Introduction


Last night I had the privilege of photographing the winter light trail event at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate: the “Glow” installation for their Press Preview Night. I brought along my Canon EOS R5 for stills and the DJI Mini 3 Pro drone for aerials. This kind of shoot is deceptively tricky... you’re dealing with extreme contrast, highly saturated coloured lights, mixed light temperatures and varied vantage points. In this post, I’ll walk you through my approach, the challenges I encountered, how I handled them on the ground and in the air, and how I processed everything to create final images that stand out.


Glow at RHS Harlow Carr is one of those winter evenings that feels instantly atmospheric. As soon as the sun goes down, the garden transforms into an illuminated trail with glowing trees, saturated colours and pathways that guide you into pockets of light and shadow. When I photographed Harlow Carr this year, I knew it would become the first chapter of a larger winter project, and looking back now, this shoot became the foundation for everything that followed.


Since capturing Harlow Carr, I’ve also photographed Glow at RHS Wisley and Glow at RHS Bridgewater, each offering a completely different take on night-time illumination. Harlow Carr now sits as the opening part of a three-event Glow series, and updating this blog felt like the right way to reflect that wider journey.


Blog 1: Glow at RHS Harlow Carr

Blog 2: Glow at RHS Wisley

Blog 3: Glow at RHS Bridgewater

 

 

Understanding the Location & the Challenge


The event at RHS Harlow Carr is a carefully designed walk-through, illuminated with dynamic light installations: glowing tunnels, fibre-optic tree canopies, coloured pools of light and reflective surfaces. What makes it a goldmine for photography is the scale and immersive nature of the lights, but that comes with the challenge: heavy contrast between bright, saturated lights and deep shadows, frequent colour casts from different light sources, and limited ambient light to anchor exposure.


From a promotional standpoint for RHS, the trail works beautifully: it’s an engaging visitor experience, and from a photographer’s perspective, it offers creative vantage points and dynamic compositions. My goal was to capture not just the installations, but also their relationship to the garden setting, pathways, trees and reflections, and to show that aerial perspective adds another layer of storytelling.

 

Illuminated light trail path at RHS Harlow Carr. Colourful lights and trees create a magical nighttime landscape in the garden.
Light trail photography at the Glow event at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate.
Illuminated pathway through garden archways decorated with fairy lights, creating a magical nighttime ambience. Glow, RHS Harlow Carr
A winding garden path illuminated by colourful Christmas lights and decorations creates a magical nighttime display. Glow, RHS Harlow Carr.

 

The Atmosphere at RHS Harlow Carr


Harlow Carr has a distinctly cosy feel compared to the larger RHS sites. The scale is intimate, with winding paths, colourful installations and plenty of moments where the light seems to wrap around you. Unlike Wisley’s wide lawns and grand fountain shows, or Bridgewater’s stunning illuminated cottage. and live light show, Harlow Carr leans into warm tones and playful colour transitions. It’s the kind of trail where every turn reveals another photogenic moment.


The lighting design creates a strong sense of depth, illuminated branches, reflective pools, and contrast-rich glades that work beautifully after dark. As a result, this garden quickly taught me how important highlight control is when photographing saturated LEDs. Even now, after shooting much larger Glow events, it’s still one of my favourite places for colour-driven night photography.

 

 

Equipment & In-Cam Settings (Ground)


For the ground photography, I used my Canon R5 with a 24-105 mm f/2.8 zoom. I shot both handheld and on a tripod (depending on the composition and light stability). Some key settings and decisions:


  • I often closed down to f/16 to get star-bursts from point light sources. Those crisp, radial flares add character when you have glowing installations.
  • Given the contrast, I under-exposed by about 2/3 of a stop so that highlights didn’t blow out and I could recover shadows better in post.
  • For handheld shots, I used Auto-ISO so I could adapt to the changing light without losing responsiveness.
  • On tripod shots, I used a lower ISO, longer shutter speeds as needed, and paid attention to any movement (people walking, installations flickering).
  • Framing: I looked for compositions that included a foreground element (pathway, water, tree) leading into the light installation, so the viewer enters the scene. I also looked for reflections and symmetry where available, and used the zoom to isolate tightly or open up more of the scene.


