Seljalandsfoss as a photography destination

Seljalandsfoss is one of the most iconic waterfalls of Iceland. To find it, just follow the main road A1 around Iceland. The waterfall is basically located by the side of the road. If you go counter-clockwise you’ll even be able to see it from very far away.
The main attraction of Seljalandsfoss is definitely to take the walk behind the waterfall. You must prepare yourself to get wet since there’s a lot of water vapour in the air. For the same reason it’s extremely important that your camera-gear is weather resistant! I can’t emphasize that enough. My 5D mark III with the 16-35mm f/4 lens was literally dripping of water when I made my shot of the sun behind the waterfall.

At 16mm the field of view on a full-frame camera is not wide enough to capture the cliff walls on both sides to frame the waterfall, so you’ll have to take a series of shots and do some stitching in postproduction. Here's a series of the shots I took, which I combined into a panorama.

And here's the stitch "Eye of the Dragon".

Because of the sun's position in the sky, it’s important to notice, the effect of the waterfall and the sun lining up only occur during late spring and summer.
If you don’t want to take your gear behind the waterfall, Seljalandsfoss is rich on compositions. Other iconic compositions include the hillsides on both sides of the waterfall and a straight on shot from the bridge.

It’s of course strongly recommended that you go explore on your own. I recommend an ultra-wide angle lens for this location. 11-24mm would be optimal, but you’ll be fine with a 16-35mm too.

When you’re at this location you might as well walk a bit north and visit Gljufrabui, which is a waterfall located within a small gorge. Prepare to get wet again and bring some good boots since you’ll probably get your feet wet.

Check out my video below from this location and subscribe for a lot more guides to the beautiful landscape of Iceland.

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