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Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands

Published Jul 14, 2014 | Erez Marom

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Mountain Magic: Shooting in the Lofoten Islands

A delicate blanket of clouds caresses mount Festhæltinden, rising above the Atlantic waters. The red houses are traditional fishermen's cabins, now renovated and converted into accommodations.

The Lofoten Islands are a destination I've been dreaming of for a long time. Way up in Norway's Arctic northwest lies a small, yet incredibly beautiful and diverse archipelago, home to some of its most magical landscapes and a truly wonderful winter atmosphere. I visited the Lofoten Islands earlier this year to prepare for for my 'Northern Spirits' photography workshop, and it did not fail to excite me day after day. Pointy mountains rising above deep fjords, cracked frozen lakes, traditional red and orange fishermen's cabins, incredible beaches and much, much more - all of these can be found in this gem of the Arctic. In this article I'll survey some of the locations I visited there, and try to give you a taste of Lofoten's beauty.

Tags: arctic, aurora, composition, landscape-photography, lofoten, nature-photography, night-photography, norway, panorama, panoramic-photography, photography, winter

Comments

Total comments: 70

30 years ago I saw a photo of the Lofoten Islands and it captured my imagination. I was lucky enough to go there in the summer of 2010. Erez you have captured Lofoten with a lot of skill and passion. If the mountains were not impressive they would hardly register at all in the background of your wide angle work which covers the pools and ice formation so well in the foreground. Also, I don't think people appreciate the physical difficulties of photographing in the Arctic during the winter months/light.

I remember recording a few time lapses sequences there over several hours. In Lofoten one just soaked up the stunning scenery. A superb place in a great country.

1 upvote

Brilliant job....amazing.

1 upvote

Excellent work ..

1 upvote

Erez,
Great work. Well done indeed! technique is great. What did the critics want? A dead body lying on the ice for pathos?

I have been seriously considering the A7r but I may end up with the Nikon D810 for the DR and the quick focus. I shoot both landscape and street photos... I have not found the A7r to be quick enough on the AF for street shoot. Probably will wait the next 7 months to see how they improve the A7r...
Again... great work and thanks for sharing!

1 upvote

Great pics, you are right in saying that it is hard to describe the place. I went there about twenty years ago in the summer and the sun never set. I guess I shot film and you have got me wondering where my photos are now. I am tomorrow driving half way from Oslo to Bergen, but will still be a huge distance from Lofoten. From one end of Norway to the other is the same distance as from London to Rome.

1 upvote

Great set of photos. #2 is amazing to me. It shows nature as powerful and a little scarey, but tender at the same time with the rose light on the mountains. What equipment were you using?

1 upvote

Thank you Annie.
I was using my Sony A7R, Canon 16-35mm f/2.8L II, Heliopan and Lee filters.

1 upvote

Very good images! I am dreaming making such shots also...

Thanks DPR for post them.

2 upvotes

Good images, nicely captured atmosphere. I personally like the composition of most of them, Erez has good eye for structures.

I read the critics of some posters here with great interest. If bford & Co. think that they are more skilled landscape photographers, they really should come up with own examples. C'mon bford & Co., show some of your fantastic images! I think most of the readers here are happy to learn...

2 upvotes

Fantastic pics! I always wanted to go there. Your shots are gorgeous! Wonderful composition!

1 upvote

For anyone to comment that these mountains are just like any other mountains anywhere else is proof they have no eyeballs to peer through a lens with. You go out and shoot the best shots you can see. You get better and better at seeing the shots. I'm much more impressed by these than by the "constructive critics" saying they and their camera could do it better. Let's see it. 99% of the beauty is the subject.

3 upvotes

Great shots! Makes me want to go there and see the beauty of land.

2 upvotes

#4 really grabs me. Some of the comments are beyond reply, people are d@*ks. The shots are wonderful!

2 upvotes

Beautiful place and photos

2 upvotes

if only those were shot on fuji velvia with appropriate color balance filters and nd's.. they would've came out incredibly breathtaking and more realistically dramatic.. good work though

1 upvote

Wow

1 upvote

Having been to Norway a few times myself, your photos have reminded me of what it is about that nation that makes me want to return.

1 upvote

Very beautiful - especially the last two - and technically well-made, but ultimately empty and somewhat cookbook-like. They only appeal to visual sense and won't stay with you: they'll be forgotten after two minutes. Photography can't be just technique and beauty.

0 upvotes

I disagree.

