Lava Boulder and Surf, Vikurfjara Beach, Vik y Mirdal, Iceland.

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Small detail may be elusive when you have in front of your eyes the grandeur of huge masses of water that create waterfalls or when you are witnessing elegant clouds passing at high speed on the horizon. When traveling in Iceland you can get stunned by the great landscape and forget the detail. In fact, it took some time for me to be aware of this small boulder of reddish lava that was being dragged by the tide back to the ocean and to realize that it could produce an effective picture.

I arrived at Vik after driving all day from Keflavik Airport. I checked-in in my hotel and rested a bit. I was tired and did not want to get on the car again. The nearby photo locations I had to explore could wait for the next day, so just got my backpack and tripod, and went to the beach of Vikurfjara to get my first contact with Icelandic landscape. It was just some hundreds of meters away from my hotel and I could reach them in a short walk.

Vik itself is not among the heavyweights among the touristic destinations of Iceland because of its inherent natural beauties, but it is a wonderful base to explore the surroundings (Reynisfjara, Dyorhaley, DC-10 wreck…) as it has the biggest supermarket for many miles around, some gas stations, and many hotels to spend a night. It is the big town in the area.

I have to say that during all the days I stayed in Vik and went to the beach to photograph landscapes, I was nearly or completely alone on the beach. It is true that I went late in the afternoon and I was on the shoulder season (April/May), but the human presence in this beach (compared to Reynisfjara, which is some kilometers away) is small… and it helps to concentrate on the landscape when you are not in a crowded environment.

The white foam of the waves and the black sand created a contrast much bigger than the one you can see in a typical beach, where the sand is bright brown or yellow. That is why Iceland sea landscapes are unique in the world and make of this island in the middle of the Atlantic a great destination for any landscape photographer on Earth.

I arrived at Vikurfjara Beach during a cloudy colorless sunset and I saw the waves when the tide was receding. I took some images of a couple silhouetted against the bright part of the sky who was walking near the water. The white foam of the waves and the black sand created a contrast much bigger than the one you can see in a typical beach, where the sand is bright brown or yellow. That is why Iceland sea landscapes are unique in the world and make of this island in the middle of the Atlantic a great destination for any landscape photographer on Earth.

After some time I walked near the shore and became aware of some pebbles half sunken in the sand dragged by the waves. The tide was taking them back to the ocean little by little. Some of the waves passed over them, others surrounded them and a few ones were strong enough to move them.

The brown-reddish color of the lava rock created a beautiful color contrast against the monochromatic whites of the foam and the dark grays of the volcanic sand. It made the pebble stand out from the background.

The first lens I tried was the Nikon 20mm f2 AF, but too much of the sea in the distance was included in the frame, stealing attention from my main character, the rock. I wanted to focus on the boulder itself and the white silky trails that the waves were leaving while receding back to the ocean. I preferred to simplify the composition, so I changed to my Nikon 24mm f2.8 AF, which is my favorite lens for landscape photography. The angle of view is great (20mm is a bit too wide for my taste, 28mm or 35mm a bit too closed), and being a prime lens (fixed focal length) the sharpness is amazing, in special when stopped down a bit. It is small and light and the filter size (52mm) is very handy. It is ALWAYS in my backpack.

The key was to put the lens at a short distance from the rock. This way the boulder looks big enough in the frame and big part of it gets covered by the trails of receding water.

I mounted my Nikon D800 with the 24mm on my Manfrotto 055 Pro Tripod with the three sections completely closed. I needed a detail and I was using a wide lens, something that may look contradictory. Someone may ask: “If you wanted a detail, why didn’t you change to the 50 or 80mm?” The answer is because with a longer lens I could have a great image of the rock, but the closed angle of view did not give the impression of the pebble being immersed in the waves, and these were as important in the composition as is the boulder itself. It is the contrast between the heavy static feel and the rugged texture of the rock with the silky whitish blurred trails of foam what creates this picture.

