The Lofoten Islands are a famous destination for photographers and nature lovers. Located within the Arctic Circle, these islands are known for their dramatic fjords, towering mountains, and charming fishing villages with the red typical cabins, rorbuer. These traditional fishermen’s cabins provide comfortable accommodation and a touch of local charm.
During the autumn and winter months, when it gets dark, you can witness one of the most powerful experience: the Northern Lights dancing across the sky, painting everything in shades of green.
Highlights
- Experience and photograph the beauty of these islands, where rugged mountains rising from the ocean create enchanted fjords, where snow on wild beaches meets the sea salt, and where, in the hours of darkness, everything turns green under the dance of the Northern Lights.
- Hunt for the Aurora Borealis in the Lofoten Islands’ most beautiful spots.
- Small group of 10 people (5 each pro photo guide)
- Typical red houses by the sea (Rorbuer), in private single room.
- Improve your day and night photography skills
- Editing lesson with recording
What can you expect from this photographic tour?
Our Lofoten Photo Tour is designed for landscape photography lovers who want to immerse themselves in the breathtaking beauty of the Lofoten Islands.
Come experience pastel pink sunrises and sunsets, and witness the spectacle of the Northern Lights illuminating the Arctic landscapes.
We’ll take you to some of the most beautiful spots, staying in comfortable red Rorbuer cottages right by the sea.
Our goal is simple: we want you to go home with great photos, a deeper knowledge of landscape photography and nightscape photography, and incredible memories. We’re here to help you enhance your photography skills and in addition to in-field tutoring, we’ll cover both theory and practical aspects throughout the week, including post-processing classes where we’ll work on the images we’ve captured together.
Photographing the amazing Northern Lights above those surreal Arctic landscapes, is one of the highlights and main priorities during the week. This is an experience you will not forget any time soon!
Winter Lofoten Photography tour Itinerary
Note: the program may change depending on the weather. We are flexible and will adapt to any situation in order to give you the best possible experience.
The meeting point is: Leknes airport on Feb 17th, no later than 4pm.
On the February 23th, in the morning we will bring the group back to the same airport (Leknes).
Day 1
- Arrival at Leknes airport no later than 4pm
- With our private van we will reach our base with about 10 minutes of driving
- Introduction and presentation of the tour
- First night shooting session, hoping to start off on the first day dancing under the Northern Lights
- Our cabins (Rorbuer) are in a strategic position, we can quickly reach the best places both towards the north and towards the south.
Day 2
It is difficult to write an exact program due to the sudden changes in the weather in the Arctic but, we know the Lofoten Islands like the back of our hand and we will adapt the program day after day to offer you the best experience. We’ll be chasing the best light during the day and the clearest skies at night.
We will face the first sunrise in the southern area of the islands, between Reine and Hamnoy, in the heart of the Lofoten Islands.
After a stop in a typical coffee shop for breakfast, on the way back we will stop to photograph the famous and fantastic Skagsanden beach, where at this time of year in the morning the gentle light of the low-lying Sun will illuminate the mountain for us.
After lunch we will move north to the mythical Uttakleiv beach, known as the beach of the dragon’s eye, where the colors of the sunset give their best.
We will return to our seaside cabins for dinner and relax as we await the long dreamed of Northern Lights.
We will reach one of the best beaches for observing and photographing the Northern Lights in Flakstad area.
Day 3
For our second sunrise one of the most fairytale scenes of all awaits us, we will go South to photograph various incredible places between Hamnoy and Sakrisoy. Here time seems to have stopped many years ago and the line that separates reality from magic is really thin.
The day will continue by visiting the last village to the southern tip of the Lofoten Islands, that of A. In this village the famous E10 panorama road ends, after which it is only possible to reach the extreme southern tip of Lofoten on foot.
We will face the sunset in a place surrounded by waterfalls, rivers, lakes and peak mountains, all wrapped up in one scene, sounds like a landscape photographer’s dream place right?
Return to our base, hot dinner and relaxation before another possible wild night chasing the Northern Lights.
