Iceland is undoubtedly one of those countries that is blessed with gorgeous landscapes. The beautiful mountains, the majestic waterfalls, and the stunning landscapes all come together to make Iceland an exceptionally picturesque place. When photographer Jay took the following image, he did something more. He not only composed with Iceland’s landscapes in the frame, but also included a body that’s common to everyone – the moon, and made it the focal point of this image. The result is outstanding:
“Glacier Vatnajökull During Sunrise” by Jay (Via Reddit. Click image to see full size.)
Jay took the image with his Nikon D810 and 28-300mm lens at 300mm. And since the image was shot at 300mm, the compression has beautifully pulled the moon closer making it look enormous. Since the moon looks way bigger than it appears to the eye, it leaves the viewers totally awestruck.
The lighting on the glacier is another interesting aspect of this beautiful image. Since it was early morning when Jay took the image, the golden light from the low lying sun has created interesting patterns of light and shadows on the surface of the glacier. This has added beautiful textures on the image and made it more appealing.
If you think that this was a well planned shot, you’d be so wrong. In fact Jay had to run to grab his camera when he witnessed the potential in the scene that was in front of him. Talk about luck in photography.
“When I took this, I had actually stepped out to go for breakfast and was caught being amazed. I then had to go grab the camera.”
Like This Article?
Don't Miss The Next One!
Join over 100,000 photographers of all experience levels who receive our free photography tips and articles to stay current:
It would be helpful to know when the photo was taken, the date, time of day, etc. It’s rare to have the full moon setting at the same time the sun is rising. What post-processing was done? Is it cropped? The moon seems quite large relative to the rest of the scene. I’ve taken many moon shots at 400mm and the moon does not seem to not be that large in the frame.
I do commend you on the end result, however. It’s well done.