With our upcoming Yellowstone National Park trip quickly approaching (we’re leaving tomorrow night), I decided to look up some tips for photographers in the gorgeous park. Of course, there are many tips floating around the internet about this wonderful opportunity to photograph one of the most beautiful National Parks in the country. Below are some of the ones I found to be quite helpful and interesting. I can’t wait to look for all of the animals listed below. If you have any tips, please feel free to share them below, and also let us know if you have been to Yellowstone National Park before and your experiences there!
- Best Time to Shoot in Yellowstone Park – Pre-dawn, mid-morning and late evening until after dark, in any season, is the premier time to take photographs. Yellowstone animals tend to be more active during these times and the lighting is best.
- Taking Photos of Yellowstone Animals – You don’t need the big lens. 300 mm and below are enough unless you’re shooting dangerous animals.
- Taking Landscape Photos – Use a focal length setting of 10mm up to 300mm on your wideangle, telephoto or all-in-one zoom lens and put a subject in the landscape to capture the sense of place with the animal or subject in its environment.
- Don’t Shoot With the Sun Behind You – Contrary to popular belief, don’t shoot with the sun directly at your back. Doing so will make the light on the subject flat. Move so the light is at an angle and you’ll get more texturing and shadows — and a much more interesting photo. Most great photos are either side-lit or have the light coming in from a different angle.
Source: Yellowstone Park
Hints on where to go for what:
- Great Grey Owls – head for Canyon or Indian Creek also in Lamar Valley near Pebble Creek.
- Elk – head for Gibbon Meadow, Elk Park or stay right at Norris. These can be found on the road between Norris and Madison. I have also had good luck from Madison going toward West Yellowstone. One could always go to Mammoth and shoot elk on the nicely mown green grass around the Park Headquarters buildings. Actually there are some nice images to be made around the Park Headquarters, just be very careful in composing. Depends on what you want in the background. It can be fun watching the tourons scattering as a bull elk charges.
- Antelope – head for the old Gardiner road. Or just outside of Gardiner behind the high school.
- Black bear – This is a tough one. I have shot blacks in several places and never seen them in the same place twice from year to year. Look for rosehips and check the ground for scat. If the bears are in there the scat will tell you. Just be very careful, I have gotten into this kind of area and if the bear was down on all fours you could not see it. And the bear was there! Pucker Power…
- Grizzly – the last three years just about anywhere in the north loop of the figure 8 of the park road. Just depends on where the bear wants to be. It has been my experience that usually a grizzly bear will travel a route looking for food. If the bear shows up at 3:30 in the afternoon the bet is pretty good it will show up again around the same time the next day or the following day. It just depends on how big the “foraging loop” is.
- Moose – head for Willow Park. This is between Norris Junction and Mammoth. The light in here is usually lousy until late in the morning but sometimes a cow will be cooperative and stick around. If she stays the bulls stay.
- Wolves – the Lamar valley.
- Swans – around seven mile bridge on the Madison between Madison Junction and West Yellowstone.
- Coyotes – almost anywhere but check Hayden Valley. I have had good luck there but this can take a lot of road running and looking with binoculars or spotting scope.
- Bison – I have seen bison all over the park. After the debacle of the 1996/1997 winter with the slaughter outside of Gardner I don’t know. The Lamar vally with bison against the steam rising from the geysers is nice. Bison crossing the Madison river going toward West Yellowstone from Madison Junction is impressive also.
- Otters – very elusive but I have found them on the Madison between Madison Junction and West Yellowstone.
- Bighorn Sheep – try the McMinn Bench just inside the north entrance. Use a spotting scope from the heavy equipment repair shop just outside the gate before making the climb. There is no sense in wondering all over the bench without a starting place. I have found them late in the evening and then verified they are still there before heading up, unless you are a masochist and enjoy carrying a tripod and all your photo equipment up the side of the bench. You are starting at about 5300 feet and going up. Depending on where you go on the bench it could be over 6000 feet. The sheep will see you coming and as long you approach from below and don’t push them, they will stay. I have gotten up there fairly early and worked a group of 8 rams with another group of females and adolescents near by. I had an adolescent ram almost blow in my ear as I was concentrating on the adult rams, just curious to see what I was doing. Of course, maybe he felt he could do a better job of composition than me.
Source: Photo.net