This time we will do it in one of the most beautiful areas of the Lofoten Islands, where there is a lagoon. Here away in just a few minutes you can reach many incredible spots and get truly captivating photographic compositions, with rivers, peaks mountains and Northern Lights!
Day 4 & 5
Our winter Lofoten photography tour continues between waterfalls, mountains, wild beaches, fjords and colorful villages. We will wait for the sunrises under the most colorful skies between South and Kilan area, we will move further North for sunsets and chase the clearest skies to best capture the Northern Lights.
You cannot miss a stop in the enchanting village of Nusfjord nestled in a remote fjord, various stops to taste typical food and a few short walks to reach incredible viewpoints, such as the hill above Sakrisoy where, from up there, you have a 360 degrees view on all the most characteristic part of Lofoten Islands.
Day 6
We will use this last day of the adventure to return to the most beautiful spots of the islands, looking for the best light situations and taking photos at their best.
Day 7
Departure from Leknes airport, not before 7am.
Wanna join?
Additional information
- We will stay in typical seaside cabins near the four wildest beaches to the north, Unstad, Uttakleiv, Haukland and Vik beach.
- During the week we will do more editing sessions in front of the computer, analyzing and editing the shots obtained, from the raw files to the web files. Where we will see how to manage all the techniques studied in the field.
- The edit sessions will be recorded and at the end we will send you the videos, so that you can review and study them calmly.
- In our Rorbuer we will have the kitchen where we can cook. Based on the photographic program we will then decide whether to eat in our cabins or whether to prepare something to eat around or whether to go to a restaurant. We will definitely try all three solutions
- The priority is photography but we will not miss moments of comfort and relaxation
- We highly recommend a private Travel Insurance to cover any non-refundable fees and airline travel you may have in connecting with the photographic tour
- Every day there will be short and easy walks from the van to the spots
- Pressure-mounted crampons are recommended
Tour Leaders
Giulio Cobianchi is a night photography specialist with a passion for the Aurora and Milky Way. Living in the Lofoten Islands since 2019, he knows the Arctic landscapes like the back of his hand and will guide you to the best spots for unforgettable photography.
Stefan Liebermann is an award winning professional international landscape photographer specializing in night photography. This passion of his drove him to travel all over the world under the darkest skies ever. He can teach you, like few others, the best secrets to getting high impact night photos.
Participation
In order to offer the best quality, the maximum of attendees has been limited, so that we can follow each participant closely and in the best way possible. A minimum is also been set for the tour to be confirmed.
Minimum: 4 participants
Maximum: 10 participants (Two 9 seaters van + 2 profesional photographers)
Difficulty: Easy
Arrival: Leknes airport (Leknes Lufthavn LKN), Feb 17th, 2025 (no later than 4pm)
Departure: Leknes airpot (Leknes Lufthavn LKN), Feb 23th, 2025 (not before 7am)
Payment
To reserve your seat, you can pay a deposit at the moment of the booking and the remaining part within 30 days before departure.
Total cost: 2790€
Deposit: 500€
Tour dates: February 17th – 23th, 2025
Single room supplement: No need to pay the single room supplement, each person has their own single room included in the price. *The single room does not have a private bathroom, but there are 2 bathrooms each 3 people.
The cost include
- Single private room
- All transfers by van
- Fuel
- Transportation to and from the airport
- Two professional photographers who will teach you their special personal techniques
- Local expert guide
- Overnight in double private rooms in typical red rorbuer
- Photo editing lessons with registration
- Support WhatsApp private group
The cost doesn’t include
- International flights
- Meals and drinks (which will sometimes be packed)
- Medical health insurance
- Theft / damage / travel insurance
- Everything that is not included in the item “The fee includes”
FAQs
What will you learn on this photo tour?
Between amazing sceneries, good photography and a lot of fun, we hope to give you an experience and adventure that you’ll remember for the rest of your life.
We don’t just want to give you an experience, though. We want to make sure you’re excited about the photographs you’ve captured on our various outings.