The key was to put the lens at a short distance from the rock. This way the boulder looks big enough in the frame and big part of it gets covered by the trails of receding water. Learning to employ real wide angles (not a 28mm), but a 24mm or an 18mm is a tricky matter for any photographer who is not used to their perspective, which is different from the one of human eyes, and it takes some time and a few experiments to assimilate how to utilize them effectively for creative purposes.

Once set the composition (vertical looked better than horizontal, by the way), the hardest part to get this image was to wait for an appropriate wave. Some of them were not strong enough and did not reach the rock, while others were too strong and passed over it. Some of them even moved the position of the pebble, so I had to begin from scratch and recompose and level the camera for a few times, which was a bit disheartening. Only a few waves reached the rock and touched it a bit leaving a photogenic trail of white foam before losing in the green ocean.

The lack of color buries chromatically the rock in the water. It is the brown-red color of the pebble what makes it stand out from the white foam, so I have chosen the color version. Color contrast is needed to separate shapes.

Due to the strong wind, the tide had a noticeable lateral component. Waves did not break at ninety degrees against the shore but came from the left side. This fact produced a very interesting effect on the final image.

The wave you can see in the photograph is coming from my left, covering the rock partially (see the translucent part over the reds at the base of the pebble), and surrounds it to go back cleanly creating an elegant curved shape of white foam before joining the new wave that is beginning to break (you can see it on the top of the frame).

TECHNICAL TIPS

FOCUS, SHUTTER SPEED AND APERTURE Focus has to be on the rock, the only part of the image that has sharp detail. The wave is a moving blurred subject. No focus is needed on it. That’s why I didn’t close more the aperture of the lens. f13 gave me enough focus even at the small distance between the lens and the subject.

It was more important to get the appropriate exposure time (around 1 second) and low ISO (200) to avoid digital noise.

FOCAL LENGTH 

A photographer from National Geographic ‘Your Shot’ has made a very interesting comment under one of the photos of this Iceland series: although wide angles are said to be the most used and recommended focal lengths to shoot landscapes, during my trip to Iceland the one that I used in most situations was the Nikon 80-200 2.8 AF, usually between 80 and 140mm. I have to say that I am the first surprised by this reality. As I have said some lines before, the lens I use more often for landscape photography is the 24mm. Have to say there is no reason for this. I simply go out there with all the lenses that fit in my backpack and change them to suit the composition I have in front of my eyes, taking care only that all the natural components are as balanced as possible in the frame.

FILTER: B+W 77MM GRAD ND (702M) 2 STOPS

On landscape photography, the upper part of the frame is a bit lighter than the lower one (overcast light comes from above on a cloudy day). The unnoticeable, very soft transition, of this filter reduces the general contrast of the picture. It is great for nearly all landscapes situations.

BLACK AND WHITE

I made a black and white version of this photograph, but it happened that this was one of the three images from the series that did not look better in black and white than in color.

The other two images are:

Warning Plate and Mountains, Iceland.

Ice formations, Jokulsarlon, Iceland.

The lack of color buries chromatically the rock in the water. It is the brown-red color of the pebble what makes it stand out from the white foam, so I have chosen the color version. Color contrast is needed to separate shapes.

This is definitely a location I had not planned to visit when I was preparing my trip to Iceland, but one that gave me a few effective pictures, and this beach will be for sure in the list of ‘Locations to go back’ when I visit once again this special island.

RELATED IMAGES:

Ice block and Surf, Diamond Beach, Jokulsralon, Iceland.

Breaking Wave Detail, Reinisfjara, Iceland.

EXIF DATA
Camera Model: Nikon D800
Lens: Nikon 24mm f2.8 AF prime lens.
SETTINGS: Aperture: f13 | Shutter Speed: 1 second | ISO: 200

LIST OF USED GEAR
Tripod: Gitzo 1372M Magnesium Alloy Head on Manfrotto 055 Pro legs.
Backpack: LowePro with rain cover (absolutely needed in Iceland)
Memory Card: Sandisk SD Extreme 64Gb
Filter: B+W 77mm GRAD ND (702M) 2 stops Graduated 0.6 Neutral Density Filter, 2 points, very soft transition.

NEXT SCHEDULED POST: Reynisdrangar from Reynisfjara Beach, Iceland.

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