BTW as far as night driving, the other thing to remember is that bison eyes don't reflect headlights so you won't even get the warning with them that you do with deer. Just a hint of movement ahead and then BAM!
Thanks for the shout out Dave! It was a joy spending the morning with you and your wife in Yellowstone! Great video! I was even inspired to try *new* areas at different times of day, thanks to you! ~ Lisa with Touring Wonderland Photography Tours
This region (Yellowstone and Grand Teton) is by far my favorite part of the country and somewhere I end up coming back to every year....or multiple times a year!
I enjoyed this video very much! You are absolutely right about the 50mm being the new 28mm in these expansive landscape areas. I found that I was always at 35mm on my 16-35 when I was in Utah. So now I will definitely try the 50mm this time out west. We are headed to the Tetons the beginning of September, thank you for the tips!
Telephoto lens is my go to with wildlife photography. Sometimes it's like having a telescope. This video is very detailed with photos showing expectations. Great Work!
Thanks Dave, I was fortunate to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton and it was as magical as you said. Next time I’ll take your Advice and hire a guide. Loved your images!. I can’t wait to go back. Thanks again for the informative video.
So true about ditching the wides! I used my 100-400 sigma. I also borrowed a 300mm for my Pentax 67 (150 equivalent). That was so much fun with the wildlife. I’m not a bokeh guy, but I would’ve loved more reach for film and digital! I was there in off and on white out conditions. Love the winters up there, and GT! Great video👍
Great video - Yes - Ektachrome can be a challenge but if you shoot at box speed and use a light meter, you can get some great shots and the color rendition is close to perfection. That said - I've blown up a roll or 2 of Ektachrome when I wasnt careful enough to make sure I nailed the exposure. Most of the time the scans I get back are just beautiful, especially when taken with my 1952 Voightlander Bessa II 6x9 medium format camera.
@davidherring lol...I did the same. I picked up one of those little ttartisan light meters that go right on the shoe mount. They work great and I bought 2 so I always have one in my film camera bags.
Thanks for the great video ! I feel I "know" yellowstone thanks to you, I loved the vintage map, great pictures as always and great photo tips, cheers from Montreal !
Dude the advice about not taking a wide angle lens is gold. I was planning on taking my 16-35 or my 24 and 35mm. How did you feel with the 400? Do you think you would have preferred the 600 instead? Or the versatility of the 200-600? :D Thanks for the insight brother!
Yeah leave that 16-35 and 24 at home. 35 may work in certain places, like the architecture. Maybe some wider landscapes. Otherwise nearly every shot in my galleries is 50mm. Years ago I rented the 200-600mm and hated the experience. The reach was not a good trade off for the lack of clean and smooth bokeh. For birders where the sky is the background, I totally get why this lens works. But for complex backgrounds like trees, grass, shrubs, and landscapes, it just isn’t smooth enough. The 400 2.8 was beautiful, but the focus isn’t the best on it. Not as reliable and snappy as the 50 or 135GM.
@@davidherring ah man that’s good. I have a 200-600 for birding but that makes total sense. Since I’m making the trip I was considering renting a 400 or 600. Did you think the 400 was enough? Or would you go with a 600 next time?
@luisedtr07 depends on the camera. I shoot the A7RV and prior, A7RIV and A7RIII before that. Point I’m making is a higher resolution allows me to clearly punch in even further. Some of the photos in my gallery are cropped to 1/4 of the sensor, and you’d never know haha. I think a 100-400GM is the best all around lens in Yellowstone, and the 400 2.8 if you’re looking for dreamy portraits… but willing to work through autofocus and also, have patience for the shot.