In addition to teaching photographic theories and techniques, we want to convey our passion and make you feel those emotions that being out in nature with a camera can give.
- Better manage your photographic equipment in easy and difficult situations
- Plan the shot through the use of apps and websites
- Read the histogram, both during shooting and in post-processing
- Compositional rules and the fundamentals to create impactful images
- How to use filters
- Manage various kind of lights, at sunset, sunrise and long exposures
- Choosing the right white balance
- Focus and hyperfocal distance
- The importance of the aperture
- The right shooting settings based on the scene, ISO, aperture, shutter speed and exposure compensation
- Masks and layers
- Dodge and burn
- Choice of color profiles (sRGB, Adobe RGB, Pro photo RGB)
- Recognize the night sky without using apps
- Many shooting techniques that will allow you to take home some “wow” photos, including focus stacking, mean stacking, perspective blend, multi exposure, focal blend, time blend
- Panoramic photography, day and night, from the arrangement of the equipment, to the merging of the shots in post production
- How to best capture the Northern Lights
- Tips and tricks that pertain to our specific workflow
How can I reach Leknes airport?
The easiest way is via Oslo, from there flights depart to Bodø.
From Bodø you can take the last flight to Leknes airport in the heart of Lofoten.
We will be waiting for you at Leknes airport to start our adventure.
What photographic level is required?
All of ours tours and workshops are open to beginners as well as professionals. Our only criteria is that you have a great passion for photography, and have the energy and motivation to be on the go every day and night.
What physical level is required?
No a particular physical fitness is required, the walking routes will be easy and short.
We just require a lot of passion for day and night photography and motivation to be out there every day at the right times capturing great photographs.
What kind of weather should I expect?
The Lofoten Islands have very sudden weather changes, in an hour you can see the sun, snow, rain, ice storms, dramatic lighting situations and blue skies.
In this month it is winter at this latitude, you can expect an icy scenery with arctic pink light gently illuminating the landscapes.
Documents and currency?
Passport or identity card valid for expatriation
The country’s currency is the Norwegian kroner
Visa and MasterCard credit cards are commonly accepted (you may have problems with American Express instead)
You can withdraw Norwegian kroner at any ATM with a debit card
What camera gear should I bring?
At the very least, bring your own camera, lenses, tripod, and laptop. If you are considering upgrading or investing in new camera gear prior to the trip, feel free to ask us for advice.
Photographic filters and a remote shutter release remote control are also recommended for those wanting to do long exposure photography.
The weather is cold during the night so extra batteries are useful.
We also suggest bringing multiple cloths to clean the lenses and a spare memory card.
- A digital camera
- A stable tripod
- A remote control that allows you to take pictures with an exposure longer than 30 seconds
- A bright wide angle lens (F2.8 possibly) for example a 14-24 or a 15-30. Paired with a 24-70 and a 70-200 it would be perfect.
- Photographic filters (optional) GND, ND, polarizer.
What clothes should I bring?
The Lofoten Islands have truly unpredictable weather, every 30 minutes it can change drastically. So it’s recommended to dress in layers, so you can add or remove them based on the weather of the day.
For example, a thermal underwear, an intermediate layer of wool or fleece, a windproof jacket and a water repellent shell.
Spare socks and high boots are highly recommended.
Sports crampons and a head torch are mandatory.
How should I manage my suitcases?
Each participant must bring a rigid hold suitcase (not a bag) and a photographic backpack.
This is to optimize the spaces in our van, to make everyone feel more comfortable.
How and where will we eat during the trip?
In our Rorbuer there will be a kitchen where we can cook. Based on the photographic program and the weather, we will then decide whether to eat in our cabins, whether to prepare something to eat around or whether to go to a restaurant. We will definitely try all three solutions.
After sunrise we can return in our cabins and have breakfast. During the day we will stop in various coffee shops and typical restaurants, before returning to the base, after sunset we will stop at the market where everyone is free to buy what they want to eat in our cabins. There will be one or two dinners in restaurants to taste typical dishes but, remember that our priority is landscape photography.
