What you can do in Photoshop

Believe it or not, with a little experience it's not too difficult to create something like this on Photoshop. On the left you can see a 'mega city' I created in less than 2 hours.

To do this I used the same simple skills I explained in my tutorial Replacing Backgrounds using Photoshop. I just took a photo of one city then added buildings and parts of other cities behind it, using different layers. There are around 8 different cities in this image. I recall having at least 15 different layers when I created the image. All it takes is some experimenting with layers, the magic eraser tool and other tools.

If you have any queries about how to make a similar image using Photoshop, just leave a comment here.

Joining the gym? Part 2

If you're signing up to a gym for the first time and you've read Part 1 of this post, you're ready for this. You're not going to build muscle or drop the kilos just by going to the gym. In this post you will discover what else it takes to achieve these goals. You have probably heard this a million times before. When you start lifting weights or a new fitness program, don't expect overnight results. This is so true. It takes time, but if you go the right way about it, you will get results. The gym can help you get excellent results but it can also be a big waste of money if you don't know what you're doing.

Motivation is the key
Firstly you need the motivation to keep returning to the gym. It is so easy to loose the motivation and just give up. I stay motivared by always having rests. If you try going 6-7 times per week you will probably quickly loose interest. Go just 3 times per week. If you go 3 times, you're not wasting your money, you're muscles have time to recover and you wont loose interest so quickly. Also only get a 1 month membership (if they don't have 1 month memberships get the shortest they do have). At the end of each month have a 1 - 2 week rest. After the 1-2 weeks you'll be far more excited about returning.

Get your own program
When you first sign up, know exactly what you want to achieve. If you're unsure see Part 1 of this post. You will get the best results if you have your own personal program. You could try searching the internet for a program but there is one problem with this. The people writing these programs know nothing about you, so it's not personal. I recomend either asking to have a trainer at your gym create you a program (many gyms will do this free of charge). Or join an online fitness forum. There are always people on these forums who will be happy to help you and they usually know what they're talking about. Just sign up and post a thread. Try to include:

• your age
• what you want to achieve
• your height and weight
• how long you've been training
• details about your diet

Just be honest and with this information other members will be sure to help you create a good personal program.

A good diet is essential
You could work out every day for 12 months, but if you don't eat the right food you wouldn't see any results. I see this happen all the time, people spend hours at the gym but wonder why they're still so skinny or why they aren't loosing the weight. It is always because they don't have a good diet. If you're serious about building muscle you need to eat a lot. (obviously not junk food) Protein is crucial if you want to get bigger. You could try protein supplements but make sure you research them well first, they often have side effects. I'm no expert on diet, so I suggest you do your own research. Just remember without a good diet you wont get the results.

In summary, only get short memberships and have breaks to stay motivated. Get a personal program made for you, to help achieve your goals and eat well. If you follow the points outlined above you will see the results. Just keep at it.

Thinking of joining the gym? What you need to know

Will your New Years Resolution be to get into shape in 2009? Signing up at the local gym can be a good step towards this. In this post I will teach you the secrets to a gym membership.

Know what you want to achieve

Before you even find a gym think about what exactly you want to achieve. There are two main reasons people will go to the gym.
1. Cardiovascular fitness. Many people just use the treadmills, bikes, etc, to improve their fitness or burn off some calories.
2. Weight training. Most gym's have a good range of machines and free weights you can use to build up some muscle. Consider what muscles you want to work on. You need to ask yourself some questions. Upper body? Lower body? Why do you want to build up muscle? How often are you prepared to go to the gym?
If you're thinking of joining the gym just for cardio, I would reconsider. You can achieve the same results without joining a gym just by jogging, walking or playing sport. Maybe consider purchasing your own running machine or exercise bike. Also you will discover going to the gym just to spend an hour on the exercise bikes can be incredibly boring.

Finding a gym

After you have considered the points above and you still want to join up, you need to find a gym. Again there are some factors you need to consider. Do your research before buying a membership.
1. Price. You don't want to be spending too much on your membership. $60 or less for a 1 month membership or $500 or less for a 12 month membership are fair prices. Some gyms have very cheap deals for new members. But you need to remember these are only for new members. So after your first membership expires, the cost of another membership will probably jump considerably. Ask about a trial membership. Many gyms will offer very cheap or free, 1-2 week trial memberships for new members. I will come back trial memberships later.
2. Location. Ultimately you want a gym within 10 minutes or walking distance from you. The further you have to travel, the less likely you are to continue going. If you can walk there this can become part of your work out.
3. Equipment. Good quality equipment is important. Does the gym have equipment you can make good use of? Does it have enough equipment? Is it in good condition?
4. Other people. A gym session is always more enjoyable if you go with someone else. If you know someone else who already goes to the gym think about going with them. Just don't let them become a distraction at the gym.
This website may help you search for a gym.

