An eye specialist is warning parents and students about the misuse of laser pens, which can be purchased easily but have harmed the eyesight of a number of children in recent months.Laser pens are often used as pointers by teachers in classrooms, and have become popular with some schoolchildren in Chengdu, Sichuan province.Sold in many stationery shops in the city, most are priced between 5 yuan and 200 yuan ($0.8-$31). They can emit a narrow beam of light in either red, blue or green with a single click of a button.But pointing a laser beam into a person's eyes can damage the delicate organs. A number of students have sought treatment at the Ineye Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.Xie Airui, an eye specialist at the hospital, has received two boys since September whose visual acuity fell off sharply after incidents involving laser pens. The first boy's eyes were burned. He couldn't see an object 10 centimeters away. A checkup showed that the macular area of his retina had been damaged, Xie said.The macular area is the most sensitive part of the eye and critical for vision, she said.The second boy, a high school student, was 15 when he sought treatment from Xie in September, after a classmate pointed a laser pen at him.A test found that the macular areas of both his eyes were burned and had obvious scarring. He could only see objects within 50 centimeters, Xie said.The resulting scars were consistent with those left by clinical lasers, she said, noting that damage to the macular areas can be permanent.Four years ago, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine issued a warning that laser pens could harm consumers. But no market supervisors have taken up the matter in a serious way, according to Xu Bin, a lawyer in Chengdu. custom wristbands ukjordan wristband
Photos conjure up memories, evoke emotion, tell a story or capture a mood. I took my first photography class in college. I didn't snap images with an expensive camera or smartphone. Instead, my professor handed me a vintage film camera. I spent hours in the darkroom printing photographs. Taking that class taught me you can create eye-catching images with any camera. But producing a photograph in the darkroom involved many steps. I used a machine called an enlarger to darken or lighten parts of a black-and-white image. It wasn't easy at first to get right. There wasn't one button to click. No Instagram filters. Nowadays, I use my smartphone to take photos on vacation or in my everyday life. While nothing beats proper lighting and composition, photo-editing apps or tools can help you quickly enhance a photo or unleash your creative side. Here's how: Adjusting the brightness and contrast The differences in lighting and color within a shot can make it appear more dramatic. Smartphones already have basic photo-editing tools, including ways to adjust the lighting. By using a slider, you can adjust the brightness, highlights, contrast and more. But making an image too light or too dark can wash out the details in the shot. I typically zoom into the darkest and lightest part of an image to make sure I didn't go overboard with adding contrast. And if you make a mistake, you can also revert the image back to the original. Using filters Valencia. Rose. Summer. Noir. Grunge. There are plenty of filters out there that can transform the mood of a photograph. Social networks all have them. Still can't find the one you want? Photo-editing app Snapseed has variations of its filters, allowing you to tailor how you want the photo to look. Want to bring out more details in a photo? Try the Drama filter. Going for a dreamy look? Try the Glamour Glow filter. You can also try blending filtered images together. I once was walking through an installation called the Rain Room in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Capturing a good photo was tough. The lighting was bright in one spot and low in another. Water fell from the ceiling, although it didn't touch the people who moved around. Using Snapseed, I took two photos and used a filter to turn them black and white. Then I used another filter called Double Exposure to blend the two images together. The resulting photograph captured the gloomy mood I associate with rainy days. Touching up A giant zit on your face can ruin a good selfie. Photo-editing apps like BeautyPlus and AirBrush have tools that can make your face look more smooth, get rid of acne, look slimmer or whiten your teeth. AirBrush has a feature to add makeup to your face, giving you false eyelashes, lipstick and blush. You can even appear taller, or narrow the bridge of your nose. No plastic surgery needed. Creating a work of art Ever wondered what your photo would look like if pop artist Roy Lichtenstein painted it? Harnessing the power of artificial intelligence, Prisma can transform your photograph into a work of art. From cubism to expressionism, the app includes artistic styles from well-known artists including Piet Mondrian, Edvard Munch and Edgar Degas. I used the filter Thota Vaikuntam - the name of an Indian painter - to add bright colors in a photo I took during a beach day in Santa Cruz. Tribune News Service (China Daily 08/02/2017 page19)
