Photography in Yellowstone is a popular and very rewarding activity.
Yellowstone National Park welcomes photographers from across the country and around the world to photograph its embarrassment of riches of natural wonders. They will come to document its timeless natural wonders and season of breathtaking contrasts: Old Faithful’s boiling eruptions shooting into sub-zero air; waterfalls in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone frozen as if by a spell; the chance to capture bison, perhaps even wolves, crossing steaming thermal basins.
Photographers are increasingly demanding specific opportunities and qualities of their visits to Yellowstone and now many private photography tours can be customized.
There are three resources that should be seen by all Yellowstone photographers. The first being the hydrothermal features, principally the geysers, and hot springs. Yellowstone hosts the greatest number of geysers anywhere on earth. Thermal features can be found throughout the park, yet the highest concentration of geysers and hot springs is in the Old Faithful area. The average photographer to this area can easily find these resources but without a guide may leave without understanding them or documenting them as well as is possible. The second must-see resource is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River including its two waterfalls 109-foot Upper Falls and the 308-foot Lower Falls. The third resource of Yellowstone is its prodigious wildlife population, and this is precisely what brings most photographers to Yellowstone.
Slough Creek Sunrise
Hiring a photography guide s not cheap but they often know when landmarks are lit up the best and through their network of nature photography associates they have the best line on where the wolves and bears are most likely to be seen.
Explore "America's Serengeti" and discover the Animals of Yellowstone National Park on a guided learning photo adventure. Wildlife photo safaris help the visiting photographer maximize their time in the parka and see all kinds of wildlife in the Greater Yellowstone Geo-ecosystem and providing fascinating educational experiences in a fun and relaxed environment. Animals that may be observed during our expeditions include elk, moose, bison, pronghorn antelope, bighorn sheep, mule deer, wolves and bears.
Guides love sharing park history, Parks ecology, natural history, and instructing nature photography. Private photo safaris and park tours allow the entire trip to be tailored to you and your group. These safaris provide maximum flexibility and personal attention.
Mountains Goats, Beartooth Pass (click on image to purchase)
Photography ~ how to
Early in my photographic education the late, great Galen Rowell was my inspiration and this is a quote from Galen: "I almost never set out to photograph a landscape, nor do I think of my camera as a means of recording a mountain or an animal unless I absolutely need a 'record shot'. My first thought is always of light". In the mid 80s he published a photography book called "Mountain Light that is still selling well today, every nature phtographer ought to read it. .................................. rest of article
Quickstart presentation for Lightroom • Watch this Powerpoint presentation. Lightroom by Adobe is one of the most powerful tools available. This presentation can get you up and running with its powerful color correction and database management tools. It is good to be organized.
"To take photographs means to recognize — simultaneously and within a fraction of a second — both the fact itself and the rigorous organization of visually perceived forms that give it meaning. It is putting one's head, one's eye and one's heart on the same axis." – Henri Cartier-Bresson.
One of the things that differentiate a great photograph from an ordinary one is composition. You don't take a great photograph you make it. Composition is how objects or subjects are placed in the shot. Good pictures result from careful attention the basic elements of composition, there are always two people in every photograph: the photographer and the viewer. Even in front of the awesome beauty of the Greater Yellowstone Landscape one must compose carefully. The sheer ease today with which we can produce a superficial image often leads to creative disaster even in places of stunning beauty. Point and shoot equals apathy, a recipe for mediocrity. Landscape photography is a tool to express our positive assessment of the world so we want to do it well. Wildlife photography is hunting and our goal is to produce trophies. ............................rest of article
"Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light" - Vernon Trent
Most photographers create random acts of beauty; enlightened nature photographers deliver consistent encapsulations of light and time. Galen Rowell once said: "The landscape is like being there with a powerful personality and I'm searching for just the right angles to make that portrait come across as meaningfully as possible." Galen did so because of his mastery of light..........................rest of article
Are we confused yet? Many of us with a foundation from the photography of yesterday seeking an understanding of a new paradigm of digital photography have been unintentionally misled. With the switch from film to the original camera sensors we had to get a new understanding of our equipment both new and old. The first digital camera sensors as well as most sensors today recorded an image on a smaller recording surface than the 35mm film image of yesterday. Our images shot with wide-angle lenses of our film days no longer appeared to be wide-angle images. Our telephoto lens images appear to have more magnification. Yes, this was disconcerting so we attempted to understand. Well meaning camera techno geeks explained in terms intended to simplify concepts but only confused. To make matters worse, in the quest to explain, misleading explanations have misinformed those who have never put a film camera to their eye so incorrect construal of Crop-Factor conception is universal as old hands shared bogus information to those who had never known film.
