she chooses camera settings using art to influence your style, where to find wildlife and how to photograph animals safely in the wild.

A to Z of Selling Your Photos (By Lola Akinmade)

Lola Akinmade is an excellent travel photographer whose works are regularly published by brands(品牌)like The New York Times and Travel & Leisure. She has also put together an excellent online photography class that goes into detail about how to make your photos be brands, including getting close to brands, how to deal with copyrights, working with editors, getting model shows and much more.

Photographing the World (By Elia Locardi)

Elia Locardi is a very successful landscape photographer who’s been travelling the world for years. His course Photographing the World is full of tips and post-processing skills he uses to create his landscape and travel photography. With 15 lessons and more than 12 hours of video content, his photography class takes you from the on-location capture (外景拍摄) all the way through his post-processing skills in the studio.

I believe that we should take pride in what we do, even if it is misunderstood by the people around us.

I have been a professional skateboarder for 24 years. For much of that time, the sport that paid my rent and gave me my greatest joy had many names, most of which were ugly: a kids’ play, a waste of time, a dangerous activity.

When I was about 17, my high schoolteacher event old me in front of the entire class that I would never make a living as a skateboarder. It seemed to him that my future was bleak.

Even during those dark years, I never stopped riding my skateboard. There had been many, many times when I felt discouraged because I couldn’t complete a difficult move. But I’ve come to realize that the only way to master something is to keep at it—despite the bloody knees, despite the unpleasant comments.

Although skateboarding has gained mainstream recognition in recent years, it still has unfavorable stereotypes(刻板印象).The professional skateboarders I know are responsible members of society. Their hairstyles and clothes are simply part of the culture, even when they appear strange during competitions.

So here I am, 38 years old, a wife and a mother of three, with a lengthy list of responsibilities. And although I have many job titles—senior advisor, foundation chairwoman, well-known actress—the one I am most proud of is professional skateboarder.

My youngest son’s preschool class were recently asked what their parents do for work. The responses were things like, “My dad sells money.” and “My mom figures stuff out.” My son said, “I’ve never seen my mom do work.”

It’s true. Skateboarding doesn’t seem like real work, but I’m proud of what I do. My parents never once questioned the practicality behind my passion(酷爱). I hope to pass on the same lesson to my children someday.

At a Pittsburgh wedding, the cookie table is as important as the first kiss. But finding the true origin of the tradition is as challenging as making the perfect cookie table. Some say it’s a custom brought to Pittsburgh by immigrants and everybody from Italians to Polish people claims its heritage. Others say it grew out of a need to save money on cake in the 1930s.

But the cookie table’s connection with weddings didn’t show up in publications until the 1990s. Certainly, Pittsburghers feasted on wedding cookie tables well before the 1990s, with local bakers saying they recall cookie tables at their families’ weddings for as long as they can remember.

“When I was a kid, the big talk was not ‘How was the wedding?’ Instead, it was ‘How were the cookies?’” said 70-year-old Marc Serrao, owner of Oakmont Bakery in Pittsburgh. “Perhaps the concept didn’t show up in newspapers and cookbooks because everybody was doing it, so it wasn’t seen as newsworthy.”

But no matter the origins, this tradition of sharing sweet homemade cookies at weddings is baked into Pittsburgh culture. For many local families, preparing a cookie table has become a unique way to show their love.

There’s no exact number of cookies at a wedding. It’s usually somewhere between six per guest up to one-and-a-half dozen(十二) per guest.

Then when can the guest seat the cookies?

The answer likely lies in family tradition. Some families open the cookie tables before dinner, while most families wait until after dinner. Generally, it is recommended to wait until after dinner.

“However, what is tradition and what happens are two totally different things,” Marc Serrao says. “I dare someone to tell Grandma that she is not allowed to pick a cookie off the cookie table before dinner. I also dare someone to tell Aunt Betsy that she is not allowed to put four cookies in her bag for the next morning with her coffee.”

Most people don’t lie very much. It makes sense. By being honest with people, you not only buildup goodwill, but also save a lot of brainpower since your brain doesn’t have to do anything out of the ordinary when you tell the truth. You just think of what you want to say, and you say it.

However, lying takes much more work. Imagine you’re late to class and the teacher asks why. If you decide to lie, you have to make up a story on the spot, think about the various directions the conversation might take and figure out what you need to say to keep this whole lie from falling apart. You might not be aware of it, but you just give your brain a lot of extra work. “A lot of that brain work is done in a region called the prefrontal cortex. It’s the part in charge of working memory,” explains Jennifer Vendemia, a scientist from the University of South Carolina.

Working memory keeps something in mind just for a little while, such as remembering instructions for how to play a game or some other specific task. It stores things for only a short while as you’re using them, and it doesn’t put them in long-term storage. Besides working memory, the prefrontal cortex also takes care of tasks such as planning, problem-solving and self-control. Scientists describe these as executive function tasks. Executive function lets you think a step or two ahead to make sure the lie you’re telling will likely holdup to questioning. “Spending so much brainpower trying to keep a story straight means there’s less available for other things,” says Vendemia. “Lying is especially harmful for young people as the prefrontal cortex is not fully developed until around age 25. When the prefrontal cortex is busy with tasks related to lying, younger people have a harder time doing other tasks.”

Lying has social costs, too. People generally value honesty and don’t like liars. So if people view you as untrustworthy, it can be bad for your relationships.