One feature of most summers is the emergence of poppies in recently ploughed fields, This year has been no different, apart from perhaps a greater than normal proliferation in the immediate locality. Which has been lucky for those of us (me) wanting to photograph them. The emergence of the flowers is a gradual one and lasts a surprisingly long time with fields flowering for 7-10days. They have also survived the recent winds well, which one might not expect from such a fragile flower.
I went slightly beserk last year shooting individual poppy portraits so I have tried to be more restrained this year. One shoot picking out individual portraits, some snaps on a walk to capture the path view and a couple of longer shoots at what I considered to be the best individual field (below).
The field in the foreground of the path shot is now steadily being eaten by the buffalo on the farm. Nice salad bowl for them.
Photographing poppies is quite tricky. A long lens to compress the image risks turning the poppies into a red mush and direct sun on the subject often renders it too much of a homogenous mass while backlighting in poppy portraits risks being too contrasty. The shot below I think works because the backlightling gives good colour while there is enough green visible to stop the field turning into solid red band. A shot from this angle without sun did not have the same impact.
For poppy portraiture I find direct sun too much - the light needs to be more subdued. I managed to get my hit in just one session this year and was pleased with the results. I ended up with 4 or 5 good shots to add to the dozen or so from last year. I think I will have to have an extended range of poppy cards at some point given the amount of images I now have.
I shot a few panoramic shots in camera as well and my favourite shot below has no further cropping - it is as I shot it in camera. The blue-purple tint comes from the fact I shot it at dusk with light reflecting from the darkening sky. This would blow up to 6 ft wide if anyone is interested! Using the minimal depth of field to isolate the flower can be tricky given their predilection to wind movement - a few mm and they are no longer pin sharp.
My favourite poppy portrait so far this year.