Shooting River Braids In Iceland With A Drone – What To Consider

The last couple of weeks I spent a few days photographing the so-called “river braids” along the south coast of Iceland with my DJI Mavic 4 Pro. It seemed like the perfect place to do some of my first proper photography-focused flights. The “river braids” are called that because of the way they look from an aerial point of view. Because the water flows in a flat sandy area, the rivers & little run-off streams become really wide & shallow, which creates these unique patterns that almost look as if someone braided the water together. The abstract images you get when photographing them have been made famous over the last decade by several Icelandic photographers who combine their hobby/profession with piloting small airplanes.

The reason I decided to focus on photographing them now is because the water levels have been really low due to a dry spell that occurred in May. This meant that both the patterns & colors were in their peak conditions. Because I know many people who visit Iceland love to photograph these I decided to write a blog with some thoughts about what to consider when photographing them with your drone.

Why Timing Matters, Especially With Abstract Drone Top Down Shots

When photographing abstract top down shots, as you generally would do when photographing the river braids, timing is really key. You may wonder why that is. Wouldn’t everything look the same when you look straight down? Well, not exactly…

Just like when you are photographing regular landscapes, light is key. Depending on the position of the sun, you will get dramatically different colors and different levels of saturation in the present colors. In the case of the braided rivers you can assume that the lower the sun, the more vibrant the colors will appear. If you photograph them during the day, you may get more evenly spread light but then you will lose natural saturation. With a lower sun position, you will also see more contour lighting on the slightly elevated parts of the river bed. This may give you a much more interesting effect in the final image, which I’ve illustrated with two examples below. One final thing to consider, especially during the editing process, is to choose a white balance to fits the colors. You may find that your drone prefers a warmer white balance (when set to auto), which may not fit the color tones of the water.

If you shoot in the middle of the day or in bright conditions, you may also have to worry about glare due to the reflection of the water surface. You may be able to avoid that by using a circular polarizer on your drone. However, if you have been following my drone work, you may have already understood that I don’t like polarizers on drones because they can be incredibly annoying. Polarizers need to be adjusted while shooting depending on your position, which you can’t do whilst flying. This makes their use less than ideal on drones.

Aside from the lighting conditions, you also have to consider when to visit the braided rivers. The colors tend to be most vibrant in the Spring and Autumn, especially after long periods of dry weather when the river levels are lower than usual. If it has been raining a lot, water levels will rise which means the patterns and colors will not be present as much.

Below I have made a comparison between the same patterns, shot at entirely different times of day to illustrate why timing is key!

Revisiting The Same Locations Is Vital

Just like with everything in landscape photography, revisiting locations again & again is vital in getting great results. The weather conditions will change, which will give you different light depending on the density of the cloud cover. But also revisiting at different times of day will give you completely different lighting conditions on the same areas. Finally, water levels fluctuate depending on rain and how much meltwater makes its way into the river (especially true during the Spring). All of these have to be considered if you want to get the most out of your time spent photographing the river braids.

Revisiting locations is also best practice because it will give you one more advantage… It will give you some time to look at your photographs in between sessions and think about your compositions more thoroughly. While you may think photographing abstracts is straightforward, finding a pleasing composition isn’t easy. I find that it takes multiple visits to really find something that works well, though your mileage may vary.

Finally, you may also find that there is birdlife around the rivers, which could provide some scale to your images. And, as it goes with wildlife, they are not always around, let alone in the right place.