This is another image from our weekend trip to Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square, PA. As I said in my previous post, what I had hoped would be a quiet winter morning in the Conservatory (like we had spent there last year) quickly turned into a zoo because it was “Or-KID Day” at the gardens and what seemed like a million kids showed up with parents in tow.
Despite these unforeseen challenges, I did get to do some shooting starting early on (before the kids arrived) with some wide angle HDR photography before progressing to some Macro and Lensbaby Soft-focus work. I will be presenting some examples of each over the next week.
I had just one opportunity to make the 5-image series I needed for this HDR composite image. Unseen stage left are the elevator and stairs up from the entrance. Obviously, I got there first, got set up and made this series of images just before the elevator doors opened the first group of visitors walked into the scene. I used my Canon 50D and 24-70 f/2.8L lens mounted on my tripod. I created the HDR image using Photomatix Pro and processed the image using Nik filters (Dfine for noise reduction), Viveza (to adjust brightness, contrast, saturation, structure) and a couple of Color Efex Pro filters to tweak things a bit. I finished up with a bit of sharpening using Nik Sharpener Pro.
And this is the result.
I love the vivid colours in this – the blues, greens, purples and yellows in the foreground. What bothers me a tiny little bit is the blue fringing on the glass roof. Nevertheless, a great view!
I like the blue in the glass on the roof – I think it ties all the colors together – but then what do I know?
Very pretty place – glad you got there before the kids with their parents in tow!
The lilies in the foreground make it for me! Lovely!
Wonderful result Edward. I love this series. The HDR images look natural and lack the usual overprocessed appeal of HDR images that you see everywhere these days.
Well done. Glad you got some shots out before the crows rolled in.
I thought yesterday’s shot was nice, this one is stunning.
Ed – in a word, stunning! Perfect time of day. I like how the roof and the lawn come together in the image. Fab work.
Or-KID Day? Oh dear! Well, you got a mighty purty shot before all those kiddos started swarming!
Beautiful shot!
Ed…
Beautiful image. I agree with Barbara that the lilies help to make it a wonderful image. I’ll be there this weekend…snow willing.
What a stunning and fully detailed scene with such vivid colors! Outstanding HDR.
The result of this HDR technique is fantastic Ed!!! The depth of field is very impressive as well as the contrast of the colors…
Beautiful color and light Ed, I really like the splash of light in this !!
we always redo our landscape every 2 or 3 months to adapt to the changing weather.;~,