 

Illuminated trees with vibrant red foliage glow against a dark sky. Light trail photography at RHS Harlow Carr.
Illuminated trees with pink and orange lights create a magical nighttime garden landscape with glowing pathways. Glow at RHS Harlow Carr.
RHS Harlow Carr's Glow event. Illuminated trees in vibrant colours create a magical nighttime display in a botanical garden setting.
Illuminated trees and pathways at RHS Harlow Carr create a magical nighttime display with colourful lights. Light trail photography.

 

Equipment & Flight Strategy (Drone)


For aerial photography, I used the DJI Mini 3 Pro. Here’s how I approached it:


  • I shot in 48 MP manual mode to maximise resolution, and allow me to crop or fine-adjust later while retaining quality.
  • Altitudes varied: I went as high as ~120 m to capture the full scale of the illuminated light trail winding through the garden. Then I came as low as a few metres to get close-in detail of structures, light interactions with pathways, or tree canopies lit from below.
  • Manual settings: I locked in the shutter speed, set the aperture (as low as the drone allows) and chose an ISO that balanced noise vs brightness. Because low light is a challenge for drones, I treated it like shooting stills: underexpose slightly and plan for shadow recovery.
  • Challenges: These little drones are super capable, but these conditions push them... limited ambient light means you’re relying mostly on the installations themselves for illumination. Movement, wind, and low-light sensor limitations all add risk. Always check local regulations and ensure safe flight lines (away from crowds and vegetation).


 

Aerial photography of illuminated trees and pathways creates a magical nighttime garden display with vibrant pink, blue and purple lights.
Aerial light trail photography of RHS Harlow Carr during their winter Glow event. The garden is illuminated by hundreds of colourful LEDs.
Aerial photography of illuminated trees reflecting on still water at the Glow event at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate.
Aerial photography of the Glow light trail at RHS Harlow Carr in Harrogate.

 

Lighting & Exposure Challenges: What to Watch Out For


When photographing such a light-trail event, several things stood out:


  • Clipped highlights: Many installations include bright LED or fibre-optic points that easily blow out. That’s why I under-exposed by about 2/3 stop. Once blown, detail is gone.
  • Mixed colour temperatures: Some lights might be warm (tungsten-like), others cool (LED/blue). Reflective surfaces may catch different light and shift colour. I found it important to meter for the brightest lights but keep an eye on colour casts. In-camera, I kept my white-balance on auto, then refined it in post.
  • High saturation: The installations are designed to glow. If you drop highlights too far in post, you risk making the colours look over-processed or unnatural. I kept the highlight reduction conservative so that the saturation remains vibrant yet realistic.
  • Shadow noise: With deep shadows around bright lights, you risk heavy noise in dark areas. On handheld stills, I used Auto-ISO and then used the new Denoise feature in Lightroom to clean up background shadows.
  • Movement/blur: On ground shots with long exposures (especially on a tripod), I checked for people walking through the scene, and for drone shots, I kept the shutter fast enough (or used a steady hover) to avoid motion blur unless intentionally using it for light-trail effect.


 

 

My Post-Processing Workflow (Lightroom & Denoise)


Here’s a streamlined version of my workflow in Adobe Lightroom:


