Promising

Promising I was standing there looking out over the sea and suddenly there was a light on my right side that looked that it was coming from around the corner. It was a bright warm light and it felt good.

Solitude

Solitude I have been to Iceland! It was an amazing experience. Iceland is the most spectacular country I've ever been to, and certainly one of the most beautiful! I used a variable ND filter to experiment with exposure times, I fell for this 30-second exposure. I also used a polarizing filter to eliminate glare in the black lava sand.

Skogafoss

Skogafoss Iceland Skogafoss is one of the most famous waterfalls in Iceland. Here stops several bus loads of people from all over the world every day, so it's hard to take original pictures of this very impressive waterfall. Just behind me is also a campground where anyone can set up their tent. Imagine waking up to the roar of the water masses, and this view is the first thing that greets you when you open the tent!

The hidden beauty Gljúfrabúi - Iceland

The hidden beauty Gljúfrabúi - Iceland We had heard that there was a waterfall hidden inside the mountain and that one needed to wade in the water for a while before we came to the waterfall. We were not entirely sure where exactly the entrance was and especially how high the water it was you had to wade through. While we put on our rubber boots and made us in order, an elderly lady came by with waders that reached up to the hips and with a camera around her neck, whereupon we realized that we were at the right place. We talked with her and she told us that she had been looking forward to this for a long time. She had prepared thoroughly before the trip from the US. She was even kind enough to offer us to borrow her pants after she was done. We followed her to the entrance and she went in and disappeared. We stayed for a while in front of the opening and tried to take some pictures of the opening, and to our great joy, one could also see some of the waterfall even when you peeked in from outside. There was constant water vapor from the opening so there was a big challenge to shoot without getting water droplets on the lens. I had to have a rain cover for the camera and holding the hand in front of the lens as much as possible. I put the camera on my tripod and set all the settings as needed. Then I wiped the lens with a cloth while I covered the lens with the other hand. Quickly I had to raise my hand and take the shot. I then had to do the same routine over and over for at least ten times to have at least one exposure with no droplets on the lens. And the whole time I had to pay attention to not move the focus while I was wiping the lens. Afterwards it turned out that there were droplets on every picture! So I had to combine three pictures as layers in Photoshop to be able to mask out the droplets. Tomorrow I will upload a picture from inside the cave!

Gljúfrabúi, meaning "he who lives in the ravine" Iceland

Gljúfrabúi, meaning "he who lives in the ravine" Iceland Yesterday I posted " The hidden beauty Gljúfrabúi - Iceland" and how I got to this extraordinary place. So after we had our pictures of the entrance to the cave we waded in through the stream that lead from inside the cave. It turned out that rubber boots was sufficient and we didn't have our feet wet. Just the feeling of wading in the stream into the mountain was something very special and the curiosity almost killed me of excitement. The first thing I saw when I got in was the big grin on my friends faces and I could see in there eyes that something very special was awaiting me. I could not believe my eyes ones I got inside! It was like a room inside the mountain with stone walls and fluorescent green moss that lit up the room. And in the back of the room there was a most impressive waterfall running down the wall and the light from the hole in the roof was shimmering in it which reflected on the walls. Wow!! This must be the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in my whole life! We were three full grown men (age 50+) giggling like schoolgirls and firing like crazy while wiping our lenses between each shot :-) This was a rush! I hope my my picture convey at least a bit of this but you really have to be there to know whats it like. As I said the light was shimmering on the walls and there was a constant spray of water in the air and last but not least there was the sound of the waterfall pounding on the walls and the ground. This is not something you can capture in one picture. I took about 200 exposures while in there and wiped the lens between each shot so I managed to get a few that was sharp and without any water on the lens. In a situation like this you really can't know for sure so you have to exaggerate and take a lot more exposures than you might think! Gljúfrabúi, meaning "he who lives in the ravine" is great name and gives room for the imagination, don't you think? My friend did take a picture of me ones I got out from the cave. I will ask him if I can post it tomorrow and I think you will get some idea of how I felt afterwards! :-) Take care and have a wonderful Saturday!

Gluggafoss Iceland

Gluggafoss Iceland Gluggafoss was a waterfall we did not know about in advance, but it happened to be along the road where we went. There were thousands of waterfalls along the roads in Iceland. You could not stop and take pictures of all of them. One had to give priority in order to see something else. I'm glad we stopped at Gluggafoss:-)

The soil of Iceland

The soil of Iceland The land in Iceland is to say the least diverse. There are large areas with only black sand, fields filled with green moss, or as in this picture, a backing of black sand covered with pebbles and here and there are small green plants that appear to have been spread by hand. The fact that this country has been formed from volcanoes are obvious!

A bridge to the adventure Iceland

A bridge to the adventure Iceland We were far out in the wilderness with our rented four-wheel wehicle when we saw this footbridge. We stopped for a moment to take some pictures and to our surprise there came several hikers and walked across the bridge on their way to new adventures.