Talk about photographer/wildlife interactions: We were driving thru the Lamar Valley one spring when it was full of bison, and spotted a great landscape complete with a large grouping of bison with babies. Pulled off in the next pullout along with the truck behind us. I grabbed my camera, and got out of the car, and the guy in the truck behind us apparently had the same idea, and got out with his camera but opened the canopy on his truckbed to retrieve his tripod and headed out behind me. I stopped at a safe distance. Apparently he had not properly secured the hatch to his truckbed and his little Jack Russell Terrier decided to jump out of the back of the truck and run out to the bison, while barking his dumb head off. The guy dropped his camera and his tripod in the gravel and ran out way close to the group and called his dog who was among them barking and jumping at them. The thought crossed my mind that I might witness the death of a dog, or maybe the death of a dog and a human... the dog fairly quickly made the correct decision between harassing the mother bison who had babies with them and returned to his master's side. I had taken a few shots during this melee, and picked up the stranger's camera and cleaned it off, and it had surprisingly little damage, really just a deep gouge in the grip rubber and scratches on the corner of the base under the grip. I picked up the tripod, and put the cleaned up camera on the hood of the truck, and leaned the tripod against bumper, as he and the dog returned to the pull out. We had an exchange of comments that I don't really remember because of the drama that all 4 of us and the wildlife had just been thru. I told him that his camera looked pretty ok, and told him that I had pictures of their little encounter with the bison family, and asked him if he wanted me to email them to him. He did, and so he gave me his email address. I looked at them once after my spouse and I returned home, sent them off to the guy, and once he sent a thank you for the pictures and for picking his camera and tripod up out of the dirty gravel, he confirmed that his camera had not been damaged, and asked me about other photos that we got during our trip to Yellowstone. We exchanged photos from our trip and have been friends ever since. This was in 2005 and a couple years later, we all met in Yellowstone for a week long joint photo adventure. And we have been on various national park photo trips. Our friend leaves his dog at home. Dave, from one coffee nut to another, If you find yourself in the early morning in W.Yellowstone, Morning Glory Coffee is excellent. Its on W. Dunraven, not too far from the West Entrance. I have to say, I hired a beach guide on 2 different Hawaiian Islands and got some really great sunrise and late afternoon and sunset shots of the "best beaches" of Hawaii. I totally agree about how productive doing that in a place or places that you are not familiar with can be.
What a story! I’ve only stayed in W. Yellowstone once, and I got coffee at Ernie’s. It was ok… not my fav. Next time I’ll hit Morning Glory! Thanks for sharing!
thank you! I am trying to get in touch with the guide, she is not available at the moment. Would you suggest the east entrance ? staying in the park (awful) but easier access.... going end of sept. beginning of oct.
Depends on what you're trying to do, but if Lamar Valley and wildlife are your goal, look at Gardiner, MT. Also, check the hotels and cabins at Mammoth Hot Springs. They weren't too bad when we stayed there.
@@davidherring There was a horrific accident recently north of West Yellowstone on US-191, where the limit just out of town jumps quickly (and inexplicably IMHO) to 70mph. Thirteen bison were hit by a semi. I get to the park more often now that I relocated to Bozeman. I prefer the northern entrance (Gardiner), but US-89 through Paradise Valley is rife with elk and deer. And a baffling 70mph limit, despite many animal strikes. Still though, inside the park, 60mph would get challenging quickly with all the road curves. You’d be off the road quickly between Tower and Canyon (mostly 35mph).
I have thoughts.... First and foremost, that is NOT the "Old Faithful Lodge" that you're advising people to photograph for its architectural beauty. It wouldn't matter so much if it weren't for the fact that there IS an Old Faithful Lodge, nearby, housing the cafeteria and the front desk for the cabins. No, that's the Old Faithful INN, constructed over the winter of 1904-1905, and the largest free-standing log structure in the world. As I am a major league thermal-head, and no kind of wildlife photographer, the Inn is my go-to lodging. In the Old Section, mind, bathroom down the hall. And for other architecture, the oldest surviving structure in the park is the old bathhouse in Sentinel Meadows, reached by trail from the parking lot at Ojo Caliente at the end of Fountain Flat Drive. You have to traverse the Queens Laundry area to get to it, which is pretty swampy unless you go in the Fall during a dry year. The bathhouse was never completed, and survives only because mineral infusions from the nearby hot spring have petrified the logs. There USED to be a trail starting from Ojo Caliente that went along the Firehole River through the River Group, where I've taken some of my best photos of thermal features (protocolpix.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Yellowstone), but ever since some unfortunate concession employees accidentally jumped into a boiling hot spring in the dark, that area, together with many, many others which used to be open, has been closed by the NPS. It's a very unfortunate trend. No more Cascade Group, Rabbit Creek...so many others now closed. As for Ektachrome, I shot that in the park for one (1) year only, and very quickly switched to Fuji Velvia. Ektachrome tends blue, and at 7300 feet the Rayleigh scattering is a fraction of what it is at sea level. The Yellowstone light is blue, blue, blue, and if you shoot Ektachrome you might as well shoot monochrome and apply a blue tint to everything. Even the "Golden Hour" is clear white, not golden at all.
