48.9

This was really THE shot I wanted to capture in Iceland and probably it's the best one from the whole trip. Ever since I saw similar images on Flickr I wanted to get one of those myself. I did a lot of research on this spot and checked if the sun position (www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/grad/solcalc/ is a great tool for that) will be right during my visit. It turned out that I had to do the shot on sunset as the sun will most likely be too much north (to the right) during sunrise.
Everything planned and ready to shot I arrived at Seljandsfoss on the second day of the trip but the weather had other plans.. The sky was overcast and one could not see the sun. No sunset on the first day..
The next morning the weather looked much better and we decided to spend one more night at the campsite (we had two extra days planned in our trip and using one at the very beginning removes much flexibility later) and hoped that the weather will stay nice for the sunset. During those two days we've spend some time around the waterfall and checked the conditions. It turned out the one gets really wet when walking behind the waterfall. So staying there for half an hour with temperatures around 10 degree Celsius requires good clothing and protection for the gear.
I went behind the waterfall during the day and you really have to hurry with your shot. In less then half a minute the lens is full of little drops which destroy the image.
We arrived at the waterfall about 30 minutes prior to the sunset. Setup the tripod and the camera, composing, adjusting settings and shooting. It was really helpful that my girlfriend joined me and cleaned the lens and the filter so that I didn't had drops on the lens for another 2 or 3 shots.
Staying behind the waterfall for 30 minutes is really a torture to all you equipment. The lens and the camera really got wet (they have never been that wet before) but luckily everything still worked well after the shot. Would have been horror to loose the camera or the wide angle lens on the second day of the trip. Obviously Sony/Sigma have done a great job and also National Geographic did a great job with their backpack (which has a rain cover) as all the other equipment stayed dry during the shot.

So I'm a happy with the shot? Yes I am. It was well worth the effort. The lamp in the middle is bit disturbing but they are used to light the waterfall at night (which is really not needed at that time of the year as it stays bright all day and night long)..

Sony A550
Sigma 10-20mm @ 11mm
ISO200, F20, 1s
Cokin P662