Autumn colors of Jackson Hole, the Grand Tetons from Bridger Teton National Forest
October 1st, at dark-thirty shortly before the first hint of dawn, with a crisp nip of fall in the air, I usually find myself at Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park with my ten new best friends. At the Oxbow at this early hour, we are hoping for the first hint of light to reveal an expanse of cirrus clouds above Mt. Moran to stop the warm rays of morning light from spilling over the edge of the world to an un-captureable point beyond the Grand Tetons. Oh, the Oxbow is still a stunning spot, even devoid of clouds, as the first rays of dawn sneak over the eastern horizon, a rose colored blanket of light hovers over the mountains as it shares its wealth of alpenglow with the peaks below, but none the less, we photogaphers are all hoping for natures reflector and diffuser to magnify the magnificence....................rest of story
Photography Stories
Mad Dash For Yellowstone • By Daryl L. Hunter
Santa Clause was good to me this year, and a Canon 400mm 5/6L
telephoto lens dropped down the chimney and this little boy couldn’t
wait to put that hunk of glass to work. I had a long weekend for
the New Year’s holiday, and the kids were out of school
so a trip to Yellowstone was nearly possible if Murphy’s
Law didn’t rear his ugly head.......................................Winter
in Yellowstone is truly a wonderful thing to experience. Its deep
snows, bitter cold, abundant wildlife and stark beauty
can imprint memories that can last a lifetime, and I have been
anxious to share it with my boys. Access to Yellowstone in winter
has become problematic since it has become illegal to take a private
snowmobile into Yellowstone. So instead of accessing Yellowstone
from the south entrance, outside Jackson Hole close to my home,
the trip mandated a mad dash for north
Yellowstone’s winter
road, an eight-hour drive away. I had a hunch that this might
be a good time for serendipity to dish me up some wolves for my
photo portfolio. --------------------------------------> More
Two Wolves Grand Teton National National Park
The Search For Serrendipity
• By Daryl L. Hunter
Luck favors the prepared mind, as does serendipity. Webster's definition-Serendipity
- an apparent aptitude for making fortunate discoveries accidentally.
Audacious, is the photographer who chooses to make his living stalking
serendipity from one location to another then back again hoping
to capture light as it has never been captured before or tougher
yet as they may have captured it in the past. But that is what we
do, and that is what we live for.
Armed with our acquired knowledge of the magic
hour, cloud diffused lighting, outdoorsmenship, storm lighting,
instinct for peak action, wildlife behavior,
camera mechanics, changes in seasons, composition, astronomy, etc., we set
out to bring the natural world to armchair adventures, outdoor enthusiasts,
publishers,
and advertisers, and to do so we have to rely on serendipity. Accomplished
photographers are serendipiters, a serendipiters are those with
an aptitude for making desirable
discoveries by accident--------------------------> More
Living
A Richer Life Without Any Money • by Daryl
L. Hunter
Since purchasing
my first camera, I have been living a visual feast that
has cost me a real estate career in a
lucrative Southern California market. My scenery seemed to always
be just over the next hill somewhere, cityscapes just were not my
kind of inspiration, and I soon tired of local beach sunsets.