Fagrifoss - Iceland

Fagrifoss Iceland Fagrifoss is a magnifisant waterfall on the SouthEast side of Iceland. To get there you need a big enough 4x4 vehicle, on road F206, and cross a few rivers. We actually crossed the river you can see on the top right just a bit upstream. To find the waterfall and many other well worth places to visit we used the map "International Photographer - Iceland" that turned out to be of a tremendous help.

Ice Sculpture

Ice Sculpture A few days before I went to Iceland, I sat at the bedside and wished my son Felix goodnight. He was a little sad because I would be away for two weeks. I told him, on September 9th there will be a full moon and I will certainly be out to photograph it. If you remember to look out the window for it, then we will look at the exact same thing at the same time and it will be like we are together. Once we were there on September 9th it had not been one single cloudless night since we arrived in Iceland so it was easy to doubt. But I told my friends, who were with me, that "It is obvious there will be a full moon tonight," and as promised, when we had set up our tripods in the black lava sand and prepared ourselves for where the moon would show up, so it appeared! The picture was taken on the beach at Jökulsárlón on the eastern side of Iceland. It is a piece of ice that has become detached from a glacier and washed up on the black lava sand.

Warm and Cold

Warm and Cold The sun is beginning to get low on the sky and one can see the clouds getting formed from nowhere against the hillside. It becomes an awesome effect where the newly formed clouds forming a wall that completely being illuminated by the golden light, while everything behind it retains its cold blue tones. The picture was taken on a tripod barely a foot above the ground. It is a composite image (panorama) consisting of three vertical images to get the full width of the mountain and the plants in the foreground. To get sharpness all the way from the black lava sand in the foreground to the mountain in the background, I have used "focusstacking".

The making of clouds at Stokksnes in Iceland

The making of clouds at Stokksnes in Iceland Stokksnes is situated by the sea and it can get very windy. Here you can see the wind is coming from the left on to the mountain and being forced upwards and therefore cools down and creates clouds right before your eyes. The wind have also formed the shapes in the black lava sand in the foreground. The fact that the sun is very low situated near the horizon and because I've placed the camera close to the ground I managed to emphasize the patterns in the foreground. This is a panorama consisting of two pictures.

Reynisdrangar

Reynisdrangar Sea stacks at Vik in Iceland. The legend says that the stacks originated when two trolls tried to drag a three-masted ship to land but didn't succeed and then when daylight broke they became needles of rock.

Waiting for sunset

Waiting for sunset As the sun began to color the sky with warm colors, we were a few brave left on the beach. We lined up so that we would not end up in each other's frame and started taking pictures. Although it probably was 40 minutes left before the sun would reach the horizon, we were just standing there and enjoyed the waves and the fresh air of Iceland. Now and then someone took a picture even though they knew it would be better in a while, but it's hard to resist the itching in ones trigger finger:-)

Landmannalaugar Iceland

Landmannalaugar Iceland Landmannalaugar is a fairytale valley! When I was there, I noted that many came there with their rented cars, stopped and stated that it was incredibly beautiful, and then they continued their jurney. But then they missed so much! If you ever get there you must take your time and join one of several trails in the area. You will not regret it!

Big sky

Big sky Landmannalaugar in Iceland Although Iceland is not a big country you will often experience very large open spaces and a big sky over the high mountains. Here I have placed the spectacular mountains in Landmannalaugar at the bottom of the image. To not get a weird perspective on the mountains and make them seem like they lean back and shrink, I used my 24mm Tilt-Shift lens and shifted it upwards. To see more data about this picture, click on the image and then on the right hand side, click Photo Information.

Gullfoss (Golden Falls) Iceland

Gullfoss (Golden Falls) Iceland Gullfoss is one of the most popular tourist attractions in iceland. This is a picture of the lower falls and behind it you can faintly see the canyon Hvítárgljúfur. Because it's so popular there are busloads of people and it's hard to get a nice picture. But to my surprise there was'nt a single soul in the whole area at six a clock in the morning and I had the whole place to myself for atleast an hour!

Underwater world

Underwater world Stop the car! I shouted from the backseat. I saw something in the water... We parked the car just a bit further down the dirt road and I returned with my camera and tripod. And there it was, it was some kind of plant and it had an almost neon green color. I definitely wanted this as a foreground element in the picture and because I was in Iceland it wasn't that hard to find a background element! To really bring out the green plants, I used a Polarizing filter to get rid of some of the reflections in the water.

The light at Snæfellsnes

The light at Snæfellsnes The picture was taken in Iceland at "Snaefellsnes". I had worked a lot with finding the right framing and perspective and thought I was done, when I was about to lift my tripod and move on. I wasn't very satisfied with the result so far. Then some sun suddenly peeked through the gray sky. I aimed the camera to frame the enlightened mosses around the waterfall. It's fantastic how much light can do with a scene!!