0 upvotes

I can't really comment having not yet bought a proper camera and knowing next to nothing about photography but I am a professional classical musician and I believe artistic taste is relatable throughout all disciplines. I feel a lot of emotion and atmosphere from these pictures, some more than others of course so our views are simply a difference of opinion. But what you said about how photography can't be just technique and beauty peaked my interest. What exactly do you mean by this (as in, what other aspects do you look for) and can you show some examples of what you mean (whether or not by you does not matter). It's just that in music, if someone can demonstrate both technique and beauty in a performance...I'm not sure I'd have any more criticisms for them...maybe stage appearance? :P

0 upvotes

Marcus, what I mean is that there must be some emotional content in the pictures. Marom's ones fail to convey any feelings beyond a superficial aesthetic sense of beauty, though they're perfectly executed.
If you like classical music, take Maurizio Pollini's 2002 recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Beethoven's 'Appassionata': his play is magisterial, and it is a beautiful piece, but everytime I listen to it, the music fails to involve me; my mind just wanders. He conveys no emotion. (He was much better at it when he was young, though.) The same with these pictures.
Now compare these pictures with any landscape by Ansel Adams: despite all of the latter being in black and white, the sense of grandness and power they convey smothers you.
(The sarcasm in your last sentence is redundant and makes me wonder whether it was wise to take my time to write this reply.)

0 upvotes

Sorry, I wasn't being sarcastic to be offensive, simply trying to add a little lightness to an otherwise serious discussion.
I think emotional response is highly subjective. When people look at the same piece of art work (or music), the emotion they perceive can vary drastically, and sometimes not at all. I often see this from my audience members. Of course, there are performences that I myself also deem emotionless but then I don't think I would still describe them as being beautiful. To be able to convey beauty already fulfils one emotional aspect in my opinion, although it may not necessarily bring or convey passion which is the impression I get from your comments. But passion is merely another aspect of emotion, they are not synonyms.

0 upvotes

Great photos but some have no balance. The way I see it this is heavily focused on the forground. Vertical shots that shows depth but the forground taking most of the space that it ruins the backround. Some the backround is so beatifull but it is too distant and is lost: ( 2, 3, 4, 9, 14). The rest are fantastic. Just my 2c.

0 upvotes

I like the foreground in most of those. So they are well balanced for some of us ;)

The conversion and compression for web use haven't helped them, but they are still interesting. A very large high resolution print would have a different effect on the viewer if they have sharp detail front to back.

Hopefully those who criticize these photos will post links to their own work, so that we all can be both amazed and educated. I'm serious.

4 upvotes

I"m not seeing anything special in the photos, or the landscape. The editing is inconsistent and generally very flat with little impact as a result.. If I had to say just one thing, it would be to bring up the whites. The heavy handed vignetting effect also makes the landscapes look small and kills a lot of important detail. Outside of the homes in those locations the views could be from any modest mountain range in the world. I think a bit more effort was needed to get better perspectives and views.

Comment edited 8 minutes after posting

0 upvotes

That's good to know. Any chance of a link to how you did all that in your own photos? I'm always keen to learn.

I am sure the photographer in this article wouldn't mind seeing how it is done "properly" too. Thanks

6 upvotes

It was simple and constructive criticism. I'm sure the "photographer" can figure it out if he wants to.

0 upvotes

Sure it was, but you forgot to add the link in your reply to your own examples of YOUR better images.

Hurry up, because many people may begin to think you were being critical for the sake of it. That's never good. Never constructive. Links?

5 upvotes

Erez,these are all stunning,thanks for posting,its good to see some landscapes from remote parts of the world,the Aurora, iceing.

1 upvote

Excellent photos :-)

I did a photo trip to Lofoten and Vesteralen in march 2013, with a nice Aurora Borealis
http://www.dpreview.com/galleries/2115117862/albums/lofoten

Comment edited 5 minutes after posting

1 upvote

My grandmother grew up there and I still have relatives there. I hope I'll make the trip sometime. I really enjoyed these photos!

1 upvote

I sometimes find it quite depressing when the equivalence article gets 1,600+ comments while awesome shots like this only get 30... excellent work Erez, let's see more shots like this!

2 upvotes

Excellent!
Actually makes me want to go home ....

1 upvote

Great photos

1 upvote

See also here:
http://www.brucepercy.co.uk/pages/Portfolios/norway/norway_01.html
and here
http://www.brucepercy.co.uk/pages/recentwork/lofoten2012/norway_01.html

He's brilliant!

