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From a sunrise on an Icelandic Beach.
Other Information
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Image Description
This is a Sunrise image from Diamond Beach in Southwest Iceland. This black sand beach area is where icebergs from the nearby glaciers come to spend their final hours as icebergs. Due to the fact that Iceland is a volcanic island, all of their natural beaches are black sand. Our workshop guide said they did bring in some yellow/buff colored sand to put down to satisfy some of the tourist, but I did not see that beach. Our group spent about an hour and a half photographing along this beach and I found it much more interesting than I thought I would. For this particular image I really liked how I was able to capture the rising sun star burst rays centered and just above this “Diamond” collection.
Technical Details
Camera: Canon EOS R5. Lens: RF24-240mm F4-6.3 IS USM (My Go To Lens for Landscapes), f/25
@ 62.0 mm., for 2.5 secs. ISO 100. Edited using Photoshop and Nik Color Effects.
This is a very interesting picture that drew my eye right away. The sky and the sun star are specular and in such a contrast the ice at the front. It looks like they were taken from a giant’s drink who threw them on this beach. It is hard to make sense of them and how they fit in with the rest of the picture. I felt that they interfere with my ability to enjoy the sunset though it really gave the picture a sense of place and made me stay on the picture for quite some time to try to figure it out. I liked that the ice pieces created a frame for the picture on the left side and also how the wave on the right (if is a wave and not another ice) mirror the ice.
Just back from a recent trip to Iceland myself, where strangely enough i never saw any ice. Good reason to return. The interplay of sunlight and ice is one of my personal favorite things to photograph. This scene looks like it must have offered up quite a few different compositions. The sunlight through the ice is great. On a composition side i think you could bring in the right side of the image as the interest in the ice is more on the left side. I like to see the sun in an image like this, but it does blow out the highlights. Exposure bracketing may be a way to compensate for that on future adventures.
Thank you Cameron for your comments. I’m afraid I’m not a big fan of bracketing especially when capturing an image like this looking directly into the sun. I did try tone mapping this image, but I was not happy with that rendering. Robert Engle
My initial reaction is that I need to get back there. I think I could take several days playing on the beach there with the different pieces of ice. I like that you chose a collection of ice for your subject.
