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Kidderminster

Poppies in the wind
Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK
by Pete Rowbottom

A very windy late Summer evening in a huge Worcestershire Poppy field.

This turned out quite well as the cloud which was the precursor for a massive rainstorm had mostly been covering the sunlight, it was just a case of waiting for a possible break and hoping that came before the rain did ...

Luckily I did get the break, the wind had really got up though with the storm coming in so it was a case of just shooting what I had in front of me, I was curious as to how the poppies would look during a slow exposure and was ready to up the ISO to quell any movement, as it happened I liked the result and I think it tells more of a story about the scene so I left the ISO alone and just went with the shot as it was.

Amazngly for me I got this and still made it back to the car about a mile away before the rain came.

Nikon D810 Nikon 16-35 f/4 @ 16mm ISO 64 f/11 2.5 seconds

NiSi V6 system NiSi 100mm 4 stop medium GND

Fotopro T-74C tripod Fotopro LG-9R ballhead

Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK
Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK

This is a 6 shot HDR. Each shot was one stop apart from 1/20 to 1.6 seconds. Processed in Photomatix and finished in Lightroom.

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Sunset vs Storm
Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK
by Pete Rowbottom

Another image from the Poppy fields that have appeared in Worcestershire this year, contrary to the last one a totally different view and take on the scene.

Shooting in Summer is basically a massive pain in the backside, ridiculous early starts for a sunrise followed by an enourmously long wait for sunset which is inconevient for loads of reasons, one being not getting much sleep... with only one evening here though a chance to shoot sunset was a must, although it wasn't the kind of sunset I was hoping for due to low cloud cover it did provide some dramatic light in the sky and coming together with the thunder storm on the right that had decided to materialise made for quite a moody scene.

This had been the hottest day of the year so far and was a real scorcher, as a result I was now standing under an incoming thunder storm in just a t shirt and shorts, shortly after this the sun dropped away and the light faded giving way to the incoming storm, I packed up and legged it back towards the car, thankfully getting there just before it started.

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Bewdley Poppy Pano
Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK

A 7 shot stitched pano of the now famous poppy fields near to Bewdley, Worcestershire.

We had been searching for a bright, vibrant image for our...

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The Red Sea
Poppies, Blackstone Nature Reserve, Bewdley, UK

Dappled sunlight through broken clouds project patches of light and shade on the red carpet of poppies below.

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Thanks to all Phoide contributors to Kidderminster!
Most notably Pete Rowbottom.