9 Iconic Photo Spots in Iceland’s Untamed Nature
Since June 2015, I can tick off one road trip from my bucket list. I flew to Iceland for a five-day road trip along the famous Ring Road in Iceland. After one night in Reykjavík, I loaded my rented 4-wheel drive with a few supplies and left to experience the wild and untamed nature of Iceland. In this blog post, you’ll read about some of the most iconic photo spots in Iceland and get a few tips to take photos there.
Table of Contents
- Two ways to experience the best photo spots in Iceland
- The most iconic Photo Spots in southern Iceland
- The most iconic Photo Spots in eastern Iceland
- How I photographed the iconic photo spots in Iceland
- Summary
Two ways to experience the best photo spots in Iceland
Iceland is not that big. So one way to stay in Reykjavík and do one-day excursions by bus to see the best photo spots in southern and eastern Iceland.
The disadvantages of taking bus tours is that you’ll arrive at most photo spots with hundreds of other people. So expect to see mainly crowded places.
If you want to go on your own, then book a rental car and experience Iceland at your pace. One or two words of advice for an Iceland road trip: Do invest in all the extra insurances for a rented car. It’s worth it. Not all places are accessible by a paved road. Secondly, load your car with snacks and drinks. There are only a few gas stations on the way. And if you see one, refuel! No matter how much gas you’ve left.
The most iconic Photo Spots in southern Iceland
I spent the first half of my Iceland vacation going east from Reykjavík along the Ring Road to see and visit some of the most iconic photo spots in southern Iceland.
Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
If you ever wanted to walk or hike behind a waterfall, put Seljalandsfoss on your Iceland bucket list. The waterfall has hollowed out the rock. Thus, you can walk behind the waterfall and take stunning photos there
Seljalandsfoss in Iceland
Another great place to take photos at Seljalandsfoss is to climb the hills on the right side of the waterfall. But be careful: depending on the wind direction, it can be really muddy there.
You can get to Seljalandsfoss within two hours by car from Rekjavik.
Skógafoss Waterfall
Skógafoss is a 25-meter wide and 60 meter high waterfall in southern Iceland. It’s about third minutes by car from Seljalandsfoss waterfall. This was my second stop on my road trip, and I've spent a few hours there. Buses started to arrive around 10 a.m. So if you want to see this place without hundreds of people running into your frame, be there early.
Skogafoss Waterfall
You’ll find many great photo spots here. The first recommendation is to photograph Skógafoss from the distance. If there are too many people standing around, you can remove them. I’ve outlined a few ways how to remove people from a photo on iPhone in a dedicated blog post.
The next best place to take a photo is to climb the stairs on the right side of the waterfall and keep an eye for rainbows! The come and go quickly.
If you have some more time to spend, follow the hiking trail once you've climbed the stairs
The Black Beach
The Black Beach is a spectacular photo spot, just 30 minutes from Skógafoss Waterfall. The black rocks and black gravel you’ll see there are from basaltic rock formations.
Waves breaking at the Black Beach in Iceland
Taking this photo was a bit difficult. To avoid the iPhone getting wet, I set up my tripod and used a remote shutter release. Also, I used a Moment Telephoto Lens to take the photo from a perceived safe distance. Nevertheless, the iPhone got a bit wet, but luckily, nothing happened. It would have been challenging to find an Apple Store here.
The best and easiest way to photograph the breaking waves is to use the burst mode of your camera app. Tap the shutter button, when a wave approaches, and keep it pressed until the wave reaches the beach. Then simply select the most spectacular photo.
Svartifoss Waterfall
Svartifoss in Icelandic means “black waterfall”. It got its name from the black basaltic rock formation where you’ll find it.
Unlike many other spectacular sights, the Svartifoss waterfall is not located near the ring road. You have to take a one-hour hike through a beautiful landscape to reach it.
Here's the breathtaking view that you'll experience once you've climbed the last, small, hill.
Svartifoss Waterfall as seen after a one-hour hike
Another great place to photograph Svartifosss is from the small bridge that you can see in the above photo. To capture the sheer size and beauty of this waterfall and surrounding landscape, use a wide-angle lens.
The Glacier Lagoon at Jökulsárlón.
The well-known glacier lagoon was the turning point of my road trip. I spent an entire day here and even took a boat trip on the glacier lake. But the most remarkable experience was that I could witness and iceberg flipping over. It was simply spectacular. This is a closeup of the iceberg that flipped over, taken during a boat tour.
Flipped iceberg at Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon
To enhance the stunning blue colors a bit, I use the same method that I described in my blog post about how to change the color of water in Lightroom.
The most iconic Photo Spots in eastern Iceland
For the second half of my Iceland vacation, I stayed in Reykjavík and took day excursions on my own with my rented car.
Hallgrímskirkja Church in Reykjavík
Hallgrímskirkja church is an iconic photo spot in Reykjavík. It sits on a small hill in the city center, so you can’t miss it.
Hallgrímskirkja in Reykjavík
For this photo, I used SKRWT app. That’s one way you can fix perspective distortions on iPhone, like falling lines.
The Strokkur Geysir
I spent the last two days in Reykjavík and Mae several half-day trips from there. One of these trips led me to the Strokkur Geyser, one of the few geysers that erupts quite regularly every 10-15 minutes or so.
Strokkur Geysir eruption
Using the burst mode of the iPhone helped me to get this beautiful photo right after the Geyser erupted.
Gullfoss Waterfall
A must-see is Gulfoss waterfall. It's so damn huge - and quite loud, too. To give you an impression of the size of this waterfall, I placed a few people inside the frame. Can you spot them?
Gulfoss Waterfall is huge
Hraunfossar Waterfall
Visiting this waterfall was probably the calmest and relaxing experience during the entire trip. When I arrived, I just saw one bus there - and this bus was about to leave. So it was just me and my camera with no other people there.
So I sat down on one of the benches and enjoyed nature.
Long Exposure of Hraunfossar waterfall
To take this long exposure of the waterfall, I used Slow Shutter Cam App mounted to my tripod. To learn more, please head over to my blog post outlining several ways of how to take a long exposure photo with iPhone.
How I photographed the iconic photo spots in Iceland
For my Iceland road trip, I used my iPhone 6 Plus to take and edit the photos. I really love the bigger screen. It’s much more convenient to manage and edit photos on the larger screen estate.
Summary
Iceland offers epic photo spots and photo opportunities. You’ll find spectacular waterfalls, regularly erupting geysers and untouched beaches. If you’ve ever wanted to take spectacular landscape photos, Iceland is the perfect place to go.
