On the South East coast of Iceland, between Stafafell and Kálfafell, there are 15+ glaciers coming down from Vatnajökulsþjóðgarður (Vatnajökull), so it is an amazing stretch of the Ring Road (Hringvegur / þjóðvegur). It’s hard to begin to visualise the scale of the glaciers, even standing right in front of them.

At Jökulsárlón there is a terminal lake, where the glacier calves into the water.

The icebergs flow out to sea through a small, fast flowing, channel and get broken up and washed up on the beach. The broken up ice has given the beach its name; Diamond Beach.

It’s a beautiful glimpse into the past. The glacier ice builds up over hundreds of years, layering volcanic ash with snow / ice, and mixing it with the rocks picked up from the valley sides and floor, as the glacier moves towards the sea.

The ice appears blue due to compression of the snow into ice over time, where the compression pushes out air and the ice becomes dense, absorbing white light.

The icebergs on the beach take on beautiful shapes from the waves and fast moving water in the narrow exit to the sea. And the layering is visible in the larger blocks.

Settings

Aperture Priority, set to f/22 for an in focus view of the ice on the beach. To bring the attention to one piece of ice, the lowest aperture setting (f/1.4+) can be used to really bring the beauty out.

Walk around to get the light to the side of the ice, so it is lit up in a way that highlights the striations and colour, without blowing out the exposure. Use the exposure compensation (EV) to stop down if the ice / water is reflecting too much light.

Look for interesting shapes, like the “bird” above, or the one with the hole in it below, where you can get the contrast of the black sand against the blue ice.