recent lava - Magni crater

The lava near Fimmvörðuháls is a mere four years old and the nearby

volcanic crater is still warm to the touch. As a result the snow is

melting into fantastic caves and getting close to the rocks can be

tricky. More than once did I almost posthole into a snow cave.

Thank you for looking and your comments.

Christoph I like the light in this image. It gives an impression of tranquility. However, there are some things I think may improve the image. For instance the angle. There is a lack of depth and the reason for that (as I see it) is that the angle is very straight on. I would try to tilt the camera such that you get more ground and less sky in the image. In this particular photo I do not think that the vast sky adds anything to the picture. Rather it steals some attention from the object. Moreover I would try to do something about the color of the snow. It looks a bit to much bluish. Now, in some light conditions this is what snow looks like but I think the image would be better if the snow was whiter. That would also add contrast between the rocks and the snow helping the object to stand out and focusing the attention to the rocks. Finally, the tight square composition is very difficult to master. I would try different framings on a subject like this. As it is now it is so tight that I feel trapped and want to know what is outside the frame. More space on the sides of the object would probably help to focus on the object in this case.

Sincerely Magnus

Magnus,

you made a lot of good points here, and under different circumstances I might have followed some of your advice. The image is over a year old, but I still recall the day.

We were on a 8-day hiking trip, and saw the sun twice. We hiked through some of the most amazing landscape of Iceland and saw very little of it (I've hiked the trail before and have seen it :-) ). Not this time, though. We became a bit frustrated - to say the least. This image attempts to convey that mood.

First, it was dark, damp and cold. For over a week we would move through a sea of bluish, gray clouds, mist and snow. If I tried to shoot an advertisement for the Icelandic hiking club to get more tourists onto this trail I would go for white snow, but I think the bluish cast describes our mood and the situation quite well.

Depth of field and drama: I'd say depth is conveyed by the progression of successively smaller lava chunks that extend to the horizon. I agree, getting higher and closer to the rock would have increased the perception of depth, but I wasn't going for intense drama. Note that the horizon is almost in the middle of a square frame, a very stable choice. As far as what's outside the frame - that's a good question that we asked ourselves numerous times. :-) We hiked for days in a bubble of clouds.

If you look at the remaining images in that folder (I'd be honored if you did) you'll notice there are few sweeping vistas and in many the sky gets its fair share. It's part of the landscape. Some images could be cropped in more dramatic fashion, but that was not quite what I experienced on this trip. Many days were cold and wet, many were exhilarating despite the bad weather, but almost every day had that calming quality that made me chose the square format..

OK, this is way longer than I thought iit woulld be. Have a good day!

Christoph