Getting to the Bottom of Svartifoss, Iceland

 Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall  2 Responses »
Nov 132012
 

After teetering on the edge of collapsing into the river along with my camera gear and my travel buddy (aka my umbrella holder), I scrambled back onto the bank and decided to further my attempt to fall in by crossing the rope barrier to get a closer look at the incredible Svartifoss.

It was raining and gloomy. We’d walked for about an hour to get here, but when we arrived, we forgot about how cold, damp and miserable the hike had been. This waterfall is beautiful. I’d decided I wanted to capture the thin veil of water that tumbled onto the jagged rocks at its base. I was able to climb an outcrop and set my camera up with tripod on the lowest level, to snap this shot.

I tried processing this through Photomatix as I normally do to produce HDR images but eventually decided it wasn’t necessary. I just used one exposure and tweaked the contrast and saturation in Photoshop then boosted the detail a bit using Topaz Adjust.

Thin veil of water tumbling on to the jagged rocks covered in green moss landing in a pool of water at the base of Svartifoss waterfall in Skaftafel, Iceland

Svartifoss, Iceland

 Europe, Iceland, Travel, Waterfall  3 Responses »
Sep 102012
 

This may be my favorite waterfall in Iceland. It’s isolated in the Skaftafel National Park, about an hours hike from the parking lot. We went there at about midnight, in the rain, and seemed to be the only people about. It’s a trickle compared to the more dramatic torrents at Godafoss and Gullfoss, but there’s something special about the way the thin stream of water spreads out as it plunges into a deep pool. It’s very soft and delicate, but surrounded by harsh decaying hexagonal columns of granite.

Taking this photo was interesting. The stream was about a foot deep but had a few loose rocks strewn about. I found three rocks in positions to accommodate each of my tripods feet and another one I could stand on. Then, I realised that I needed to keep the rain off my lens so had to call my travel buddy into the river with me, with her umbrella. We were stood, teetering on a rock, holding onto each-other for balance, when the only two people we saw the whole time we were there decided to turn up. Fortunately, they were photographers and didn’t seem phased by our odd positioning.

Waterfall in Skaftafel National Park, Iceland with a thin delicate stream of water that spreads out as it plunges into a deep pool surrounded by harsh decaying hexagonal columns of granite.