Butchart Gardens are a very popular tourist attraction near to Victoria on Vancouver Island. Every year the gardens are decorated with extensive lights, themed on the Twelve Days of Christmas. Around the gardens you will find various installations depicting the 12 days, from a partridge in a pear tree to the 12 drummers drumming.
It can take a couple of hours to go around the gardens. It is often raining here, and free umbrellas are provided. While this can make for a somewhat damp evening, it does mean that the lights reflect wonderfully in the wet stone.
Taking virtual tour images under these conditions can be quite tricky. The paths are narrow and often full of people. It is dark and very long exposures are required. The best time to do photography is towards the end of the evening when the crowds have thinned out. At that time it is possible to get some stunning images, making for dramatic virtual tour panoramas as shown below.
While these conditions can be a challenge for the photographer, the results can be dramatic and very much worth the effort.
