NEW Iceland Images – Arctic Adventure 2023

February 14, 2022

Hey guys. It’s been quite a few weeks on the road with 2 epic adventures to Iceland and Norway now completed. We started out with an international canceled flight in Iceland which delayed us by a day and we finished with another canceled domestic flight for good measure. A 9-hour drive from Myvatn to Keflavik ensued but everyone made their international flights and the drivers got a 9-hour drive through some wonderful landscape. The things we do for this thing we love so dear. Landscape photography. Norway was somewhat smoother and the 20-minute drives in the driving snow seemed like childs play compared with the Icelandic drama of the previous week. We missed our friend Thor in Iceland but we will be reunited soon for Midnight Sun in the Highlands so nay bother there.

I have so much work to edit from the Autumn and Winter which I intend to edit over the coming weeks and months. Hopefully a regular blog over the next 6 weeks. For now, here’s installment 1. Loads more to edit from this trip but this should give you a flavour.

Next year’s trips to Iceland South and Lofoten are already nearly booked so jump on while you can. Hope you enjoy the images below .. Best wishes .. Peter

Northern Lights Godafoss

We waited 3 hours for the northern lights to eventually dance over Godafoss. The clouds kept opening and closing and there was little or no activity with the lights. Well worth sticking it out and eventually nature gave us an amazing experience. The group was certainly happy in the end.

Lots of dodging and burning here to direct the eye to the waterfall. Also, I processed the northern lights and the sky behind separately with the new super great masks in Lightroom.

z6 f2.8 30 seconds iso 1600

Kirkfell Dawn

Kirkfell mountain in Iceland is more than a little recognisable to the landscape shooters out there. Still it’s hard to ignore its epic beauty and perfect symmetry. A wee reflection on this January morning amongst the ice was a grand bonus ..

Dark processing using warm to cool transitions. The masking was not quite good enough in Lightroom for this image so I reverted to photoshop to adjust the sky. The new masks are amazingly good but sometimes not defined enough to get clear separation with more complicated skies.

f8 iso 320 z6 24mm handheld shot for a change

White Church

There’s of course the Black Church in Iceland but hows about this little white church too. Super cute little structure and a stunning backdrop. Only serving such a small community these churches really are a marvel.

The high key processing was achieved by treating the church and background separately during the edit. The subject selection tool grabbed the church very easily. A few distractions were removed in PS with my good buddy Phil, first name content-aware.

Raven and some funky clouds ..

Polar stratospheric clouds and a wee raven for good measure,. Must be Iceland ..

Aldeyjarfoss Sunrise

The trip up to Aldeyjarfoss is always a massive highlight of Iceland North. Super jeep access is needed which just adds to the adventure. We didn’t have much snow up there this year but it was more than made up for with that electric water and some great sky..

The subject select in Lightroom/Camera RAW got a good selection quickly on the bowl shape. I always like to process selectively.

Nikon z6, 14 – 24, lee .6 medium grad ND, f11 at 15 seconds

Aldeyjarfoss Frozen Details

Ice in Iceland who would have thought. Some beautiful sculptures above Aldeyjarfoss. Don’t leave home without your 70 – 200.

I used my Lee Filters little stopper to achieve an 8 second exposure and blur the water. Processed nice and blue to keep that cool tone feeling.

F11 at 8 seconds, z 6 70 – 200 plus my Lee 6 stop

Horsing Around

What trip to Iceland would be complete without a pony picture?

Thermal North at Dawn

The out worldly landscape of Iceland at its very best. The light just burst through onto the escaping gases and man did it make the scene pop. Amazing contrast between the warm and cool tones here too.

I toyed with processing this high key for a while but in the end I decided the more moody presentation worked best.

nikon z6 14 – 24 , f13 and 1.3 seconds. 3 stop lee ND

Godafoss Sunset

The epic beauty of Godafoss is hard to describe. Stunning water colour, ice, and powerful falls. It’s a long way there but well worth the effort to photograph this beauty.

Nikon z6 14 – 24 , Lee filters 3 stop and 1.2 soft filter, f13 at 4 seconds