scottdonschikowski
FollowA second look at this place, in the chaos of what happens when the weather finally goes your way, I finally settled on this composition literally seconds before...
Read more
A second look at this place, in the chaos of what happens when the weather finally goes your way, I finally settled on this composition literally seconds before it started to DUMP rain.
Read less
Read less
Views
8366
Likes
Awards
Action Award
Chatter Award
Top Shot Award 22
Legendary Award
Exposure and more!
Contest Finalist in Landscapes Photo Contest by dPS
Featured
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
Top Choice
Outstanding Creativity
Jaw Dropping
Peer Award
Magnificent Capture
All Star
Exceptional Contrast
Superior Skill
Genius
Love it
Top Ranks
Categories
julienthiriet
October 21, 2013
I really likethe composition which gives us three beautiful subjects in three different layers in the DOF. Very well done!
Mischa1987
November 20, 2013
this just looks like a fairy tale i cant believe that such a place even exist!! amazing
Danskur76
February 08, 2014
Kirkjufell and The town Grundafjordur is my burthplace. Beautiful scene :)
arunsiddharth
May 03, 2014
Congratulation Scottdon.. Amazing landscape, and you did captured very well.. Congrats
awu88
October 29, 2014
ok... this shot convinced me that I have to visit it before my time is up! Awesomeness defined :)
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Discover more photos See all
Behind The Lens
Location
Its a little town on the western peninsula of Iceland called Grundarfjordur. The place is called Kirkjufellfoss. Or Church (kirkja) Mountain (fell) Waterall (foss).Time
About 4am Icelandic time. During parts of the summer (near the solstice) the sun never actually sets, its just skips around the horizon. So sunset and sunrise are kinda melded together in a long 3-5 hour period of extraordinary light.Lighting
When my buddy Brian Rueb and I got to this place, we were only about 50% sure that the clouds would break on the horizon. Behind us, what you don't see, is a massive wall of rain slowly making its way to us. This shot was taken right before the downfall hit us.Equipment
I used a Canon 5D Mark III, a Canon 17-40 f/4 L, a Lee 3 stop soft graduated neutral density filter, and a sturdy Induro carbon fiber tripod.Inspiration
In all seriousness, when we landed in Reykjavik just 2 hours prior to this moment. We had just missed "sunset," but we knew that sunrise wouldn't be far off so we made a snap decision to head nearly 2 hours to this spot, rain or shine. Brian and I both knew we had a 50/50 shot if the sky cleared enough to let the sun through. We guessed right. It was a little lucky.Editing
I had to do a fair bit of post processing to remove the water spots from the torrential downpour that was happening right behind me. This was effectively the last shot I took that day. Also I had to sharpen the details because in my excitement I had the camera set at f/22 which made everything a little soft. I also pumped the saturation a little to accentuate the colors.In my camera bag
2 camera bodies, usually a full frame and crop-frame. 3 lenses, a 17-40, 70-200, and 100-400. Polarizers, a suite of graduated neutral density filters. Tons of lens cloths, batteries, and memory cards. My tripod, iPhone, and a rocket blower. Thats about it.Feedback
Go to Iceland in the summer. You have a much better chance of seeing light like this in June-July. Most of us are accustomed to seeing sunsets that last about 5-20 minutes. In Iceland, in the summer months, they last for hours, the beautiful light just seems to hang there and you feel like you're in some kind of time warp. Its astounding. Also don't assume that you have to shoot every landscape shot at f/22. Sometimes f/13 works better.