Baking is Poetry 401

What is Baking mean to You? Here is a poem I just jotted down in an effort to get back to food blogging again.  I want to hear from my readers --- is baking a smell, a sight or sound? A memory?

Baking

It is patience

It is understanding 

the
ebb
and
flow 

 Of ingredients
Of Environmental factors 

It is flirting

with formulations

to achieve

the ultimate

in taste combination -

Whether 

that result achieved

is

simplistic

or 

quite complicated.

Baking is 

the warmth of a stack oven
Of the freshly
de-panned product.

Baking is

 the satisfaction
Of creation.
 Of the tears 

which 

well in their eyes

when a taste, a smell

invokes 

memories
of home,

Of a loved one

that 

has
passed on.

Baking is
the alcoholic fumes

permeating

from a container

that
housed 

your starter -

your poolish -

your biga -

or 

your mix.

Baking is intoxication.

 Amber ©2010. All Rights Reserved

I also experimented with a new add-on  for GIMP called "Polar Inversion" - so I used it on the pic below. I think it encapsulates production quite well, you know, the total process seems full circle.

I've Been Schmapped! Northwest Photo Short-list 1

Apparently I have been Schmapped! Well I just checked my flickr mail and look what was inside:

Hi Amber,

I am writing to let you know that one of your photos has been short-listed for inclusion in the second edition of our Schmap Northwest Guide, to be published at the end of this month.

Clicking this link will take you to a page where you can:
i) See which of your photos has been short-listed.
ii) Submit or withdraw your photo from our final selection phase.
iii) Learn how we credit photos in our Schmap Guides.
iv) Browse the first edition of our Schmap Northwest Guide.


While we offer no payment for publication, many photographers are pleased to submit their photos, as Schmap Guides give their work recognition and wide exposure, and are free of charge to readers. Photos are published at a maximum width of 150 pixels, are clearly attributed, and link to high-resolution originals at Flickr.

Best regards,

Emma Williams,
Managing Editor, Schmap Guides

This is the photo that they wanted :





Wow, that's kind of cool. My Northwest Flavor is traveling the web :) This is a picture of the Fremont Bridge in Portland, OR.
The Fremont Bridge is a steel tied arch bridge over the Willamette River located in Portland, Oregon. It carries Interstate 405 and US 30 traffic between downtown and North Portland where it intersects with I-5. It has the longest main span of any bridge in Oregon and is the second longest tied arch bridge in the world (after Caiyuanba Bridge across the Yangtze River, China).^[1]
The bridge was named for John Charles Frémont, though one of the connecting streets was previously named Fremont Street in honor of the same individual.
The bridge has two decks carrying vehicular traffic, each with four lanes. The upper deck is signed westbound on US 30 and southbound on I-405. The lower deck is signed eastbound on US 30 and northbound on I-405. - facts Via Wikipedia

This photo was taken with my little point and shoot 3mp. It was raining and stormy when I took it - I kind of manipulated it a bit with contrast which made it grainy and added some deeper concentration of color. It is best viewed larger.

Food Photography - Ballad of A Foodie 2

I took these shots in the flickr collection noted below (at bottom of this post) in "Ballad of a Foodie"- over a span of 2 years. There is allot of emotional attachment to them. It is about food. It isn't about people who were captured - their poses frozen in time. No, it is about the way I captured these images. I was a newly amateur photographer who was obsessed at getting enough pictures to fill my memory card at the end of the night. I have heard people say "you can't take decent pictures with a digital point and shoot, or anything under 8mp", that opinion is ridiculous.

When I first started taking pictures, I had this little point and shoot digital camera, it had only 3 mp. I got to know the limits of my camera by experimenting heavily in different lighting, conditions etc. I found what worked and I pushed those limits of my little camera, with sometimes amazing results. Then I moved on to a camera with more control, larger lens capacity and full manual functions, a digital with 5 mp. Not all my shots are great, but allot of the subject matter makes them unique. 

