Pic(k) of the week 20: Blue forest, Kemmel (Belgium)

End of April is often the perfect time to find the beautiful carpets of bluebell hyacinths in a few of the Belgian forests. The most famous place in Belgium for this natural beauty, is without doubt the Hallerbos (forest of Halle) in the city of Halle, close to Brussels. Even though it is a great place for landscape photography, it often becomes too busy with the daily stream of hundreds of tourists.

It was somewhat of a coincidence that I bumped into a field of hyacinths at the top of the Kemmelberg; a small hill in the otherwise very flat Western part of Belgium.

As the late evening light was breaking through a fenced off forest, I managed to frame the following image with my Fuijfilm X-T1 high above my head; a great illustration how a tilt screen comes in handy! 

Blue forest, Kemmel,  Belgium

Image details:
Fujifilm X-T1 with the Fujinon XF 56mm f1.2 prime lens
ISO 3200, f8, 1/320s
Lightroom CC for RAW development
Nik Color Efex Pro 4 for contrast enhancement

For the ones wondering, the high ISO was chosen to have a fast enough shutter speed (1/320s) in order to freeze the moving leaves in the moderate winds. The aperture of f8 was needed to have a good enough depth of field.

Remember: "Even if one tree falls down, it doesn't affect the entire forest" - Chen Shui-bian

BJORN





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