I was asked to take some photos of a tribute in my local village of Theddlethorpe in North Lincolnshire. The tribute and this display had been made by the Theddlethorpe Craft Group. I wanted to capture the reflective aspect of their creation. The silhouette of the soldier, the netting, the bench and then the knitted poppies. Many of the local villagers had spent many hours, days and months knitting these beautiful poppies that just didn’t form this display but created other wonderful tributes around our village.

I used my Mobile phone initially set into manual mode just to give me the angle and prominence of the main aspects of this image. I found it was better to shoot from a lower angle. I had the advantage that this image was on the Village Green outside my house and had over a period of days watched how the light throughout the day changed the mood of this image.

I wanted to ensure there was some cloud formation to give more depth and meaning to the sky and the image. I wanted the Soldier to be in stark contrast isolated against the background of the sky with no distractions.

There are so many things to consider when taking an image to get the story across to others. It is not a case of point and shoot and enhance it later in Photoshop. I use a range of film and digital cameras and this allows me to be confident with shooting in manual and know instinctively when to adjust the settings, the length of exposure, the aperture and ISO and what lens to use.

I shot this with a Canon DSLR the 5D Mark III with a 100mm prime lens attached. However I wanted to throw light onto the poppies, so I attached a macro ring flash to the front of the lens and put it onto permanent light mode to give a consistent light where I wanted it rather than a flash setting.

Shooting with a prime lens meant I knew my focal length was consistent at 100mm, the ISO speed was 3200, the exposure was 1/120 sec with the aperture fully open at f/2.8. I had gone out there an hour before the sun was due to set and adjusted my camera settings accordingly as the light changed. I ensured there were no other distractions like road furniture, litter or anything else that would detract from the main subject.

I was delighted with the result and due to my preparation it meant post editing was minimal just added a slight vignette to isolate the image further, add my watermark and just lower highlights in the sky.

I hope that this gives you an insight into how photographers consider the story and narrative that enhances the impact of their images, the fact that you don’t need the most expensive camera in the world to get a decent image but some knowledge and patience to understand how your camera works, to shoot in manual and understand how light works.

At the setting of the sun, we will remember them.

Thanks for taking the time to read this, best wishes
Karen

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