Stokksness, Iceland
After hours spent on the Stokksnes Peninsula photographing Mt. Vestrahorn, it was tough to wrap it up and call it an evening with the light being some of the best we’d had all trip. But as Natalie and I drove back out on the one gravel road, I couldn’t resist stopping one more time to capture this moment.
The cloud cover was to die for—incredibly fierce, vibrant glow everywhere. My two models made the scene that much more beautiful. Throughout our trip around the Ring Road, we’d be accompanied by the unique Icelandic horse—often paired up just like this, rubbing on each other, probably to keep warm and itch. They were always very friendly—running up to us at times—and they really were a staple of Iceland’s landscape and something we will always remember about this country.
For this shot I quietly got out of the car, walked up the road and setup my tripod. I was trying to move quickly before this perfect composition changed. Luckily, it seemed the horses were in late night relaxation mode so I was able to take a few shots before they moved. Wish I could’ve got the other horse to lift it’s head though but didn’t have the angle.
The difficulty here was the low light, the wind and the horse movement. I knew I’d have to blast up the ISO so my shutter speed would be fast enough to minimalize any blurring. So the first thing I wanted to make sure I got were the horses. Got lucky with this one—the only useable shot—with the wind obviously blowing I turned up the ISO to 800 to get a relatively sharp shot (other than the blowing tail and mane). I then immediately readjusted to a higher f-stop for more depth, lowered the ISO with a slightly longer shutter to get everything else correctly at f/14 1/13s ISO 250. In post, I painted in the sharper exposure of the horses where I needed to and used my usual methods involving luminosity masks and selective sharpening, etc. to complete it. more info
