Vesturhorn w/ repost

Gallery: LandscapePosted March 25, 2015763 views17 comments

I captured this shot of the northern lights over Vesturhorn Mountain while in Iceland a few weeks ago. I've been fortunate to see the northern lights a lot, but this was the best display I've ever seen. The lights were strong for many hours and constantly morphing into different shapes and patterns over this spectacular mountain. In the foreground, you can see many small black sand dunes with grass on the top. It's a very surreal place. View large.

Nikon D800e, 14mm, ISO 1600, 10 secs, f2.8

Comments

17 comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on March 25, 2015 at 9:04 PM

Surreal indeed. Never been there, but this makes me want to go. This is one of those images that there is a lot of tension in, between the foreground "dunes", the frozen water, the mountains, the Aurora, etc. Altogether a feast for the eyes!

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Nathan Apodaca on March 25, 2015 at 9:34 PM

Beautiful shot... Wow... I'll leave my comment at that...

Registered on November 16, 2011, 67 Posts, 1127 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Williams on March 26, 2015 at 12:50 AM

This is fantastic Grant. Spectacular color, amazing sharpness and great interest in the landscape and the composition is also really good.

Registered on December 28, 2010, 636 Posts, 3499 Comments

Comment posted by Aaron Feinberg on March 26, 2015 at 3:20 AM

Holy shit balls.

Registered on October 26, 2009, 399 Posts, 2789 Comments

Comment posted by Kah Kit Yoong on March 26, 2015 at 7:33 AM

Spectacular aurora shot which is a nice addition since this location gets photographed a lot. There's probably a bit too much blocked out shadows for me; I think you could afford to open them up slightly.

Registered on September 27, 2006, 636 Posts, 10682 Comments

Comment posted by Harry Lichtman on March 26, 2015 at 8:47 AM

Gorgeous! I think the moonlight was a bonus in illuminating the grassy tufts. A spectacular display.

Registered on September 17, 2010, 304 Posts, 3507 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on March 26, 2015 at 9:25 AM

This is very dramatic, Grant. There's so much to look at, with the touches of light on the foreground rocks and the mountains, the water, the stars, and (of course) the aurora. Beautifully done.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Harley Goldman on March 26, 2015 at 12:30 PM

Beautiful! I have never seen the northern lights, but I sure enjoy sweet images of them like this one.

Registered on November 19, 2003, 586 Posts, 11271 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on March 26, 2015 at 12:37 PM

That foreground is great! Love the subtlety of it, while still being an important part of the photo. Overall, the three layers blend in perfectly with each other, a real winner!

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Dietrich Gloger on March 26, 2015 at 2:27 PM

The large version does the job! Magical place and moment.

Registered on January 26, 2007, 360 Posts, 9876 Comments

Comment posted by gary phillips on March 26, 2015 at 3:38 PM

Exceptional, Grant. Quite a visual feast and the large version opens up the shadows in the fore dunes nicely. Outstanding work.

Registered on October 24, 2013, 185 Posts, 4136 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Reed on March 26, 2015 at 6:02 PM

F2.8? Nice shot. Very Sharp

Registered on September 19, 2009, 198 Posts, 1074 Comments

Comment posted by Grant Collier on March 27, 2015 at 5:06 PM

Thanks for the comments! I've posted a slightly revised image with shadows opened up a tad and colors tweaked. I'll be printing this large soon, so if you don't like anything on the revised version, let me know.

Aaron, I think your comment will now be my go-to comment when I don't what else to say.

Gary, yes, I have to use very wide apertures for night shots. But with such a wide angle lens, you can still get a lot of depth of field at this apertures - from 4 feet to infinity for this shot. The nearest dune was at lest 20 feet away, so it was easy to get everything in focus.

Registered on July 29, 2005, 73 Posts, 430 Comments

Comment posted by Nick Bristol on March 29, 2015 at 3:10 PM

Grant, This is Fantastic! Looks like the repost tweaks will make for a wonderful print and I'm wishing I could see it as a large print. Excellent work on this beautiful image!! Love the mood.

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI

Registered on February 1, 2004, 752 Posts, 14140 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on March 29, 2015 at 9:38 PM

Grant: Spiked my

-meter with this one! Spectacular scene superbly captured and presented. 2+ thumbs up! >=))>