![BOWKYLION - วิงวอน (ex-change) [Official MV]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/cLdnZWDaO-w/mqdefault.jpg)
Thanks Dave. A video packed with great, useful information. This is the kind of video I've been looking for.
Glad to hear it! Have fun in Yellowstone!
BTW as far as night driving, the other thing to remember is that bison eyes don't reflect headlights so you won't even get the warning with them that you do with deer. Just a hint of movement ahead and then BAM!
Another good reason to not drive in the park at night!
Very accurate information Dave. I lived in MHS for 6 mo. I've been to all of the places you mention. Nice shots!
Thanks! Very cool!
Thank you for the comprehensive list with good advice about wildlife manners
Always!
Thanks for the shout out Dave! It was a joy spending the morning with you and your wife in Yellowstone! Great video! I was even inspired to try *new* areas at different times of day, thanks to you!
~ Lisa with Touring Wonderland Photography Tours
You’re awesome Lisa! Thank you, again!
My favorite park hands down!
This region (Yellowstone and Grand Teton) is by far my favorite part of the country and somewhere I end up coming back to every year....or multiple times a year!
I enjoyed this video very much! You are absolutely right about the 50mm being the new 28mm in these expansive landscape areas. I found that I was always at 35mm on my 16-35 when I was in Utah. So now I will definitely try the 50mm this time out west. We are headed to the Tetons the beginning of September, thank you for the tips!
Have fun! One of my favorite (and most frequent) places to visit.
Telephoto lens is my go to with wildlife photography. Sometimes it's like having a telescope. This video is very detailed with photos showing expectations. Great Work!
Thanks! Tele lenses make a huge difference in Yellowstone!
Lisa is the best!
Agreed!
Hi David! Thank you, hope all is well!
Thanks Dave, I was fortunate to go to Yellowstone and the Grand Teton and it was as magical as you said. Next time I’ll take your Advice and hire a guide. Loved your images!. I can’t wait to go back. Thanks again for the informative video.
So glad you've gotten to experience this place. I just got back and I can't wait to go back myself!
So true about ditching the wides! I used my 100-400 sigma. I also borrowed a 300mm for my Pentax 67 (150 equivalent). That was so much fun with the wildlife. I’m not a bokeh guy, but I would’ve loved more reach for film and digital! I was there in off and on white out conditions. Love the winters up there, and GT! Great video👍
Btw, GT is one of my favorite places to go…especially at winter! Love it there in the off season.
Same! I love it there in winter. Thanks for sharing!
Great video - Yes - Ektachrome can be a challenge but if you shoot at box speed and use a light meter, you can get some great shots and the color rendition is close to perfection. That said - I've blown up a roll or 2 of Ektachrome when I wasnt careful enough to make sure I nailed the exposure. Most of the time the scans I get back are just beautiful, especially when taken with my 1952 Voightlander Bessa II 6x9 medium format camera.
For sure, and that’s why I wanted to try it! But I tried sunny 16 and guessing exposure and overexposed everything haha.
@davidherring lol...I did the same. I picked up one of those little ttartisan light meters that go right on the shoe mount. They work great and I bought 2 so I always have one in my film camera bags.
@steveborghardt my Hasselblad doesn’t have a shoe haha. Need something handheld.
@davidherring I've handheld it as well small enough to in a shirt pocket
Hayden Valley is "flat and hilly." So it's sort of in a quantum state, waiting for you to observe it before it becomes either flat or hilly?