Signing up at the gym

When you have chosen a good gym, it's time to sign up. The following point is probably the most valuable piece of advice I can offer you.
Do not buy a 12 month membership. When you first sign up they will try to convince you to buy a 12 month membership. They will tell you how you save so much money when buying a 12 month membership, just ignore them. Unless you are a die hard, gym junkie, I can almost guarantee you will not regularly go for 12 months. Nobody does. Chances are over 12 months you're going to get sick, suffer injuries, go on holidays and have other commitments. There goes at least 2 - 3 months of your membership. Yes, many gyms will allow you to suspend your membership, however this can be a long, tedious process, involving a lot of paperwork. Then the main reason not to get a 12 month membership is you will loose motivation. My guess would be 90% of people who buy a 12 month membership loose motivation and only go for 3 months or less. Would you want to pay for something you're not going to use?
As I mentioned earlier try to get a 1-2 week trial membership. This wont cost you much (if anything) and at the end you can decide whether you want to continue going afterwards.

If you still want to sign up to a gym, read Part 2 of this post, which will offer more advice for after you sign up. Remember to leave a comment if you have any further questions.

New Only Adelaide Domain

Just quickly, Only Adelaide can now be reached at www.only-adelaide.com, instead of only-adelaide.blogspot.com as it was previously. Hopefully this new address is easier to remember and also quicker to type.

Replacing backgrounds using Photoshop

This tutorial will explain how to replace a boring or plain background with a more interesting background using Adobe Photoshop. There are a number of ways this can be done, but this is the method I use and it's fairly simple. All you need is Adobe Photoshop or ImageReady and some photos. As an example I have used this photo I took in Glenelg you see above. The sky in this photo is just plain blue, not very interesting. So I'm going to replace it with a more interesting sky.

Firstly you find the image you want to change and open it up in Photoshop. In the layers tab this should appear as 'Layer 1'. Next in the left toolbar find the magic eraser tool. Now using the magic eraser click on part of the background you wish to have replaced. You should get something like this:

Depending on the image, it may take several clicks to fully erase the background. Also sometimes the magic eraser will erase part of the image which you want to keep. If this happens just undo the magic eraser and try adjusting the contrast before using the magic eraser again.
Now when you have completely cleared your background like shown below, you must create a new layer.

Now you need to find the image you wish to replace the background with. The image can come from your computer or the internet. To make things easier try to find an image that will contrast well with your existing foreground. For example a dark stormy sky would look silly in the background of my Glenelg photo. But a dusk, orange sky would fit in quite well.

When you have found an appropriate background image simply copy and paste it into your new layer. When you copy and paste it, it's probably going to appear above your foreground image (Layer 1) .All you need to do is find the layers tab and drag layer 2 below layer 1.

Now usually your background image will be either too big or too small. To fix this, make sure you have layer 2 selected and go to Edit then free transform (or Ctrl T). Now you can expand or move the image to however you like. When you've finished just click the tick above your image or the cross if you don't like it.
Now you've got your new background in place. If you want you can make more adjustments from here to improve it, just mess around with it. Experimenting with the different tools is the best way to learn more.

World Tennis Challenge in Adelaide

This coming January (2009) the World Tennis Challenge will be held at Memorial Drive, Adelaide. If you would like to see some big name past tennis champions compete, this event might be for you.

So what is the World Tennis Challenge? It is a three day tennis tournoment to be held at Memorial Drive tennis complex. This will be the innurgral World Tennis Challenge. Four teams of two players will compete, with one past player and one current player (although some aren't really current players). Australia, United States, France and Sweeden will make up the four teams. All players will play both doubles and singles.

Australia will be represented by Pat Cash and Mark Philopousus. Other players include America's Jim Courier and Taylor Dent, also Mats Wilander who won seven Grand Slam events and probably the most exciting of the current player, Gael Monfils. Monfils is currently ranked 14th in the world, so if it's top level tennis you want to see, look out for this man. The organisers of the event would have been thrilled to sign up Monfils.

Don't expect an extremely high standard of tennis in this event, because besides Gael Monfils and possibly Taylor Dent the rest are unlikely to deliver. However it is still probably the best tennis tournoment you will find in South Australia. Expect a fun event with a good atmosphere.

The World Tennis Challenge will be held at Memorial Drive in North Adelaide from January 14 - 16 2009. Tickets are $16.50 for children and $38.50 for adults and can be purchased from Venutix.

