Sea holly is a bluish-grey thistle that can be found along the coasts of most of Europe and the Mediterranean. In Portugal, it occurs along the entire coastline.
It blooms during the summer, displaying bluish hues that, mixed with the green of the leaves, give great beauty to this thorny plant. While walking along the beach near where I live, on a clear, sunny late afternoon, I was marvelled by the contrast of colors between the setting sun, yellow-orange, and the thistle, greenish-blue.
With the camera mounted on a tripod and a very small lens aperture (f/22), two images, one focused and exposed on the thistle and the other focused and exposed on the sun, were blended together to obtain this final image.
