Goðafoss
Jan, 2016Views
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julie_cavell
February 04, 2016
Great shot..I've been here and you have captured the real beauty of it...
LkImagesllc
April 21, 2018
The landscape is breathtaking. You were able to capture through your lens the dramatic visual of stillness. I love the shot and the angle. The depth is outstanding!! Great picture!!
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
Goðafoss, translated roughly as “The Waterfall of The Gods” is located in the Bárðardalur district of North-Central Iceland. The water of the river Skjálfandafljót falls from a height of 12 meters over a width of 30 meters.Time
This picuture was taken in early August 2014 at around 4pm.Lighting
In August the sunset is at around 11pm, therefore the sun was still high up in the sky shining from behind, creating some sort of difficulty to capture the desired picture of Goðafoss. The background close to the rock formation of the waterfall was dark; the foreground was brighter while the sky was still very bright. Since my objective was to get a contrasting dreamy relaxing water flow effect, I did two things; first, since a quite strong wind was blowing at that moment in time I waited until a group of clouds gathered up and blocked the direct sunlight as much as possible; second, I used a neutral density filter, stopped the lens down to an aperture of f/27 using a 30s shutter speed, only slightly increased the ISO to avoid any graininess while trying to get the right balance between light and water/cloud movement.Equipment
I used a Canon 60D with a EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens and Hoya Neutral Density ND-400 HMC Filter on a Manfrotto tripod.Inspiration
Iceland needs very little inspiration when it comes down to photographing beautiful landscapes. The moment you arrive, it seems like you are in a different dimension, emerged in an immensity of natural beauty and incredible positive energy. Volcanoes, glaciers, innumerous waterfalls, lakes, rivers, highlands, lowlands, the midnight sun, aurora boreal, geothermal lagoons, you name it; you can find it in this stunning country. After a long day driving, whale watching and hiking, my girlfriend and I arrived tired at Goðafoss in the late afternoon. We quickly walked over to the best viewing point, just sat down and relaxed watching and listening to the mesmerizing waterfall. I knew at first sight that incredible pictures could be taken there, subsequently; I slowly set up my gear while getting a glimpse of the dynamic between water flow, wind & cloud formation and started taking pictures.Editing
I used Adobe Lightroom to covert the picture to B&W, balanced shadows and highlights to bring out the foreground and played a bit with contrast and added an additional graduated ND filter to create a smooth and darker sky.In my camera bag
Right now I have a Canon 70D with a EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 USM lens for landscapes, EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM which is a very versatile lens with a decent wide angle but also good zooming capability and for wildlife I generally take my EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6L IS USM lens with me. All three lenses have a B+W UV filter to protect its lenses; additionally I carry a Hoya Neutral Density ND-400 HMC and B+W Polarizer MRC. One battery charger with two spare batteries and a Manfrotto MK394 tripod.Feedback
It is certainly not easy to get splendid photos when the sun is behind the object/landscape you are trying to capture. If I had the chance to go back in time or visit Goðafoss again, I would use a graduated ND filter, this way being able to keep the foreground brighter while considerably reducing the impact of direct sunlight from the background. Additionally, I would take a number of pictures with and without a non-graduated ND filter with different exposures and bracket them together during the post-processing stage into a high dynamic range image. Furthermore, arriving early in the morning or later in the evening would help to capture a better image by reducing inappropriate light and depending on the day adding beautiful colors to the sky as a result of a late sunset or even sunrise. At the end of the day, the important thing is to capture the moment as an expression of how you see it and how you want the viewer to perceive it. In my case, I wanted to capture the waterfall as part of a smooth and peaceful movement blending it and the river into one, while maintaining the flow and faster cloud movement to express a dramatic look between them.