0 upvotes

I think Lofoten it’s one of the best places for landscape photography, you can have all the seasons in one day.

www.gabrielfeodorov.com Lofoten galley

0 upvotes

Stunning set of images.

2 upvotes

beautiful images but another semi-secret location lost to the trampling hordes …
and sometimes I am one of them.

3 upvotes

very good pictures the ligth is perfect
and the best I have a booking for Feb 2015 :) to take my own shots :)

1 upvote

Kitsch

1 upvote

Poorly written piece, guaranteed decent photo location.

2 upvotes

Stunning shots and location. Thanks for sharing.

1 upvote

Very nice shots. An inspiration to us all to get out when the light is does much of the work for us.

2 upvotes

As always, great share...and great photos...

1 upvote

Astonishing landscapes and ice, and how you have been close to them during Nordic winter.

1 upvote

We did a way too brief visit to the Lofotens some years ago as part of a Hurtigruten cruise (a workboat carrying freight, mail and passengers along the Norwegian coast from Bergen, Norway to Kirkenes, Norway on the Russian Frontier). The Lofotens are indeed memorably stunning. You've captured them.

The ship line offered a special aurora photographic cruise one March several years ago, I wish I had taken it. We did our trip during the summer solstice, another interesting time for light, though.

Thank you for posting.

1 upvote

Nice series, thanks for sharing.

Mark

1 upvote

Went there on a sailing trip in the late 90s end of June (sun above the horizon 24 hrs a day). I just had a P&S film camera at the time and have been promising myself a return visit. Must dig out my old prints and scan them.

2 upvotes

Really impressive landscapes, however extreme wide angle vertical frames look somehow same, i see amazing scene but there is no "WOW"

5 upvotes

Wow, great pictures. Did you used filters and if yes, which?

0 upvotes

Thank you, I often used filters, mostly a 3-stop ND, a 3-stop soft grad and a circular polarizer.

1 upvote

Erez - What lens and how wide was #7 "Legendary Beaches" shot with?

0 upvotes

Hi, #7 is a panorama with the 16-35mm, so pretty wide :)

1 upvote

Very nice work, though I wish there was little more variety of compositions.

10 upvotes

Thank you. Perhaps you're right about the compositions, I'll try to get more diversity once I'm back there.

2 upvotes

Perhaps my impression is a result of the order in which the photos are presented. Browsing from 8 to 12 feels very repetitive.
But honestly, they're all well composed, well exposed, and showcase the beauty of the place really well.

1 upvote

Beautiful place, worth a photography trip. Been there last february, I'll be back!

https://flic.kr/p/miAuzD

Comment edited 36 seconds after posting

3 upvotes

Dear DP, you need a website redesign. The width of the photogallery is 590px, the photos are too small. We are in 2014, not in 2004.

30 upvotes

Totally agree, the Daily Mirror shows it photographic content better the DPR, The gallery widget could do with a rewrite and simplification, Great pictures though, fantastic location

12 upvotes

Just make sure you don't make it worse :)

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

3 upvotes

Working on it!

9 upvotes

Good to see that you are working on it. This is my major complaint regarding your photo galleries. Fantastic photos shown too small might destroy the impression.

0 upvotes

The only thing I would say here (mentioned somewhere else in the comments) is that on occasion, dpreview using the images at low-resolution is a condition of getting permission to use them at all. But we will always aim to publish the highest-resolution images we can.

2 upvotes

Kill the all black background while you're at it. Don't go crazy the other way and then make it white! A dark gray would be nice.

0 upvotes

@bford - dark gray is one of the worst backgrounds for legibility, unfortunately.

1 upvote

It sounds strange that the one holding the rights to the image demand that you show the images so small that they often get negative comments. That cannot benefit the rights holder. More than once I have told those complaining about the bad images to go to look at the source site where they are larger.

I assume bford means that the background of the images shall be dark grey. To use dark grey as background to text is generally a bad idea. Personally I am just fine with black though for the images.

0 upvotes

Totally agree. I was going to use couple of them as my iPhone 5 background and they are not even large enough for that.

0 upvotes

@Saman . I am not all that for Copyright. But ,,, I assume it might be a bad idea to announce here that you are using the images. It might even decrease the possibility for DPReview to get larger images on their site. Just a thought.

0 upvotes

Stunning views ! Lord of the Rings country !

4 upvotes

great work.... great images

1 upvote

Total comments: 70

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