Reine at Blue Hour
I get the impression that some people think many outstanding landscape and nature photos just happen casually, almost by accident. They don’t realize the amount of effort and planning that goes into most truly great images.
Today, thanks to the internet, we have access to billions of photos worldwide – anytime, anywhere. And every single day, millions more are added. This constant flood of images overwhelms us. Yet, not even 1% of these photos are really worth showing, and far, far fewer can truly be called outstanding.
The famous photographer Ansel Adams once said: “Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop.”
And even if we set the bar at such a high level, there are still millions of excellent photos to be found on countless websites. This abundance makes people lose a sense of how much effort is actually required to capture such images.
As an example, let’s take the photo “Reine at Blue Hour.”
I took it back in 2015 with my old Nikon D7000. This already shows that the camera itself isn’t what matters most. What really counts is a strong composition and the right lighting conditions on location.
By now, many people are familiar with this particular scene. It has been photographed hundreds, if not thousands, of times.
The photo was taken in February on the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway, in the small village of Reine, located on the southern part of the islands. Driving there from Svolvær takes about four hours.
This perspective was shot from a bridge.
If you just go there without any planning, chances are the result won’t meet your expectations. Proper planning is essential.
Several conditions had to come together for this photo to work out the way it did:
- Ideally, it should have freshly snowed, or at least there should be a decent amount of snow on the ground.
- The tide has to be high. That means timing the visit according to the tides, since at low tide many dark rocks are visible in the foreground – and they don’t look good in the photo.
- The weather needs to cooperate, with clear visibility of the mountains. You need to plan with the weather in mind and stay flexible, as conditions – especially in the Lofoten – can change very quickly.
- Finally, you need to be there at the right time of day. Luckily, apps can predict golden hour and blue hour precisely.
This particular shot was taken in the evening, right at the beginning of blue hour. I used a long exposure to capture the movement of the clouds. But because of that long exposure, there was another challenge: keeping the image sharp and shake-free.
Next to the road, there’s a wooden pedestrian bridge – that’s where I had set up my tripod. If anyone walked across the bridge, the wooden planks would shake slightly, causing the tripod – and therefore the photo – to blur. So I had to wait for absolutely still moments with no vibrations at all. With an exposure time of one minute or more, that’s not an easy task.
In total, I spent about three hours out there on the bridge, in freezing cold conditions. Several good shots came out of it, but of course, I picked the very best one.
In my opinion, the photo works especially well because of the harmony of its three dominant colors: the white of the snow, the blue of the water, and the red of the houses.
