Poppies at Tower of London

As an aside, did I see a little while ago that you bought a new Sony camera? I’ve been reading Trey Radcliff’s website for ages and he recently jumped ship wholesale from Nikon DSLR to a Sony A7R. Have you also shunned the DSLR in favour of full-frame mirrorless?

No, I still have a Sony A-77II cropped sensor camera which I use around Duxford and air shows, and recently bought a Sony A7s Full Frame Compact System Camera as it was advertised as a camera that shoots in the dark and I like doing that type of photography. The above were taken with the A7s. At the moment the A7 series doesn’t have a very fast auto focus, at least compared to the A-77II so action shots are limited but as I’m not using it for action shots that’s not a problem. Rumour has it though that next year there will be a new A7* with the super-fast auto focus system from the A-6000, I think it is, and that might tempt me to go full frame all the way.

Brian

Great photos Brian – looks like the volunteers have been really busy since we were there a couple of weeks ago. Really like the shots of the crowd holding their phones/tablets up in the foreground – I always think tablets look rather ungainly as cameras.

As an aside, did I see a little while ago that you bought a new Sony camera? I’ve been reading Trey Radcliff’s website for ages and he recently jumped ship wholesale from Nikon DSLR to a Sony A7R. Have you also shunned the DSLR in favour of full-frame mirrorless?

I’m no defender of the rag but to be fair they are reporting that potential profiteering on Ebay has been thwarted by Ebay and ceramic poppies will not be available as suggested. They also direct people to the Royal British Legion’s Ebay page where items can be purchased in the normal way from their shop.

Oh goody, another Daily Mail rant…

Has been posted on Facebook that someone is selling these poppies now on e bay 😡 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2823624/Ebay-bans-people-trying-sell-Tower-London-ceramic-poppies.html

Lovely shots Brian complementing Simon’s selection perfectly.:)

Didn’t quite get the twilight shots I wanted due to the number of visitors around the moat so made the best of it. Took a tripod but no way could you set one up and these are taken hand held mostly with camera above my head and above the visitors heads as it was difficult to get to the front of the crowd. All in all I had two and a half circuits of the tower in the dark. HDR has not been used on these but the contrast/saturation have been tweaked a bit. 😀

Brian

My photos should be up later today posted in General Discussion unless you have no objection to them being posted in your thread.

No worries Brian – post away!

Sounds like it was even busier than when we went on the 25th October. I had the same problems as you during the roll call and last post and had to ask people if they would mind me standing in front of them for 5 minutes to take my shots of it. No chance of getting a decent photo any closer than I did though 🙁 I’m not complaining too much because it’s great to see such huge interest in the subject matter.

I can only reiterate the poignancy of the installation and thank Simon for letting those of us unable to see them for real see something of the effect in the photos. And look forward to PP’s selection later.

Charliehunt – totally agree about Pen Pusher’s photos, I, too am a fan. Speaking of which – Penpusher: did you get some good shots on Wednesday?

My photos should be up later today posted in General Discussion unless you have no objection to them being posted in your thread.

I had a wander around the Tower in the morning looking for vantage points to get some photos for when it got darker. That was thrown out of the window as I didn’t quite realise how many people would be there. As you come out of Tower Hill tube station, they have a one way pedestrian system to walk around the moat towards the Thames. They also have crowd barriers set up along that footpath that cuts down the width of it by about half. I got stuck in that section as the crowd came to a halt as the Roll Call and Last Post were sounded just after sunset so didn’t get any photos of that.

As has been mentioned, Boris and a few other are trying to get it extended but apparently the Tower authorities are adamant that on the 12th November the installation will start to be taken to bits, the poppies will be cleaned and then sent to those that sponsored them.

It is a fantastic and poignant sight to see, especially in floodlights after the sun goes down, and well worth putting up with the crowds.

Brian

+1 paul178.
I would like to thank SimonR for the photographic contributions to this thread. My grandfather served on the Western Front and this installation has struck a chord with me. I wish I was able to see it in person.

I am not getting into the contrast issues. I just want to say how thought provoking this tribute is. I hope the decision to remove them is reversed so that many more people can see and understand the loss of life and the futility of this war.

Really like the night shot. I might have upped the contrast on some of those and just pushed the red tone a hint, but it’s all personal taste. Great subject though!

Glad that so many of people have managed to get to the Tower to see the Poppies, and Alan – you might get your wish as I heard on the radio yesterday that apparently Mayor Bo-Jo is lobbying to keep them there for longer.

Cheers for the constructive comments Webpilot – the images aren’t heavy-handedly post-processed (well in my opinion anyway) but instead I unashamedly and intentionally set out to get a selection of images that I could turn into an HDR photoset! As I was processing them I believe I even got talked into starting off with an HDR preset called ‘painterly’ – my Mrs thought it suited the poppies and who am I to question?! Certainly it does make the red stand out.

So, yes, I guess they do look a bit over-done if you’re not a fan 😉 As an interesting comparison, I’ve uploaded a few unprocessed versions at the end of this post.

Charliehunt – totally agree about Pen Pusher’s photos, I, too am a fan. Speaking of which – Penpusher: did you get some good shots on Wednesday?

Cheers for now all.

One of them is mine….

Better hope they don’t bust it while they’re being ‘harvested’! 🙂

I do agree. I use the technology myself and sometimes a shot really works with a heavy edit, but usually a light touch is best, IMHO. Some of the shots I’ve seen online of the two Lancasters this year have been so overdone that they look like badly painted models!

I see the poppies everyday as I work nearby and walk past on my way to and from the office. It’s been fascinating to watch the display grow and the increasing numbers of people coming to see them. Very pleasing to know that such a display has touched so many people.

The technology exists so it’s always tempting to use it, and therefore overuse it. I always think Pen Pusher of this parish uses it sparingly but mostly very effectively in the Duxford thread.

But the poppies are stunning however photographed – I wish I could have seen them “for real”.

Nicely composed photos, but must everything be so over-processed? Digital editing can certainly add to a shot, and sometimes a dramatic twist is good, but I rarely seem to see a photo posted online these days that hasn’t had a heavy-handed dose of sharpening, HDR, filtering and so on slapped on it.

What’s wrong with a well composed image that looks like the subject does in real life?

🙂

Thanks for posting, it is a fantastic display and sad that it will be broken up, I went to buy one but found they had sold out…. Some of the simplest ideas produce the most effective displays

Stunning! Thanks for posting 🙂