STORY BEHIND THE STILL
Dag Ole Nordhaug on capturing the natural beauty of the Romsdalen valley
PHOTOGRAPHER: dag ole nordhaug WEBSITE: nordhaugphotography.com LOCATION: romsdalen, norway
TYPE OF COMMISSION: Personal SHOT DETAILS: hasselblad h6d-100c with hCd 28mm; 0.3 secs at f11, iSo 200
ABOUT THE SHOT: Water plays an important role in landscape photography, helping to add some movement and life to an otherwise static scene. Foreground interest is also a vital element in creating a balanced composition with shape and depth. Dag Ole Nordhaug combined both for his image captured in Romsdalen, Norway and his approach proves that a scene’s beauty is nothing without a photographer’s skill for framing.
“The mighty peaks and waterfalls of Romsdalen have intrigued me for years,” says Dag. “[However] this particular area usually lacks foreground interest. I have always found it difficult to balance the impressive peaks with a good foreground, which is actually quite steep and narrow. After a wet period, this small waterfall emerged – I discovered this the day before and decided to return the following morning, in the hope of catching an impressive sunrise behind this east-facing scene.”
In order to get the most from this perspective, Dag decided a panoramic format was a better fit to the shape of the landscape.“I decided to use my widest lens (16-17mm equivalent), but as that was not sufficiently wide, I had to do a 5-vertical image stitched panorama. The day started totally overcast and grey, but I set up my gear and hoped for the best. As dawn approached, a small crack in the clouds made way for some nice light that lasted a couple of minutes – just enough for me to complete the panorama.” The next step for Dag was to find the right exposure to capture the flowing water. “I set my camera to ISO 200, as that gave an exposure time of 0.3 seconds at f11. 0.3 seconds would give just enough softness in the water and at the same time keep some of the detail in it, while f11 would give me adequate depth of field.”