Help from anyone with Iceland experience (not the shop) - Photos Added!

Rowee

Rowee

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Hi all

I am lucky enough to have been bought a trip to Iceland at the end of January and was hoping for some tips from those of you who have been already.

We are staying in Hotel Ranga, not far from the southern peninsula for 4 days with a 4x4 hired for the time we are there.

I have been doing some research but would like some tips from people here who have been and where there are good places to visit within driving range. I am ideally looking for exciting landscapes and large waterfalls and anything else that portrays the extreme landscape that makes up the island.

Obviously along side this, if anyone has experience of shooting Aurora's that can share any advice on preparation and potential camera settings and lens suggestions, that would be very helpful. I will likely be hiring a lens for the trip as by bag consists of a Sigma 10 -20mm, canon 17 - 85mm, canon 70 - 200mm f/2.8 IS L and canon 50mm f/1.8.

Any help / advice would be greatly appreciated :)
 
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Currently doing a write up of my trip there but in the mean time here's some pics (more going up)

http://drewbuckleyphotography.com/landscapes/iceland/

I know where you're staying and you're in a good place to see the main places - Strokkur geyser, skogafoss waterfall, Seljandafoss waterfall, Gullfoss, even down the south coast to Vik and the great sea stacks among others

As for aurora, manual focus on the stars, high'ish iso, medium aperture, shutter release cable locked on and stand back and enjoy :)

Drew
 
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We had a couple of days in Iceland in the summer whilst on a cruise, you have booked a hire car but the best thing we did was find a great guide who took us everywhere in a minibus. We were in the North on the first day and South on the second day, we saw some amazing geysers, Gullfoss, as it was summer we didn't see any Aurora. My best tip make sure you wrap up well it will be very cold in January....
 
buckas said:
Currently doing a write up of my trip there but in the mean time here's some pics (more going up)

http://drewbuckleyphotography.com/landscapes/iceland/

I know where you're staying and you're in a good place to see the main places - Strokkur geyser, skogafoss waterfall, Seljandafoss waterfall, Gullfoss, even down the south coast to Vik and the great sea stacks among others

As for aurora, manual focus on the stars, high'ish iso, medium aperture, shutter release cable locked on and stand back and enjoy :)

Drew
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There are some great shots here Drew. I have made a note of some of the locations. Have also made a google map of locations I want to visit to help me plan the days :)

Thanks Digikat, thermals will definitely be packed :thumbs:
 
Went there some years ago.Can't help on the photography but they make great halibit steaks in butter sauce.
 
There are some beautiful shots there Kat, thanks for the link.
Your blog makes for a very interesting read Drew, also some stunning photos :)
 
Rowee said:
There are some great shots here Drew. I have made a note of some of the locations. Have also made a google map of locations I want to visit to help me plan the days :)

Thanks Digikat, thermals will definitely be packed :thumbs:
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Theres actually alot of potential to visit multiple sites in a day as many are located near to one another and most of them arent far from roads.

Your hotel seem very well located to do this, to the north Gullfoss, Geyser and Pingvellir(continential dividing crack) are all pretty close.

If you headed eastwards along the coast you could probabley do Seljandafoss , Skogafoss and the Vic coastline in a day aswell.

If your going to be visiting alot of waterfalls in the winter I'd say some kind of mini crampons might be handy, there beautiful when semi frozen but alot of the ground around them is covered in ice aswell.
 
Moreorless said:
Theres actually alot of potential to visit multiple sites in a day as many are located near to one another and most of them arent far from roads.

Your hotel seem very well located to do this, to the north Gullfoss, Geyser and Pingvellir(continential dividing crack) are all pretty close.

If you headed eastwards along the coast you could probabley do Seljandafoss , Skogafoss and the Vic coastline in a day aswell.

If your going to be visiting alot of waterfalls in the winter I'd say some kind of mini crampons might be handy, there beautiful when semi frozen but alot of the ground around them is covered in ice aswell.
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I've seen some great looking universal crampons, may have to take a closer look.
This is very useful advice, its hard to predict how many locations you will actually reach in a day having never been there before. thanks very much for this
 
Hi James

Wow, some stunning shots here. I have hired a 24mm f/1.4 II for the trip, looks like that might have been what you used?
 
Hi,

Yes it's a great lens. If you have any specific questions or you just want to have some general guidelines then feel free to email me any time - my email address is on my web site.
Let me know how you get on - would love to see some pics you took of that area of Iceland.
James
 
jbw said:
Hi,

Just returned from Iceland. You may be interested in some of my pictures which are on 500px.com.
Just do a search for James Boardman-Woodend.
OK?
James
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Nice shots James, ice lagoon is one of the places I wanted to go to but was just a bit too far to drive in a day from where we were staying. Always next time :thumbs:

drew
 
Very helpful thread, I am off there in October this year.

Looking to do the southern coast and usual sites, Rowee I am in Bristol and looking forward to your thoughts on return

Cheers
Kev...
 
Kev, there are a couple of other threads about Iceland on the forum, including a useful link to an Icelandic tour company (from Samphire IIRC).

Out of interest, which company have you organised your flights/package with and are you flying from BRS?
 
I know you are probably there now, but here is my advice.

There is one road called route 1 that loops all around Iceland. From Ranga, Sogafoss is about 40 mins in bad weather (it was snowing a lot when I was there January 2011), then Vik is another 30 mins on. There is also Seljandafoss which is about 20 mins away.

Find good gloves. I was doing some long exposure stuff and hands went cold very quickly.

I would always suggest getting a car for Iceland. 2 days in Reykjavik is enough, then off to the south coast.

Maybe pop to Blue Lagoon on your way back to the airport, even if you don't go for a swim, you'll get some good shots.

Hotel Ranga does really good food, as does Hotel Skogar. Both are great places to stay.
 
Greetings from Iceland :)

We have been told that we have a good chance of seeing Aurora tonight / tomorrow. Keep an eye out for some raw results here if i get lucky!
 
So I've just been out to take a few test shots. I am shocked at just how dark it is outside!!
Here is one of the test shots, where the stars are in best focus (out of the test shots), they still aren't completely clear, which is frustrating, any tips on correctly focusing on them?

This was taken at f/1.4, 15 sec, iso 400
8434146170_9b256ce5d0_b.jpg
 
Presumably the camera's on a solid tripod?

If so, I would go into live view mode and manually focus on a star, stop down to f/2 and increase the exposure time to match - 30 seconds shouldn't start the stars trailing. Use either your remote release or the camera's self timer (and mirror up facility if it has it) to remove as many sources of vibration as possible. Try with your other lenses, it's always possible that the hired one isn't perfectly matched to your body.
Unrelated and taste dependent point - move to the far side of the building if possible - it doesn't add anything to the shot IMO.
 
Rowee I think its to do with the length of exposure you have. If I have it right your on a Canon crop body with the 24mm prime?

If so 24 x 1.6 = 38.4 (FF) then use the 600 rule. 600/38.4= 15.63 seconds. That is the longest exposure you can use before the stars will show movement in your shot. To me I see movement not out of focus, maybe shorten the exposure time and see if that improves?

That said there is a fair bit of discussion if the crop actually makes a difference. What ever the case try both

For focus as Nod says try that or hyperfocal it at 70 or so feet.

Good luck and keep us posted!!
 
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Thanks for the tips guys, photos to be uploaded shortly...
 
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