You’re on the hill, it’s flat in the center, and another hill on the other side… thus, flat and hilly. Like a valley. Looks kinda like this n__m
dude, this video is incredible. would love to shoot a video and film with you this summer!
Thanks! Hit me up anytime!
Thanks for a great video and such a comprehensive list of photos locations.
No problem!
Great episode Dave. Stunning pics and great guiding info.
Thanks!
Awesome video! Thanks for putting this together!
No problem!
Thanks for the great video ! I feel I "know" yellowstone thanks to you, I loved the vintage map, great pictures as always and great photo tips, cheers from Montreal !
Thank you!
Great video and pics as always.
Thank you!
Dude the advice about not taking a wide angle lens is gold. I was planning on taking my 16-35 or my 24 and 35mm. How did you feel with the 400? Do you think you would have preferred the 600 instead? Or the versatility of the 200-600? :D Thanks for the insight brother!
Yeah leave that 16-35 and 24 at home. 35 may work in certain places, like the architecture. Maybe some wider landscapes. Otherwise nearly every shot in my galleries is 50mm.
Years ago I rented the 200-600mm and hated the experience. The reach was not a good trade off for the lack of clean and smooth bokeh. For birders where the sky is the background, I totally get why this lens works. But for complex backgrounds like trees, grass, shrubs, and landscapes, it just isn’t smooth enough.
The 400 2.8 was beautiful, but the focus isn’t the best on it. Not as reliable and snappy as the 50 or 135GM.
@@davidherring ah man that’s good. I have a 200-600 for birding but that makes total sense. Since I’m making the trip I was considering renting a 400 or 600. Did you think the 400 was enough? Or would you go with a 600 next time?
@luisedtr07 depends on the camera. I shoot the A7RV and prior, A7RIV and A7RIII before that. Point I’m making is a higher resolution allows me to clearly punch in even further. Some of the photos in my gallery are cropped to 1/4 of the sensor, and you’d never know haha. I think a 100-400GM is the best all around lens in Yellowstone, and the 400 2.8 if you’re looking for dreamy portraits… but willing to work through autofocus and also, have patience for the shot.
@@davidherring appreciate you 🙏
Please would you consider a video on the super zooms. That 400 GM sounds amazing.
Awesome pics n video 🎉
Thank you!
Talk about photographer/wildlife interactions: We were driving thru the Lamar Valley one spring when it was full of bison, and spotted a great landscape complete with a large grouping of bison with babies. Pulled off in the next pullout along with the truck behind us. I grabbed my camera, and got out of the car, and the guy in the truck behind us apparently had the same idea, and got out with his camera but opened the canopy on his truckbed to retrieve his tripod and headed out behind me. I stopped at a safe distance. Apparently he had not properly secured the hatch to his truckbed and his little Jack Russell Terrier decided to jump out of the back of the truck and run out to the bison, while barking his dumb head off. The guy dropped his camera and his tripod in the gravel and ran out way close to the group and called his dog who was among them barking and jumping at them. The thought crossed my mind that I might witness the death of a dog, or maybe the death of a dog and a human... the dog fairly quickly made the correct decision between harassing the mother bison who had babies with them and returned to his master's side. I had taken a few shots during this melee, and picked up the stranger's camera and cleaned it off, and it had surprisingly little damage, really just a deep gouge in the grip rubber and scratches on the corner of the base under the grip. I picked up the tripod, and put the cleaned up camera on the hood of the truck, and leaned the tripod against bumper, as he and the dog returned to the pull out. We had an exchange of comments that I don't really remember because of the drama that all 4 of us and the wildlife had just been thru. I told him that his camera looked pretty ok, and told him that I had pictures of their little encounter with the bison family, and asked him if he wanted me to email them to him. He did, and so he gave me his email address. I looked at them once after my spouse and I returned home, sent them off to the guy, and once he sent a thank you for the pictures and for picking his camera and tripod up out of the dirty gravel, he confirmed that his camera had not been damaged, and asked me about other photos that we got during our trip to Yellowstone. We exchanged photos from our trip and have been friends ever since. This was in 2005 and a couple years later, we all met in Yellowstone for a week long joint photo adventure. And we have been on various national park photo trips. Our friend leaves his dog at home. Dave, from one coffee nut to another, If you find yourself in the early morning in W.Yellowstone, Morning Glory Coffee is excellent. Its on W. Dunraven, not too far from the West Entrance. I have to say, I hired a beach guide on 2 different Hawaiian Islands and got some really great sunrise and late afternoon and sunset shots of the "best beaches" of Hawaii. I totally agree about how productive doing that in a place or places that you are not familiar with can be.
