StevePBennett

Birth of a Poppy

May, 2022

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Behind The Lens

Location

We are lucky enough to live in West in Oxfordshire, and whilst driving to the local garden centre one weekend afternoon my wife and I noticed a poppy field planted close to the roadside by a local farmer. We promised ourselves that we would revisit when the evening sunshine was right in late May. That evening turned out to be the time. I had just been photographing the field of poppies and some individual poppies with natural back lit sunlight. I returned to the car, this partially open bud caught my eye. I couldn't resist taking a shot.

Time

Taken at 20:35 on the 21st May 2022 with sunset less than 30 minutes away. I had been shooting handheld at F7 just a couple of minutes ago, so I knelt in the field, set the ISO on my camera to 800, took a deep breath, focused and clicked. Then fired off 2 more shots for safety and to hopefully get one shot in tight focus.

Lighting

Sunset was around 21:00 that evening so the sun was getting low in the sky and casting really nice shadows. I find this light really soft and the deep shadows and bright "hot spots" usually offer great natural light. Although I had my flash in my bag, I was practicing shooting handheld with low sunlight. I find with the sun behind me, the only usual issue is avoiding taking my own shadow in the shot. Keeping the light diagonally over one shoulder and crouching or kneeling, I can usually avoid casting my shadow.

Equipment

I'm a Nikon user. On this occasion I was using my D500. Most often than not (like this time) it is paired with my "walkabout" lens - a Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. No tripod or flash on this photo.

Inspiration

I adore poppies. Especially in a wild field with cornflowers, campion and natural grasses. The sun was out this evening and it seemed too good an opportunity. So my wife and I abandoned the TV for an evening and drove the 20 minutes to the field we had seen earlier that day from the roadside. My aim was to try and get some poppy pictures that were back lit by the late evening sunshine, but on occasion you just find yourself in the right place at the right time with a camera in your hand.

Editing

I shoot RAW format photographs, so at the very least I have to convert them to JPEG, TIFF, etc. I predominately use Adobe Lightroom to post process my images. On this occasion, the original shot did not need much editing at all. I darkened the highlights a touch, darkened the blacks in the image, and finally removed some of the noise from shooting at ISO 800. This gave me a soft image which is exactly what I was aiming for.

In my camera bag

My D500, usually fitted with the Nikon AF-S DX Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR. I carry a small Nikon SB-400 Speedlight, and an extra lens - usually my AF-S DX NIKKOR 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6G. The usual spare battery, cleaning cloth and pen, connection cable, etc. Plus a couple of lens filters (polarizer and variable ND).

Feedback

Late evening sunshine was a must for this image. But be aware that that "perfect" light is usually only there for around 30 minutes as the sun sets. I find from experience that I start shooting at ISO 100 on evenings like this, but every 5 or 10 minutes I find myself upping the ISO to keep the speed to the shot acceptable when shooting handheld. Don't be afraid to shoot at ISO 800 or even higher. A quick click on noise reduction in your post processing will remove it if required. But often the noise in the shot that this higher ISO brings can add to the end image (especially if post processed to black and white).

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StevePBennett

StevePBennett

Birth of a Poppy

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow StevePBennett

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