Floriade: 10km of Tulips and Colour

Floriade runs for a month in September and October when Canberra's Commonwealth Park plants around a million bulbs across ten kilometres of gardens. The best time to shoot is the first two weeks, when the tulips are at peak height, and the best hour is the one just after the gates open at 7am.

Flat overcast light is ideal for flowers. It removes the harsh shadows and lets the colour saturate fully. Canberra in September has a lot of flat overcast light. I was lucky on the mornings I went — cool, no wind, grey sky.

Flat overcast light is ideal for flowers. It removes the shadows and lets the colour saturate fully.

I shot with the 55-200mm more than the 18-55mm here. The telephoto compression stacks the rows of tulips in a way that makes the colour feel overwhelming — which is close to the actual experience of walking into the park for the first time.

Colour Negative film simulation with the highlights pulled down gave the most accurate result. The tulips here are not subtle — they're deep red, yellow, and purple — and the simulation holds those tones without clipping.