Bruges, Belgium

Visiting Bruges during the winter was absolutely worth it. Tourism is almost inexistent, especially later during the evenings. A very good friend of mine gave me a wonderful tour through the old city and this shot turned out to be my favourite one. I used my Fujifilm X-T3 with a standard lens but added a Neutral Density filter on it. What is that exactly? This filter functions as a kind of sunglass for cameras, blocking a significant amount of light. The filter is specifically designed to block all wavelengths equally in order to avoid colour shifts. (Unlike real sunglasses that tend to modify colours significantly).

By now you will probably have noticed that I love to use ND-filters… I guess one of the reasons I use them is that they enhance tranquility and serenity in pictures - two emotions that I find particularly appealing in landscape photography. If I had shot this with a normal lens and normal settings, the car on the left-hand side of the canal would have been very visible and would draw too much attention. Now you can barely see it.