National Memorial Arboretum - HDR

Bend The Light

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Yesterday we paid a visit to the National Memorial Arboretum. This, if you were unaware, is a 150 acre site in Staffordshire, planted with thousands of trees, and is the site of hundreds of memorials for the armed forces (and some civilian forces). It is the site of the Armed Forces memorial which records on 4 walls, all the names of servicemen and women who have died in service since the end of WWII (16,000 names!).

I took the camera, of course, and with the intention of doing HDR work with them, I bracketed every shot I took. Here are a few.

As for the style of HDR, I am going for a look that is common across all the photos (although I haven't quite got that) and the grain is ok with me - I only reduced it in one or two images so far, preferring to leave it as is.

Your thoughts would be appreciated. The full set is on my Flickr if you want to look further.

Part of the Polish Memorial. the Polish started the war in quite distinctive dress, but gradually began wearing very similar to the british soldiers they were fighting alonside:

The Polish Memorial 1 by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

The Royal Air Force Memorial, standing at the end of the "runway":

Royal Air Force Memorial mono by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

"Shot at Dawn" depicts a soldier from WWI who is facing the firing squad for desertion and cowardace. He is accompanied by the faceless wooden posts of all the other soldiers who were shot. Facing him are 6 trees in a row to depict the firing squad.

Shot at Dawn by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

The figure shows the opening in the Armed Forces Memorial where the sun shines through at 11am, on 11th November every year, to light up a wreath in the centre of the memorial:

11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

Another view of the Polish Memorial. The Poles fought alongside the Allies from day one of the war until the very last day. They were extremely important in the effort to break the German Enigma codes which arguably was a major event in the way the war panned out.

The Polish Memorial 4 by http://bendthelight.me.uk, on Flickr

Hope you like them. Please comment if you would, either here or on my Flickr set. :)
 
Fine series... i am specially impressed by #1 and #4

Is #3 of a captive before being shot?

The tone of the images adds a fine mood favoring the content of these images :D
 
#1 is very evocative... nicely done! I like #2 also.. very interesting capture! #3 is such a morbid topic.. I don't really care for it... although you shot it well! #4 is ok. #5 I feel is too wide.. not enough detail on the actual memorial.. possibly a crop just to the inside edges of the trees in front.. or a vertical crop just on the center memorial would be more to my liking.

Nice set! :)
 
Fine series... i am specially impressed by #1 and #4

Is #3 of a captive before being shot?

The tone of the images adds a fine mood favoring the content of these images :D

Thank you, my friend. I chose this style, the tones for this for the reason you mentioned...it seemed to fit the content in most cases.
Yes, in number 3 the man is a soldier who either deserted or didn't answer the call of duty. Many many men were shot for cowardice in World War 1.
 
#1 is very evocative... nicely done! I like #2 also.. very interesting capture! #3 is such a morbid topic.. I don't really care for it... although you shot it well! #4 is ok. #5 I feel is too wide.. not enough detail on the actual memorial.. possibly a crop just to the inside edges of the trees in front.. or a vertical crop just on the center memorial would be more to my liking.

Nice set! :)

#1...thanks.
#2...I loved this memorial. Impressive in real life, I wanted an aged feel to the processing for it, even though it was bright shiny metal in reality.
#3...morbid, yes. But that is what a lot the Memorial Arboretum is about...:)
#4...Just ok? I liked this one a lot...one of my favourites. :)
#5...I left it like this for a reason. The memorial is ALL in the shot - the walls are part of it and contain engravings and so on. Also the trees are part of it...the place is an arboretum, and so each tree is a memorial, or part of a memorial in it's own right. That said, I do have some closer views of the centrepiece of this one.:)

Cheers
 
But the question is does #4 require hdr as it does not have a wide color range.
 
But the question is does #4 require hdr as it does not have a wide color range.

It doesn't have a wide COLOUR range, no. But it does have a high dynamic range in the middle exposed shot. The statue is very dark, and the opening where the light is on the wall is very light. The over- and under-exposures allow detail in the statue AND in the bright stonework. So for that reason, yes...I chose HDR.
Another reason is that I am working through the set and using similar processing for all...to make a consistent set. I have the intention of doing some mono work with some of these too, and it may be that that is not as HDR mono.

Cheers
 
I really like these...ALL of them. 1 and 2 are my favourites.
 
Sorry, you're absolutely correct sir. Btw the photos are beautiful.
 

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