The Garden at Stourhead...

[PKM-UK]

Images from our visits (in 2022) to the Garden at Stourhead, Wiltshire, England.

(Shot raw and processed using: DxO PhotoLab Elite/ ViewPoint and Adobe Lightroom Classic/ Photoshop with TK-9 Panels).

You can find out more about the Garden at Stourhead by clicking Here.

Phil and Karen


1. The garden at Stourhead, developed in the early 18th century, includes many classical architectural creations. The Bristol Cross (the oldest known structure in the care of the National Trust) was erected in 1373 in the centre of the medieval city of Bristol. It was moved to Stourhead in 1764.

2. The Palladian Bridge with the Pantheon ('temple sacred to all the gods’) beyond - inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, it is the largest of the garden buildings.

3. The garden was the vision of Henry Hoare II – or 'Henry the Magnificent' – one of a small group of 'gentleman gardeners' who used their large estates (and wealth) to create a personal landscape.

4. It was created by a team of 50 gardeners who planted and tended beech, Spanish chestnut, oak, ash, sycamore and holm oak. When the garden opened in the 1740’s, it was described as ‘a living work of art’.

5. The garden’s creations include a Gothic Cottage, an ‘atmospheric grotto’ (which is quite dark inside so on wet days you can step into a deep, unseen puddle and drench your shoes) and The Temple of Flora - dedicated to the Roman goddess of flowers and spring, it was the first garden building to be added.

6. The Pantheon, The Temple of Apollo, built in honour of Apollo the sun god, which nestles on a hilltop (and is a popular venue for civil ceremonies) and The Palladian Bridge.

(Sources: National Trust, Wikipedia).

 

[Bryan Conner]

Beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.

 

[PKM-UK]

Beautiful images. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Bryan,

Cheers - much appreciated!

P&K

 

[MikeZ]

Phil, these images are great, and I'm growing to expect nothing less from you. You may be setting the bar too high!

 

[PKM-UK]

Phil, these images are great, and I'm growing to expect nothing less from you. You may be setting the bar too high!

Hi Mike,

Thank you for those very kind words - appreciated!

(We aim to please... ).

P&K

(Having said all that, I wasn't entirely comfortable with image 1 - one of my most re-edited shots - so another re-edit from today has been uploaded).

 

[ACEkin]

Hi Mike,

Thank you for those very kind words - appreciated!

(We aim to please... ).

P&K

(Having said all that, I wasn't entirely comfortable with image 1 - one of my most re-edited shots - so another re-edit from today has been uploaded).

The updated version is better but still has strong editing footprints and is slightly darker than one would expect.

 

[PKM-UK]

The updated version is better but still has strong editing footprints and is slightly darker than one would expect.

Hi Cemal,

Yes, I already feel another attempt coming on - I've never been entirely happy with any of my edits of this shot, including the latest one. There are a number of competing elements and I struggle to bring a cohesive finale together. (I think I made a mess of the sharpening this time which didn't help).

If anyone fancies a bash at the raw file, I'll make it available - though this probably won't be until Sunday-Monday as we have a bunch of stuff to sort out.

Phil

 

[ACEkin]

Hi Cemal,

Yes, I already feel another attempt coming on - I've never been entirely happy with any of my edits of this shot, including the latest one. There are a number of competing elements and I struggle to bring a cohesive finale together. (I think I made a mess of the sharpening this time which didn't help).

If anyone fancies a bash at the raw file, I'll make it available - though this probably won't be until Sunday-Monday as we have a bunch of stuff to sort out.

Phil

If it may help, I will be glad to take a stab at the RAW file when and if you want. Clearly, this will be based on my perception of the locale, lighting, details, etc. which may well be different from what they were when you were there. Let me know.

 

[PKM-UK]

If it may help, I will be glad to take a stab at the RAW file when and if you want. Clearly, this will be based on my perception of the locale, lighting, details, etc. which may well be different from what they were when you were there. Let me know.

Hi Cemal,

Leave it with me, I’ll stick it in Dropbox and put a link here - a word of warning, if you think the edits had issues, the raw file will leave you despairing (my settings were a disaster movie)…

Phil

 

[Nick L]

Hi, when did you go, we went on Tuesday, we were a bit late arriving due to traffic in Bournemouth but we had 20 mins when the wind dropped and the sun came out, we retired to the Spread Eagle for lunch and a pint.

