Iceland was incredibly beautiful… and one of my very favorite locations was this gorgeous beach at Jökulsárlón. I think you can see why. I would have liked to spend far more time shooting these small icebergs. I guess we’ll just have to go back for another trip! (If you haven’t already seen it, you can find our trip report here on our blog.)
Anyway – the challenges for this shot included wind and rain, keeping the tripod still as the waves pulled at it and shifted the sand underneath, and getting a shot before the iceberg floated away!
I shoved the legs of my tripod deep into the sand to steady it and chose a 30 second exposure. It was getting dark at this point, but I was happy with that. I wanted a very long exposure to smooth the water behind the iceberg. My goal was to make sure the ice in the foreground stood out as much as possible against a simplified background. The long shutter speed removed any details from the waves, leaving me with a clean backdrop for my giant ice cube.
The intense blue is a result of the long exposure, the extremely low light, the overcast skies, and careful post processing.
Well – what do you think? Did I oversimplify this shot? Or do you like the effect of the long shutter speed?
I really can’t wait to get to Iceland again!
Brilliant, I love the amazing shapes and distortions in the ice. How big is that iceberg?
Over simplifying is the key to clean and effective presentation.
Less than two months now before I get to Iceland.
Varina, this is very simple and very “cool”. I really like that the ice glows blue. It definitely set a stark, cold mood. Very nice.
hola soy de colombia me encanta la fotografia y quisiera aprender mas de sus esperiencias gracias