Bruges, A Favorite Travel Destinations
Brightly colored flowers on a summer's day by the canal in Bruges (i.e., Brugge) Belgium.
I've been fortunate to visit many countries over the years. Of all the cities I've travelled to I'd say that Paris is my favorite capital city while Bruges (i.e., Brugge) is my favorite smaller city or town.
Of course my opinion is based largely upon photography and both Paris and Bruges provide wonderful opportunities for the enthusiastic photographer.
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Achieving A Huge Depth Of Field
The photo at the top of this post was made on a lovely summer's day in August, just down the road from my hotel in Bruges.
As far as the above photo was concerned I employed the wide-angle 24 mm lens on my full frame Canon 5D Mark II camera.
That allowed me to move in close and fill the frame with the fantastic color of the well tendered flowers, while still retaining the necessary angle of view to include the bridge in the background.
The combination of the 24 mm focal length and the narrow aperture of f/22 provided the extra large depth of field that allowed me to retain sharpness from the foreground flowers right through to the bridge in the background.
I was waiting to undertake a boat tour to explore the city from the waterline and, with a few minutes up my sleeve, made an image that incorporated one of the old town’s many low hanging bridges and some lovely summer color.
How To Make Photos From A Moving Boat
Once underway I found the boat moved along a little too fast for controlled photography. Nevertheless, I was still able to make a number of good photos.
In such circumstances be prepared to adjust your camera to ensure you end up with a shutter speed of 1/500 second or above.
The easiest way to do this is to use your camera on Aperture Priority mode (A on a Nikon and AV on a Canon) and increase your ISO to ensure you arrive at the desired shutter speed.
As an aside may I say that there's not much point having a large depth of field if movement, either subject or camera related, produces a blurry picture.
Just remember to keep that shutter speed up. With the latest DSLR and Micro four-thirds cameras increasing the ISO on Aperture Priority mode is often the easiest way to do so.
A dramatic exterior view of the Church Of Our Lady in Bruges, Belgium.
Bruges Is Beautiful And A Delight For Architectural Photography
Old Bruges is a medieval stone city built, a little like Venice and St. Petersburg, around an intricate canal system.
Folks with a love of traditional architecture will revel in the range of churches, bridges, dwellings and cobblestone streets providing fantastic subject matter for photography.
Houses by the canal in the beautiful city of Bruges, Belgium.
Bruges, A Great Place To Spend The Summer
What's more the old town of Bruges is largely limited to foot traffic. Once away from the highly touristed streets you'll be able to wander around, in relative quiet, and really soak up the atmosphere.
I have to say I really love Bruges and would like to spend several months living there and building up a substantial photography portfolio of this most splendid town.
Now wouldn't that be something?