  1. Import RAWs from both stills and drone.
  2. Apply lens corrections and profile-based calibration.
  3. Set baseline white balance. I find that the auto white balance does quite a good job, but sometimes needs a tweak to be a little cooler to keep LED light tones accurate.
  4. Expose correction: because I under-exposed in-camera, I raise the shadows and exposure.
  5. Highlights: reduce only slightly (to retain detail in the brightest lights) so as not to kill the vibrancy.
  6. Use the new Denoise slider: especially for handheld low-light shots and drone frames with shadow noise. I tweak until shadow areas look clean but still textured (not plasticky).
  7. Colour calibration: I often boost the vibrance a little. Use HSL to individually adjust problem colours (e.g., oversaturated greens, neon pinks) so they don’t dominate the frame.
  8. Sharpening: Apply moderate sharpening, using the proper masking so noise in shadow areas isn’t accentuated.
  9. Crop and align: For drone photography, especially, I crop in to refine composition or re-align horizons.
  10. Export in high-quality JPEG depending on final use (portfolio/print/online). I find that sRGB is the best option.


A tip: if you shoot star-bursts at f/16 (on stills), you may get diffraction softness, so check critical sharpness and apply a touch of sharpening as needed.

 

A light trail of illuminated trees glowing in vibrant pink, purple and orange colours for the Glow event at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate.
An enchanted forest garden illuminated with colourful lights and pathways creates a magical nighttime light trail at RHS Harlow Carr.
Illuminated trees with string lights create a magical nighttime display at RHS Harlow Carr for their Glow event.
Colourful illuminated trees reflect on still water at night, creating a magical garden display. Glow at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate.

 

Tripod, Composition & Time-of-Day Considerations


  • On the ground, I used a sturdy tripod for long exposures: essential when shooting at f/16, slower shutter speeds. My ISO was roughly around 800 for the tripod shots.
  • Composition: I found leading lines (the garden path, illuminated arches) worked best to guide the eye through the scene. Including a foreground element helps build depth (e.g., a lit tree or reflective pool).
  • Time of day: I started to shoot just after dusk... the “blue hour” is perfect because there’s still a hint of ambient sky light, so you’re not working in pitch black, but the installations already start to pop. Then I stayed out in the darker night to capture the most saturated colours.
  • For drone flights: important to check the drone’s battery and warm it up if it’s cold (night shoots can affect performance). Also, to avoid flying too close to people or under low branches, silhouettes of crowd movement can add context, but you don’t want to create a safety issue.


 

 

Why This Shoot Matters: For Me and For RHS


For me, photographing RHS Harlow Carr’s Glow event was both a creative challenge and an opportunity to expand my portfolio in a unique way. What makes this kind of assignment stand out:


  • It showcases the interplay of architecture, nature and light.
  • It demands versatility: ground + aerial, wide + detail, manual settings under complex lighting.
  • It delivers dramatic visuals that appeal to clients seeking bold, immersive imagery (hotels, event producers, public installations).
  • From the RHS’s perspective, a successful visual portrayal of their event, like Glow, helps communicate their brand, attract visitors and enhance their social presence.

 

Colourful illuminated trees and pathways create a magical nighttime light trail display at the Glow event at RHS Harlow Carr, Harrogate.
Illuminated trees glow with vibrant colours of red, green, and blue during a nighttime light trail display at the RHS Garden Harlow Carr.
Colorfully illuminated trees reflect on a dark pond at night, creating a magical garden display. During the Glow event at RHS Harlow Carr.
Illuminated trees and pathways in a garden display vibrant pink, blue and purple lights during a light trail festival. RHS Harlow Carr.

 

Final Thoughts & Key Takeaways


  • Night-garden illumination shoots demand pre-planning: know your paths, light sources and vantage points.
  • Use aperture down (f/16 or so) for star-bursts, but check for diffraction.
  • Under-expose slightly to protect highlights and rely on post-shadow recovery.
  • Combine ground and aerial photography for broad context + detail.
  • Leverage Lightroom’s Denoise tool smartly and subtly. Aim for clean shadows, but not over-smoothed texture.
  • Respect the venue: stay safe with drone flights, comply with any event rules, minimise disruption.
  • And finally, enjoy the experience. Working in such a dynamic environment lifts your work from “snap” to “story”.


I’m excited to see where this kind of work will take me, and I hope this breakdown is useful to fellow photographers tackling similar light-trail installation shoots.