Adelaide Christmas lights displays

One of my favourite Christmas time traditions is visiting different light displays. Fortunately, here in Adelaide we are treated to many amazing light displays during the festive season. The lights are spread all over Adelaide, but it is good to know where the best are. You will often find clusters of lights where a street or even a suburb will all display lights. A list of some of Adelaide's best light displays can be found here. The best thing about visiting Christmas lights is, it's completely free.

Lobethal Lights
Here in Adelaide we are very lucky to have the biggest Christmas light display less than an hour from Adelaide. For those who have not been to Lobethal before, almost every house in this town situated in the Adelaide Hills, is decorated with lights. The town attracts over 250,000 visitors each festive season. A visit to Lobethal is much more than just driving around. I suggest the first thing to do when you get there is visit the main street. Find a park close to the main street and take walk down the street. Remember to take some money, along the main street you will find several food stalls set up and also several gift shops where you can buy nice decorations among many other things. Along the main street there is also a 'living nativity' which is performed twice each night. This is definately worth checking out.

After having a look through the main street, when it's dark, have a look at the lights. There are two trials which have been set up around the town. There are signs which will tell you where to go, to follow the trails. By following these trails you will see a good selection of the best light displays in Lobethal. It will also take you to this incredible house. It is worth getting out of your car and spending 10-15 minutes just looking at this house, which includes an amazing display of 100,000 lights. Following the two trails will probably take you 60-90 minutes.

The official Lobethal lights season runs from December 14 to New Years Eve.

Adelaide City Displays
In Victoria Square, Adelaide you will find a giant Christmas tree reaching 24 meters. The tree is decorated with lights and other decorations. It is worth having a look at and it's usually not too crowded. The iconic brewery display is worth a look but is often very crowded.

Other Christmas light displays

• Old Noarlunga
• Salisbury
• Woodcroft
• Loxton
  

What next for Only Adelaide?

The Only Adelaide blog has just begun. So what are you going to see on this blog in the future?

Over the next few months a lot of changes will be occurring on this blog, in order to make it more enjoyable for you, the reader. Our goal is to make this the number one blog in Adelaide and also appeal to people outside of Adelaide.

New web address
One of the first changes which I hope to have set up within the next week or two is a new domain name for this website. It is likely to change to 'www.only-adelaide.com'. This will be easier to remember for our readers and quicker to type.

More Content
Over the next few months a lot more content you start appearing here. Hopefully there should be plenty of reading material about Adelaide, sport, music, technology, architecture, reviews, tutorials and more. Something for everyone. I will try to post at least four next blog articles each week. I am also hoping to have guest writers, so if you're interested in writing some articles please contact me or leave a comment. So stay tuned.

New Features
Many of these feature should be set up very soon. They include a navigation bar at the top of the page, the option to email articles to your friends and rate articles. Soon we will be including weekly polls. Two features I'm really looking forward to, that may not appear for some time yet are newsletters and a message board/forum.

I will continually be looking for more ideas to further improve this blog. If you have any helpful ideas, I would love to hear from you. Please contact me at onlyadelaide@gmail.com or leave a comment.

Adelaide United FIFA Club World Cup Campaign

This December Adelaide United will compete in the Fifa Club World Cup, held in Japan. Adelaide United qualified for the Club World Cup by reaching the final of the Asian Champions League. Adelaide will play their first match against New Zealand club,Waitakere United on December 11 in Tokyo.If Adelaide United are successful in their first two Club World Cup matches they will face a match up against football powerhouse, Manchester United.

Adelaide shouldn't have to many concerns in their match against Waitakere United. If they do beat the New Zealand champions they will then face Gamba Osaka in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup. Gamba Osaka are the Japanese team who defeated Adelaide United 5-0 on aggregate in the final of the Asian Champions League(ACL). Despite this result Adelaide are still capable of getting some revenge at the Club World Cup. When Adelaide were defeated in the final of theACL, they had several players who were carrying injuries, or unable to compete due to injury or suspension. Goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic was battling an injury in the first leg of the ACL and could not play the second leg due to suspension. When Adelaide contends in the Club World Cup they should have a full side, free of injuries and suspensions.

It is also worth considering Adelaide United players shouldn't be dealing with the fatigue they would have experienced in the ACL. During the ACL, Adelaide were also competing with a very tight demanding schedule. They were travelling all over Asia whilst also competing in the A-League at home. No doubt, the team would have been feeling worn out by the time they got to theACL final. The side should feel a lot fresher for the Club World Cup.

Defeating Gamba Osaka will certainly be a tough task for Adelaide United. They firstly need to overcome Waitakere to even have that chance. But it definitely isn't out of the question.

If Adelaide United could conquer Gamba Osaka they would secure a semi-final match up against Manchester United. I wont event discuss that until then.