PODAS Iceland IQ160

Hraunfossar, Iceland

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This image is shot at Hraunfossar, and is one of the images from last years POADS workshop in Iceland. The waterfall is kind of puzzling. The water just seems to emerge from the riverbank, which is lined with basalt rock; the water flows from a waterfall a bit further up the river and along the basalt rock through the looser material which covers the basalt and pours out of the riverbank here.  

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, PhaseOne 150mm f/2.8 IF, ISO50 f/6.3 at 1/200s

Iceland - my Cliché

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This is one of shots from the final day of the PhaseOne PODAS workshop in Iceland. We stopped to shoot a waterfall, but I found this scene more interesting. Near the top of the mountain ridge basalt columns, the ever present sign of volcanic activity, form amazing patterns. To me this is the cliché of the rural part of Iceland I have visited - mans presence dwarfed by the overwhelming nature, shaped by volcanic activity and worn down by the forces of the weather.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - f/10 at 1/80s

Basalt Columns at the Black Beach

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Here is another example of basalt columns. This is from the Black Beach west of Vik. The sand consists of grains of black volcanic rock, and even faint sunlight will make the sand warm to the touch. (And for the fans of Bon Iver, if you have seen the "Holocene" video, these are the very columns the boy is climbing on towards the end of the video. You'll find the video on Vimeo.)

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/9 at 1/30s

Svartifoss

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Svartifoss in Skaftafell National Park is one of Iceland's iconic waterfalls. The basalt columns cover the wall of the bowl shaped basin carved over time by the water. These basalt columns are said to have inspired the icelandic architect Guđjón Samúelsson, and Hallgrímskirkja church in Reykjavik is one of several building which have column like features resembling the basalt columns seen here.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/18 at 0.8s

More from the Jökulsárlón

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There is just something about the clear, translucent ice that fascinates me. The way it catches and scatters the light. Here are a few more examples from the Iceland PODAS. The first two images are taken shortly before sunset, and the low angle of the sun really makes the clear ice shine. The ice only stays clear for a few hours. As soon as it is exposed to warm air and sunlight the ice will become opaque and appear white due to a steadily growing number of small cracks. You can see this in the third image. Eventually the chunk of ice will break apart, turn over and expose a new portion of clear ice.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 150mm f/3.5 - ISO50 f/12 at 1/160s

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 150mm f/3.5 - ISO50 f/10 at 1/160s

M8, Summicron 35mm, ISO160 f/5.6 at 1/1000s

At the Jökulsárlón

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This is an image from the Jökulsárlón on the south western coast of Iceland. According to my guide book the lagoon formed as the Breiđamerkurjökull, a branch of the Vatanjökull complex, retreated during the decades following 1920. The size of the lagoon has increased fourfold over the past 40 year, and since 1930 the glacier front has retreated more than 1,5km from the seafront and the lagoon now covers an area of almost 20 square kilometers.

PhaseOne 645DF IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach 150mm/3.5 - f/22 at 15s

Vik Church

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Daniel Bergman, our local guide and nature photographer, told us that the alaskan lupin is changing the icelandic landscape. Initially the lupin was planted to bind and improve the soil, but the conditions for the alaskan lupin are near perfect with few, if any, competitors. The spread of the lupin will impact the local flora and fauna. There is a patch of the lupin which stretches from the church and all across the lower part of this image. The hillsides are still untainted though, and I hope it stays that way.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/5.6 at 1/250s

At Seljalandfoss

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This is also an image from the evening shoot at Seljalandfoss. It is from the small stream that runs from the pool beneath the waterfall. I like the way the setting sun reflected of the cliff face and the sky color the waves. Even with these reduced quality sRGB JPEG files you get an impression of the image quality. Below you will find a detail from this image where you can see the patterns formed by the specular highlights (at 50% of original resolution). 

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80 mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/16 at 0.4s - 1200 x 900 pixles (original 8984 x 6732)

Crop 1200 x 900 pixels (original 2400 x 1800)

Seljalandfoss

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Seljalandfoss is one of Iceland's many well know waterfalls. It is easily accessible and photographed by thousands of photographers, amateurs and professionals alike. The cliff face the water falls from is overhanging, and there is a path behind the waterfall; there is every opportunity to take a picture from almost any angle.

One option, with the sun setting, would be to freeze the water and choose an angle which would emphasize the rainbow reflected by the spray forming as the water hit the pool beneath the waterfall. Another to use a slow shutter speed, or ND filters to smooth out the water. But none of this would convey my perception of the waterfall - the force and power of the water gushing over the cliff edge. The force that you can feel as you get close to rushing water. So I dropped the tripod and started to experiment.

One of the things that occurred to me was that by choosing a slow shutter speed and panning the camera to follow the flow of the water, just like a speeding sports car, I was able to achieve what I was looking for - an image, which to me, captured the waterfall the way I saw it. Then it was just a question of details like finding a spot where the light fell from the right direction and getting close enough to keep the details from the surroundings at a minimum.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, Schneider Kreuznach LS 80mm f/2.8 - ISO50 f/22 at 1/8s

Black Church at Buđir

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As promised here is an image from the Iceland PODAS, taken at Buđir on Snæfellsnes. We arrived just before sunrise, and armed with inspiration from the lectures by the instructors Peter Eastway and Steve Gosling I decided to go for something a little different. Besides converting the image to Black and White and increasing the contrast, I have also used the trick described in the "Image professors blog" (http://blog.phaseone.com/2011/01/13/the-secret-hdr-tool/) to make the window frames stand out.

PhaseOne 645DF, IQ160, PhaseOne 45mm f/2.8, f/9 at 1/4s

And these are the "Before" and "After" versions of the image.