Iceland: Skaftafell – Svinafellsjökull Glacier Rainbow – Vatnajökull National Park

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In a Northern Lights hunting expedition, my wife Liza and I went to Iceland in March of 2017. We caught the Northern Lights on two evenings out of eight.

But mostly it was cloudy, windy, and rainy. We went out every day anyway. Sometimes there were small breaks in the clouds. This was one of those times.

Feature Image Details: Canon 100-400 MM F 4.5-5.6 L Lens:  I shot at ISO 125 at 188mm for 1/800 seconds at F9.

ISO 125 was hardly ideal. I should have been at ISO 400 or 800 to get a faster shutter speed to counteract the wind. It was windy as heck and I only got two sharp frames.

But this is one of those situations where you grab your camera, put on the right lens then start firing away. I pulled off the highway on the nearest road I could find to get that shot.

That is the widest (red to violet) rainbow I have ever seen. The rainbow lasted about 30 seconds or so, if that. We were on our way to the Svinafellsjökull Glacier in Vatnajökull National Park, image below.

Iceland Aurora Images

  1. Iceland Northern Lights, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Búðir
  2. Iceland Northern Lights, Snæfellsnes Peninsula, Búdir, Búdakirkja Church
  3. Iceland Northern Lights, Snæfellsjökull National Park, Malarrif Lighthouse

This was our second trip to Iceland. We returned specifically to see the Northern lights. We caught a very good display on the last evening (the above links).

First Trip

Here are some links of favorite images on our first trip.

  1. Iceland in 16 Days: Day 1, South Region, Seljalandsfoss Waterfall
  2. Iceland in 16 Days: Day 6, North Iceland, Selfoss Waterfall
  3. Iceland in 16 Days: Day 8, North Iceland, Husavik, Whale Watching
  4. Iceland in 16 Days: Day 12, Westfjords, Látrabjarg Bird Cliffs, Breiðavík, Puffins
  5. Iceland in 16 Days: Day 15, Brúarfoss Waterfall – Golden Circle

Equipment List

Those interested in my equipment and recommendations can find it here: Mish’s Equipment List.

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Mike “Mish” Shedlock

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