HOLYROOD PALACE AND GARDENS

Holyrood Palace is located at the opposite end of the Royal Mile from the Edinburgh Castle and is the official Scottish residence of the British monarch.  Queen Elizabeth has traditionally spent a week each year at the palace, usually in June.  The palace and grounds are lovely, and this time the weather cooperated for our tour.

I particularly liked the exterior structures.

I often find myself using doorways and other structures to frame my shots and with the hopes of providing additional interest and content for the shot.

Some architectural detail.

The structures included an intricate and unusual monument portions of the detail of which I found interesting.

Here is a shot of the grounds through a window, another technique that I like to try because of the framing it can offer.

The interior had some interesting elements as well.

Ceiling moulding detail.

Mural in center of the ceiling of one of the palace rooms.

Interesting tapestry subject.

And a portrait of Mary, Queen of Scots (not exactly flattering).

The exterior grounds boasted a number of flowers in bloom, including irises and poppies.

I found myself photographing the following dying leaves (dracaena?) on the garden grounds.  My goal was to highlight the yellow leaves by narrowing the depth of field.  Ideally the background leaves would remain recognizable but out of focus enough not to distract from the main subject of the image. 

John