Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

In some ways the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a universal thing. I’ve seen several in different countries and I think they are interesting to visit because they each reflect a bit of the history of the country the represent. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Athens was sculpted between 1930-32 and is watched over by members of the Presidential Guard in traditional uniforms. Despite it’s location in the busy city, it has a sense of space, quiet, and reflection:

ISO 800 10mm f/22 1/125sec

This is one of the original exposures that I have from my visit. When I went to edit it, I knew I wanted to retain both the soldiers and the birds which are reminders of life but also I wanted to emphasize the stillness and solemness of death.

ISO 800 10mm f/22 1/125sec

With my crop I’ve kept things lightly off kilter and I chose a filter in Luminar, called Dark Moon, that I found rather somber. Once I had the filter on I edited it’s settings a bit. Changing the center point of the vignette and also making it a bit lighter. I wanted to leave a still image that has the hint of chaos, a reminder that the path of a country is often littered with sacrifice.

Do you think this edit suggests that? Do you like the image or its edit? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Cheers!

Added to A Photo A Week Challenge, Reflection and Photo for the Week-15-Paths.

 

A View of the Trail

The viaduct in the photo is now a bridge for bikers and pedestrians on the Monsal Trail in the Peak District. We had been biking it earlier in the day. When we were on the viaduct we could see a lookout point, so off we went to find this spot so that I could take this photo:

ISO 800 10mm f/18 1/120sec

Have you spotted the huge photography rule I have broken with this photo? It’s on the lower right side of the frame. A sign leading to a trail. The sign is neither fully in or out of the photo. That was my first edit, a crop that got rid of that little detail. Next, I applied a graduated filter to the sky. Bringing the exposure down in just that area brought back some detail in the sky. I then used the tone curve to darken both the dark and light tones just a little. They didn’t need much, just a bit to make the color in the photo a bit richer. Here is my edited version:

ISO 800 10mm f/18 1/120sec

Like many of my photos, with the edits, I have attempted to keep the scene looking realistic but give it a little pop. Do you think it works in this case? Have you ever been somewhere, realized the view was probably better several miles away and then trooped over there just to get a photo? Feel free to leave a comment below and happy trekking all over the place in the name of photography!

Cheers!

Added to Photo for the Week-8-Bridges.

Picfair version is here.