Went to the Keukenhof this weekend.

If you’ve never been then it’s well worth battling the crowds for. I didn’t go to take photographs per se but I took my camera anyway. Who wouldn’t.

Th weather was cold but sunny. The longish winter we have had did mean that the amazing bulb displays were a little behind schedule. However the pavilions were magnificent. Displays of orchids or flower arranging or just gazillions of tulips were very spectacular (as were the prices in the restaurant).

Instead of row upon row of flower photos I have chosen just one. Taken with natural light in the flower art pavilion, the lighting was rather subdues and as my camera was hand held I upped the ISO and took a good stance. Back home, the arrangement and colours really spoke to me as a sort of abstract collage. I decided to try something new and exported the adjusted shot to Photoshop as a smart object. This allows the RAW file to be adjusted at any time. I then duplicated this, resulting in two smart objects. I then blended using differing blend modes and double clicked on the duplicate smart object layer to allow me to adjust exposure (just like HDR). Here’s the result. I could have started masking etc., to enhance certain parts of the photo. Maybe I will do that later and make a large print of it.