A lone church stands atop a hill in Iceland with sunbeams breaking through the storm clouds.
A lone church stands atop a hill in Iceland with sunbeams breaking through the storm clouds.
Read less
Read less
Views
1740
Likes
Awards
Contest Finalist in The Clouds And The Sunlight Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Rule Of Thirds Photo Contest v3
Peer Choice Award
Featured
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Virtuoso
Top Ranks
Categories
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
We were driving east from a beach to Vic, in Iceland. We drove round the corner and there was the lovely, lonely church of Vic, on the hill. There was a snow storm brewing, the wind was so strong - just as we jumped out of our bus, the sun came out and its beams pointed towards the church and illuminated the sky and sea. Moments later we beat a hasty retreat as snow pellets stung our faces and pinged off our cameras.Time
We had risen early to catch the sunrise at a beach just west of Vic, Iceland. Well, you can see the cloud cover so no sunrise - instead thick clouds, gale force winds, snow pellet showers that stung your face. This photograph was taken at about 9am.Lighting
This photograph was taken just before a fierce snow pellet storm. The light was a bit eerie as you can see. But just before the snow pellets arrived, the sun came out and the beams pointed towards the church.Equipment
The photograph was taken hand held using my Canon 5D Mk III. The ISO was 250, with a shutter speed of 1/640th of a second at f/8. Focal length was 175mm. The shutter speed had to be fast because of the high wind buffeting me and my camera.Inspiration
Driving round a corner the church on the hill was a huge surprise - we stopped our bus and jumped out - it was a must photograph.Editing
As the original photograph was taken in RAW format, the photograph had to be processed - this was carried out in Lightroom. The basic adjustments section was used and this is the final photograph - basically making the photograph look the same as the scene as I remembered it.In my camera bag
Canon 5D Mk III, Lee filters and holder, 24 - 105mm lens, cleaning cloth, spare batteries (they don't last long in the cold), spare media cards.Feedback
There was no need to use any filters for taking this photograph because the fast shutter speed (due to the high wind), together with a darker sky, stopped the photograph from being over exposed. In this particular composition, the church is the star but the sky and sunbeams certainly share the limelight. If the weather had been kinder, with a brighter sky, then I would have had to use a strong ND filter to stop the sky from being over-exposed. But on saying that, I probably wouldn't have composed the photograph in the same way, I'd have tightened the composition and filled more of the frame with the church - who wants a boring sky to share space with the star? I think this photograph works well because of the stormy, threatening sky and bursting sunbeams.