Magpies and ravens tormenting a wolf during dinner
So it wasn't long before I was traveling farther a
field, weekend trips to Big Sur, Lake Arrowhead, Yosemite, and yes,
a three-day driving marathon to the Grand Canyon and Zion National
Park. I decided that my weekends just were not long enough. I would
just have to take more time off work, and then I could make it to
Tahoe, the costal redwoods, and the Oregon coast.
All
that driving wore out my car; it must be time to move to a prettier
place-----------------> More
Yellowstone In Winter • Yellowstone National Park is one of the world’s most popular natural areas. Every year, millions of visitors from around the globe flock to the park to view its scenic grandeur and abundant wildlife. And every summer, the park’s hotels, trails, campgrounds, and roads get clogged with gawking tourists. For the serious nature photographer, it is often difficult to get even a little elbowroom, let alone to find a spot to set up one’s tripod.--------------------------------------> more
Where I Find Photos
Bison impervious to the erupting Old Faithful Geyser beyond.
Yellowstone National Park has been a photography destination ever since Henry Jackson took the first photos of Yellowstone in 1872, Yellowstone's plethora of nature demands documentation from all who visit this world treasure. Yellowstone National Park welcomes photographers from across the country and from around the world to photograph its embarrassment of riches of natural wonders. Photographers come to document its pristine beauty and seasons of breathtaking contrasts: Scenic photographic opportunities abound, the wide-open grassy valleys, the perpendicular peaks of the Gallatin, Beartooth and Absaroka mountains. Yellowstone has hundreds of waterfalls, rivers that both gently meander through big valleys and writhing thorough whitewater canyons. This high mountain plateau attracts violent weather which makes wonderful accents too our earthly objects. More geysers than anywhere else on earth are here in Yellowstone waiting for the creative photographer capture eruptions of water at sunset. Colorful red and ocher mud pots, hot springs the deepest of blue outlined in orange and odd fumaroles dot the landscape of Yellowstone beaconing photographers from the other side of the world to take their story home....................rest of article
North
Yellowstone’s Winter Road • By Daryl L.
Hunter
Winter in Yellowstone is truly a wonderful thing to experience,
its deep snows, bitter cold, abundant wildlife and stark beauty can
imprint memories that can last a lifetime.......................Access
to Yellowstone in winter is the problem, it has become illegal to
take a private snowmobile into Yellowstone and very few of us have
snow coaches of our own or are capable of marathon ski expeditions
too access Yellowstone’s winter wonders, but it is not as inaccessible
as many think..................................The snowmobiling destination
resort of Cooke City and Silver Gate Montana need groceries regularly
to
keep its citizens alive so Yellowstone Park maintains winter access
to these communities. US-212 can be accessed through Yellowstone’s
north entrance in Gardiner Montana, so Yellowstone visitors can access
a smidgen of Yellowstone’s treasures in winter by car. -------------------------->
More
The Hole Picture • (Swan Valley Idaho) Daryl L. Hunter's photography can be seen throughout, this publication "the Greater Yellowstone Resource Guide" as he is the publisher, at his online gallery you can buy framed or unframed photo art of his Greater Yellowstone scenics and wildlife. Daryl L. Hunter has been photographing the Yellowstone Region since 1987, when he packed up his 4X5 view camera, Pentex 6X7, and his 35mm’s and headed to Jackson Hole Wyoming to join hundreds of other wanna be photographers, where he learned the real meaning of poverty with a view. Perseverance has paid off though, bringing his photographers eye to web publishing has brought many new eyes to Daryl’s work.
Please Support The Greater Yellowstone Resource Guide
I have spent thousands of hours researching for, and creating content to create a market for my photography, for 35+ years I have been roaming this land for landscape and adventure photos and content for this effort. although this was the greatest of adventures exploring every corner of the Greater Yellowstone and sharing it some compensation would be greatly appreciated.
Many photos have link to a shopping cart, custom prints available upon request. Click on logo below to go straight to website.
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