 

[PKM-UK]

Hi, when did you go, we went on Tuesday, we were a bit late arriving due to traffic in Bournemouth but we had 20 mins when the wind dropped and the sun came out, we retired to the Spread Eagle for lunch and a pint.

Hi Nick,

We were there 28/29 October last year for the garden shots - a couple of the building shots were from September 2022 (so we just missed each other! ),

(We stayed in the on-site campsite).

What were the colours like this year?

P&K

 

[Nick L]

Hi Nick,

We were there 28/29 October last year for the garden shots - a couple of the building shots were from September (so we just missed each other! ),

(We stayed in the on-site campsite).

What were the colours like this year?

P&K

Not quite there on Tuesday but I suspect the weather the last couple of days may have blown all the leaves away like last year was when we went. here is one of mine from Tuesday

 

[PKM-UK]

Not quite there on Tuesday but I suspect the weather the last couple of days may have blown all the leaves away like last year was when we went. here is one of mine from TuesdayView attachment 21499

Hi Nick,

Fantastic! Absolutely beautiful - wonderful reflections too.

We had a mixture of wind, light rain and grey skies with snatches of harsh overhead light - but what a joy to behold!

We will return in the future for sure.

P&K

 

[Nick L]

Cheers, had to wait for the moment (the whole trip was like that) but this was the 10-20 mins when you had to be ready

We had rain and wind and occasional sun but gave up at 11.30 ish and retired to the pub.

Just to help this was on the 31st of October this year, last year was the 11th of November and was far too late and this shot was on the 2nd of November and is my favourite trip after having not been able to go for a few years (since 2017) for various reasons!

 

[PKM-UK]

If it may help, I will be glad to take a stab at the RAW file when and if you want. Clearly, this will be based on my perception of the locale, lighting, details, etc. which may well be different from what they were when you were there. Let me know.

For anyone who may be interested, the link to the raw file for Image #1 is Here.

(Probably - let me know if the share permission thingys needs adjusting).

I'll keep the file there for a few days (I have limited capacity on Dropbox).

And yes, I have already started on another re-edit…

Phil

 

[ACEkin]

For anyone who may be interested, the link to the raw file for Image #1 is Here.

(Probably - let me know if the share permission thingys needs adjusting).

I'll keep the file there for a few days (I have limited capacity on Dropbox).

And yes, I have already started on another re-edit…

Phil

As I said, I took a stab at it in Lightroom to see what I would have expected to see in the location and the photograph. I have the XMP file from Lightroom and a smaller JPEG file in my Dropbox. I did not post anything here, you decide on that, Phil. I will keep the files in Dropbox for a few days as well.

 

[PKM-UK]

As I said, I took a stab at it in Lightroom to see what I would have expected to see in the location and the photograph. I have the XMP file from Lightroom and a smaller JPEG file in my Dropbox. I did not post anything here, you decide on that, Phil. I will keep the files in Dropbox for a few days as well.

Hi Cemal,

Thank you for processing the file (I trust you had some fun!). I've downloaded the jpeg/xmp and will have a look - feel free to post it here (at your discretion).

My recollections of that morning are a little hazy now but I believe this was my first shot of the day, a 'quick snap' (to provide an overview) as we were hurrying to get our first planned shot - across the lake from down by the bridge - ahead of the influx of other visitors (who were close behind!). The Bristol Cross is quite a dark structure - time and weather worn. The light was quite poor, it was overcast (though the sky was annoyingly bright in a few areas) and it was raining lightly on and off. In summary - pretty grim.

With my edits for this shot I've tried to emphasise the drama of the sullen skies and the vibrant colours of the majestic gardens. My latest effort - and the very last (well, for now!) has been uploaded as image #1 in the original post. I've tried to go a little easier on the grimness this time around...

(For this edit I used the TK-9 Panels to produce masking for the sky, foreground and architectural features - and 'brushed in' sharpening using a layer/ mask).

[Feedback: Having reviewed your edit I would say an interesting choice of settings, general comment would be on my system it looks too bright overall and the tower far lighter than it is reality. (Of course, I have the huge advantage of having seen it up close!). A very worthwhile exercise though and I will study your settings in more detail and compare them to mine in due course (though mine spanned multiple apps). Your time, efforts and talents are all much appreciated!].

Phil