I like the irregularities in photographs --- liken it to the cracks and pops you hear when you play a vinyl record. Taking pictures of food is an even harder media to work with. If you are looking for ways to better your food photographs, I suggest you start with the basics --- take lots of pictures of non-food related objects. 

Experiment - go outside, take pictures in the sunshine, pictures of objects with the sun behind them. Take photographs in the rain (not literally - stand under an overpass or porch. Get used to shadows and capturing the right color spectrum. If you have a digital, try using the "live view" LCD , this will help you visually see the way the lens reacts to different angle and light changes. Get accustomed to what situation calls for flash - flash can either make or break a picture. 

Try taking the same picture from different angles and lengths using the flash at different points, then compare what works best. When you have truly gotten to know your camera, then try taking pictures of food. You will now have a reference point to go back to and say - "right, my camera can capture this better from that angle". Then slowly you can introduce props . I have found it is better to take a "on the fly" approach when capturing food production, no props, no special lighting. But then again I like action shots. In the future I will be taking on food photography again -- and this time it will be more "posed" shots.

ballad of a foodie

This is my foodie collection on flickr. Mouse over to see Set title. Click on any of the links to View that Set on flickr.

Photog : of a dried berry | Reverse Macro How To 4

By adding a traditional 35mm film lens in reverse, in front of my digital lens, I was able to capture the details of this dried berry. This was the natural coloring. I thought it was quite beautiful.

Reverse Macro of a dried berry, originally uploaded by Amber *.

To Create your own reverse macro:

1. Select a digital camera with at least 4mps. One with a larger lens opening than a standard "point & shoot" camera - when I mention point & shoot I am talking about the cameras with very small (dime - nickel sized) lens holes. I didn't have an DSLR with standard 35mm equivalent to use (my camera has a 28mm equivalent which worked great). The bigger lens hole will enable you to capture the light given off from the 35mm lens. To make this kind of shot, a built in flash is worthless, because the added length of both lenses creates a tunneling effect. It also helps to have a zoom power greater than 3, my camera has 10 optical zoom and 8 digital.
2. Find a telephoto 35mm lens (you can experiment with different sizes and ranges), I used a [55mm - 117mm ] Pentax telephoto. It should have a lens lip or hood of at least 1/4 inch (this is found at the protruding end) or wider. This lip will allow you to hold the two lenses comfortably in one hand, but also position your lens close to the 35mm lens, and at the same time create a light barrier. A smoother, slide roll type barrel extender works better here too -- as this enables you to use light touches to adjust the magnification (i.e zoom) of the 35mm lens.
3. Find a place to photograph your macro. It should be flooded with natural light (fluorescent lights or ambient light will not produce good results) a good time of day is in the early morning, or around 4 p.m, on a bright day. There should not be any object to create and caste shadows.
4. Find your subject. This technique allows you to magnify the finest details --- like dust particles or tiny ridges, so find something that isn't necessarily interesting on it's own --- but would be neat in magnification.
5. Position your subject. A box below your subject will prop it up so you aren't lurching over your subject. Try to position it in full light.
6. Getting Ready For the Shot. Get situated in a comfortable stance, as this will take several shots and lots of adjusting to get it right. Position your hand around the bottom of your digital camera lens so that it is cradled in your hand. Make sure only half of your hand (i.e pinky and ring fingers) is touching that lens, as the rest of your hand (i.e middle, pointer and thumb) will be holding the 35mm telephoto lens steady in front of your digital lens. A safe spacing between the two is 1/4 "- 1/2 inch. DO NOT let your lenses touch each other --- as this will lead to scratching!! Position the lenses and then position the camera and lenses in front of your subject.
7. Focus, focus , focus. The trick is to learn to focus your digital to pick up on the finer adjustments of the 35mm telephoto lens. I zoomed in with my digital half way, then I would move the telephoto to magnify more and more, all the while gently focusing with the telephoto. You will need to shift around your subject to create better shots. Try different distances and zoom.
8. Practice, practice, practice. Get a feel for your camera and the two lenses working in sync. Try a variety of subjects and light strengths --- this will take a lot of shots and trial and error, so have your memory card handy.