Poppy
Dormi sepolto in un campo di grano...
F. De Andrè
Jun, 2016Views
740
Likes
Awards
People's Choice in Modified Macro Flowers Photo Challenge
Peer Award
Top Choice
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Outstanding Creativity
All Star
Magnificent Capture
Top Ranks
Top 10 rankCategories
Platinum
p_eileenbaltz
June 14, 2017
This is gorgeous! Congratulations on your well-deserved People's Choice Award.
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo while going to visit my mom. She lives in a town about 50 km away from my home town and I like to change the route every once in a while. That time I chose a a road that goes between fields and vineyards. It was late spring and I was hunting for poppies.Time
It was about 11 o'clock in the morning... late enough to get my mother angry, but not to late to stop and have a look at wonderful wheat field full of poppies ;-)Lighting
Given the time of day, the light was perfect: it was a sunny day and the sun was lighting the flower from behind with a fairly good transparency effect.Equipment
I took this one with my main camera, Nikon D60, with the standard 18-55 lens, no lens, no tripod. Not an exciting equipment ;-) but it helps you to get the job done :-)Inspiration
Poppies and wheat have always been a tough subject for me: camera sensors tend to over saturate the greens and the reds, so I was always dissatisfied with the result I had obtained 'til that morning...Editing
As I said before, when you shoot poppies and wheat you get over saturated reds and greens, so I had to adjust the saturation sliders in Gimp to achieve the colour intensity I was searching. In second place I wanted to get a vanishing effect in the upper part of the frame, so I applied a graduated linear blur to smear and mix the green of the wheat with the red of the poppies in the background.In my camera bag
Now I use regularly a Nikon D60 with its stock 18-55mm lens. As a second lens I always bring with me an old (more than 30 years...) 300mm mirror lens, really not a modern one :-) but I can manage to get some good shots with it. Not in my bag (it doesn't fit...) but in my car I carry also a tripod, in the case of night shots. Last but not least, when I don't have with me the main equipment I use my cell phone (now a LG K4, in other moments a Samsung Galaxy).Feedback
Never forget your equipment at home, bring it always with you otherwise you could loose the chance to take wonderful shots, particularly when you know it's poppies time and you haven't captured a good poppy shot yet :-) From a photographic point of view, try to shoot from different viewpoints. Don't be afraid to shoot, the more shots you take the greater the chance to get something good. The same applies when you're back home in front of your PC: don't stick with the first processing result, work hard and try different solutions until you get the optimal result.
