(rustling) You don't need to buy a stool. (soft music) So we just reached Skaftafell and it is a windy day and in turn blowing a lot of snow and cloud down the face of all of these glacial mountains. Because the sun is quite bright, it's this really interesting clash of cloud light, foggy snow, I dunno what you would call it, mist. This is the type of thing that I always end up shooting, just, I feel like, I feel drawn to it because of this interesting combination of, of light and shadow. When I'm looking at a scene like this, I'm focused a lot on what I can do with my exposure to enable the most effective RAW file essentially to be edited in post. And that usually means getting both an underexposed and overexposed photo, not for the sake of merging them but just to have both options for the edit. Right now, we have a few different options in front of us for the shot, and I've got a on just so I can snipe in a bit and get some close range images of those mountain peaks. I'm not su...

re which one will look best, just yet. So we have to do some shooting and see. So we've got the A7R3 out, combined with my old 400, of course, and I've got the histogram up so I can analyze the exposure of the photo. It's very important in these scenes 'cause because the sun is so bright it can be easily distracting for the screen. So I'm always using the histogram to make sure even if my eyes say otherwise, because of what I'm looking at on the screen, I trust the histogram more for the purpose of getting the most detail in the final edit. So obviously we want to have the entire range of data within the scope of the histogram. So luckily we have actually quite flat light on the on the screen, as I can see here by the fact that it's this nice bell shape, which is ideal. So this shot could be cool. We'll see what it looks like in a minute. (camera shutter) So one noteworthy thing going on here is that I opted to get my tripod out. And of course it is the middle of the day. It's bright, but I wanna keep my ISO as low possible to enable as best quality as I can for this sensor. And in this case shooting at F8, it would've given me too low of a shutter speed to do it handheld especially using a 400 because the subject is so far away any shake is easily noticed. So you could do it handheld, but just in this case I want to get the most detail I can. So I'm opting to just take the slower approach of shooting with a tripod, using the nice flippy outy screen and being quite comfortable actually here. It's quite nice. For the sake of stability, the camera is connected to the tripod via the lens because of the obvious weight distribution. It's really sturdy actually. Something else that I've been noticing here is that it's been struggling to find auto focus. And one of the beautiful things about any camera with an electronic viewfinder is they usually include the ability to punch in when you're manual focusing meaning to zoom in to, you know, between 10 to 14 times in on the image and actually be able to control your manual focus to a really fine level detail. In this case, I'm searching for something in the image that has quite a lot of contrast already. I think this mountain face is the most contrasted. So then I'm zooming in and just at making some fine turns on the focus until I think it's sharp. I also have peeking on just to help a little bit more to get the focus right. Something else that I thought is quite useful here is to put the two second timer on just so that I can take my hands off and let the camera stabilize from any shake before the shutter will fire. So we've got the two seconds, you can also do five and 10 seconds and then boom, and just like that. All right, so we've got the extenders out to just punch in a little further on one of these peaks that's really taken my interest. I've had the two times now I'm looking at the 1.4 times and this one's looking perfect I think. I think it's always good, if you do have time to just whack the camera in portrait grab the portrait frame as well as the landscape frame. And it's also good to help fight the habit of sticking to one or the other because you honestly never know when you could need either orientation. I have tried to get this shot before and every time it's failed me for various reasons sometimes from rain, sometimes it disappears in the clouds. Other times it's just too, too exposed and you can't get really any type of dramatic lighting. So pretty lucky right now to see it like this, also, because we have clouds behind the mountain as well as in front, that's quite a good combination.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Workshop

Iceland Road Guide

buy this class

$00

Buy Class

Sale Ends Soon!

starting under

$13/month*

Unlock this classplus 2000+ more >

79.7K Students

99% Recommend this Class

00 Student Work

0 Video lessons in HD
00h 00m of class content
Exclusive bonus content
Lifetime access, anywhere, anytime
Streaming access on desktop and mobile browsers
Download and offline access with class purchase
Offline sync with our iPhone & iPad apps
100% satisfaction guarantee

Benjamin Hardman

Five years ago, Benjamin embarked on his first photographic mission in an Arctic winter climate. Ever since, Benjamin’s passion for the cold has grown to lead him in search of the North’s most obscure landscapes.

SEE INSTRUCTOR'S CLASSES

topics covered in this class

Adventure & Sports Outdoor Post-Processing Aerial & Drone

Ratings and Reviews

Matt Grandbois

Very Informative & Awe Inspiring Both Benjamin and Alex have played huge roles in my photographic style development over the years and it is great to hear first hand exactly what inspires and drives Ben to keep pushing his creative boundaries. Personally, I love his minimalist approach and it was super insightful to watch him explain how he developed that style and how he actively produces photographs in a cohesive manner. 10/10 recommend this workshop to anyone looking for a very unique and profound perspective with the intent of expanding your creative horizons.

Janelle Dransfield

Moving to Iceland now...? Loved this workshop! I really liked the way the modules are split up, and the way you watch Benjamin go out on location for a shot, then immediately sit down and watch his editing process for that specific shot. So much editing to learn too, since he doesn't use presets! The workbook is also super thorough, so printing it out allowed me to pay close attention and just add little notes here and there. The Iceland road guide is also SO helpful and in depth. Can't wait to use it. Also loved that Ben talked about printing your own work. Would be cool to maybe see something from Wildist in the future that goes even more into depth on that (calibrating your own printer, working with a print shop, dropship sites, etc.) Awesome course. Thanks, Hardman.

Alec Brown

First Workshop The first workshop I have ever purchased. I've always been hesitant to invest in a workshop, however this went above and beyond my expectations. Fluid in progression, great insight and a super relaxed learning curve full of information. I feel this has prepared me to take my own personal photographic journey to the next level. Executed to perfection. Nice work guys! 10/10 recommended.

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Documenting Iceland's Jagged Peaks

Documenting Iceland's Jagged Peaks

Lesson Info

18. Documenting Iceland's Jagged Peaks

Lessons

Series Hello & Introducing Benjamin Hardman

Coffee with Alex - Benjamin's Story

Benjamin's Workshop Introduction

High-Resolution Setup

Lightweight Gear Setup

Backpack Breakdown

Aerial Photography

Gear & Clothing

Research & Preparation

Seals of Glacier Lagoon

Editing: Adobe Lightroom Basics

Capturing Glacial Detail

Editing: Macro Detail

Exploring on Foot

Editing: Image Stitching

Photographing the Elusive Reindeer

Editing: Subjects in Sunset Light