A pro photographer at the Korouoma ice falls
Beyond Arctic's Korouoma tour from ~$163 comes with a guide who is also a photographer, and you get edited pictures of yourself at the ice falls after the day. Arctic GM costs ~$89 and you take your own. This guide looks at what the gap buys and when a phone does the job.
What Beyond Arctic includes
Beyond Arctic's frozen waterfalls tour with pro photos, from ~$163, runs 6.5 hours from Rovaniemi. About 1.5 hours go on the van each way, leaving roughly 3.5 hours for the guided hike in the canyon.
The guide carries a camera and takes pictures of you with the ice falls along the way. The photos are edited, and you get digital access to them online after the tour.
The listing does not promise a number of photos or a delivery time, and we will not guess at either. Ask the operator before you book if you need the pictures by a set day.
The rest of the day is a full small-group tour. Groups stop at 8 and hotel pickup and drop-off are included. The operator also lends warm clothing and winter boots plus a backpack.
Lunch is light and cooked on a fire at a lean-to. Hot drinks and snacks come with it, and a reviewer mentions vegan food on request, so ask when you book.
Why your own pictures come out flat
Winter light in Lapland is low and soft. Around midwinter the sun barely clears the horizon, and in a canyon up to about 130 m (430 ft) deep the falls can sit in blue shade for much of the day.
Phones handle that light badly. The blue and turquoise ice often reads as dull grey, and the snow around it either tints the frame cold blue or washes out to plain white.
Cold drains batteries. A phone at −15 °C (5 °F) can shut down well before its battery reads empty, so carry a spare in an inside pocket and warm the phone between shots. Charge everything again before an aurora night after the canyon.
Gloves and touchscreens do not mix either. Take a glove off to tap the screen and your fingers go numb within a minute or two, which is when the shot you wanted slips away.
Tripods are a poor fit on narrow icy paths with a group moving behind you. Most hikers settle for a handheld shot, and the person holding the phone is never in the picture.
What a photographer-guide does differently
A guide who shoots for a living knows where the light falls at each ice wall and where to stand so the falls look as tall as they are. You get pictures of yourself in the scene, not only the scene.
A proper camera also copes with low light far better than a phone, and editing brings back the blue in the ice. That pair of things is the main thing the higher fare buys.
Arctic GM's guides do some of this informally. Reviewers say they stop at viewpoints to snap their guests, though these are quick shots in passing rather than an edited set delivered afterward.
A guide who brings the camera
Beyond Arctic's 6.5-hour day with a photographer-guide and edited photos online afterward. A fire-cooked lunch and warm clothing come with it, and groups stop at 8.
The price gap
Beyond Arctic costs ~$163 against ~$89 for Arctic GM's hike and BBQ, close to double. Part of the gap pays for the photos, and part pays for a group of 8 with borrowed clothing and a cooked lunch.
Set against Wild about Lapland at ~$163, which also caps groups at 8 and lends clothing and boots, the photos cost nothing extra at the regular price. That comparison is the fairer one.
Beyond Arctic holds 4.8 from 280+ reviews on GetYourGuide, far fewer than Arctic GM's 1,600+ or Wild about Lapland's 1,500+. Its listing warns of slippery downhill and uphill parts, and some guests find the trail demanding.
Our cost guide lists what each fare covers, and the small group guide explains why a cap of 8 changes the day at the falls. Both help you set the photos against everything else in the price.
Who gets the most out of it
- Couples who want a picture of the two of them together, not two separate selfies
- Solo travelers who never appear in their own holiday photos
- Anyone planning a proposal at the falls, who should ask the operator in advance what is possible
- Hikers who would rather look at the ice than through a screen
The photographer-guide also takes the job off your hands. Instead of stopping at every fall to frame a shot, you can stand at the foot of the ice and look up for a while.
Groups of friends with one keen photographer among them gain less. The same goes for anyone who mainly wants the hike and the campfire, where a small group without the camera costs the same or less.
If you take your own
- Carry a spare battery or power bank in an inside pocket
- Wear thin liner gloves under mittens so you can shoot without bare fingers
- Expose for the ice, not the snow, by tapping the blue part of the fall on a phone screen
- Keep the camera in a bag when you climb back into the warm van, so the lens does not fog
Plan your best shots for the canyon floor, where the falls stand above you and the light is steadiest. The steep icy sections are no place to stop for a picture, and the guide will want the group moving there.
Our clothing guide covers gloves and layers, and the frozen falls guide explains the colors you are trying to catch. Ice is never guaranteed, since the falls form only when the cold holds.