Kyoto Botanical Gardens

Kyoto Botanical Gardens is Japan's oldest public botanical garden, a sprawling 240,000 square meter space that rewards photographers across every season. The cherry blossom tunnel in spring is one of the most iconic shots, where you can position yourself along the long row of trees to compress the blossoms into a dense canopy using a telephoto lens. In mid-June, the hydrangea garden offers rich blues and purples that respond beautifully to the soft, diffused light of overcast rainy season days, making this one of the rare spots where grey skies actually work in your favour. Autumn brings vivid maple colours throughout the garden's tree collections. Early morning on weekdays gives you the space and light to work without crowds. A mid-range zoom lens handles most compositions well, though a macro lens is worth bringing for close-up flower detail work. (Kyoto, Japan)