Shooting Sunflowers

Pam and I went shooting sunflowers today in Hess, Maryland.  Hess is way out Jarrettsville Pike, out past Loch Raven Reservoir and 5 corners.  We got a tip about this place from a friend of Pam's, who had planned to go out herself to take pictures with some models, but could not get any lined up in time.  So, Pam and I decided to go out anyway.  It was a gamble.  There was a 60% chance of rain and we drove through a doozie of a thunderstorm in Baltimore to get out there.  However, it was not raining when we got out to Hess.  It unfortunately rained on and off after we got out of the car and were snapping a few pictures.  The sunflower field is a private farm across from a Royal Farms store. There was some parking off the side of the road and it attracted quite a few people for picture snapping.  Below are some of my pictures.  More pictures can be seen at my photostream on Flickr.  Pam will be uploading some her own pictures soon.  You can see her pictures on her photostream.

Miniature Paris

Miniature Paris
Originally uploaded by 1Sock

I think this tilt shift affect worked better than my first attempt. Perhaps, looking down on your subject helps to accentuate the miniaturization affect.

Toy Car

Toy Car
Originally uploaded by 1Sock

I recently applied a "tilt shift" technique to this picture. What is tilt shift you ask?

From Wikipedia (The Fount of All Knowledge):

"Tilt-shift photography" refers to the use of camera movements on small- and medium-format cameras, and sometimes specifically refers to the use of tilt for selective focus, often for simulating a miniature scene. Sometimes the term is used when the shallow depth of field is simulated with digital postprocessing; the name may derive from the tilt-shift lens normally required when the effect is produced optically.

"Tilt-shift" encompasses two different types of movements: rotation of the lens plane relative to the image plane, called tilt, and movement of the lens parallel to the image plane, called shift. Tilt is used to control the orientation of the plane of focus (PoF), and hence the part of an image that appears sharp; it makes use of the Scheimpflug principle. Shift is used to adjust the position of the subject in the image area without moving the camera back; this is often helpful in avoiding the convergence of parallel lines, as when photographing tall buildings.

In this case, I used software to achieve the affect. Pretty cool, eh?

Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin

I just wanted to share with y'all a couple of shots that I took at the tidal basin last weekend. It was generally a gray day, but it was fun to see the cherry blossoms nonetheless.

My latest hobby is baking bread from scratch - no breadmaker. I've been enjoying making recipes out of two great cookbooks using the no-knead method. Well, I've never considered myself a good baker because unlike cooking usually you have to follow a recipe to the letter or the baking won't turn out right. But I just couldn't stand it so I modified a recipe and this loaf was the result. I think it's delicious. It's the soft white bread recipe (has some butter and sugar in the dough) but I substituted one cup of oat bran for one cup of the flour. I also added in a few teaspoons of vital wheat gluten that is supposed to make home-made bread fluffier and last longer on the shelf. Oh, yeah, and I also sprinkled cinnamon sugar on the top. Now that I've had success with modification I will be assuredly trying more concoctions with my bread. I'm really enjoying the bread making process but two people can only eat so much bread so I can't make as much as I'd like as often as I'd like. I've already taken several loafs to work and given one to a neighbor.