What a story! I’ve only stayed in W. Yellowstone once, and I got coffee at Ernie’s. It was ok… not my fav. Next time I’ll hit Morning Glory! Thanks for sharing!
Quad shot FTW!
Heck yeah!
totally jealousing you for that Sony lens
It was insane!
thank you! I am trying to get in touch with the guide, she is not available at the moment. Would you suggest the east entrance ? staying in the park (awful) but easier access.... going end of sept. beginning of oct.
Depends on what you're trying to do, but if Lamar Valley and wildlife are your goal, look at Gardiner, MT. Also, check the hotels and cabins at Mammoth Hot Springs. They weren't too bad when we stayed there.
Just wrapping up my Alaska season, heading back to MT tomorrow! I'll be in touch once again, would love to share Yellowstone with you...Lisa
Make one for the Tetons next! Visit in September 😂. awesome video
…finish this video 😉
@@davidherring yaaaasssss! 🙌🏻
Nice hat!
Thanks!
@@davidherring enjoyed the video too lol
Top speed limit in the park is 45mph. In many places, it drops to 35mph. Nobody should be driving anywhere near 70mph in the park.
Yep, but it happens.
@@davidherring There was a horrific accident recently north of West Yellowstone on US-191, where the limit just out of town jumps quickly (and inexplicably IMHO) to 70mph. Thirteen bison were hit by a semi.
I get to the park more often now that I relocated to Bozeman. I prefer the northern entrance (Gardiner), but US-89 through Paradise Valley is rife with elk and deer. And a baffling 70mph limit, despite many animal strikes.
Still though, inside the park, 60mph would get challenging quickly with all the road curves. You’d be off the road quickly between Tower and Canyon (mostly 35mph).
1966 "Antique"... (stares in Gen-X) 🤨😄
😂😅
I have thoughts....
First and foremost, that is NOT the "Old Faithful Lodge" that you're advising people to photograph for its architectural beauty. It wouldn't matter so much if it weren't for the fact that there IS an Old Faithful Lodge, nearby, housing the cafeteria and the front desk for the cabins. No, that's the Old Faithful INN, constructed over the winter of 1904-1905, and the largest free-standing log structure in the world. As I am a major league thermal-head, and no kind of wildlife photographer, the Inn is my go-to lodging. In the Old Section, mind, bathroom down the hall.
And for other architecture, the oldest surviving structure in the park is the old bathhouse in Sentinel Meadows, reached by trail from the parking lot at Ojo Caliente at the end of Fountain Flat Drive. You have to traverse the Queens Laundry area to get to it, which is pretty swampy unless you go in the Fall during a dry year. The bathhouse was never completed, and survives only because mineral infusions from the nearby hot spring have petrified the logs.
There USED to be a trail starting from Ojo Caliente that went along the Firehole River through the River Group, where I've taken some of my best photos of thermal features (protocolpix.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Yellowstone), but ever since some unfortunate concession employees accidentally jumped into a boiling hot spring in the dark, that area, together with many, many others which used to be open, has been closed by the NPS. It's a very unfortunate trend. No more Cascade Group, Rabbit Creek...so many others now closed.
As for Ektachrome, I shot that in the park for one (1) year only, and very quickly switched to Fuji Velvia. Ektachrome tends blue, and at 7300 feet the Rayleigh scattering is a fraction of what it is at sea level. The Yellowstone light is blue, blue, blue, and if you shoot Ektachrome you might as well shoot monochrome and apply a blue tint to everything. Even the "Golden Hour" is clear white, not golden at all.
Thanks for sharing.
Not having time markers is just wrong for a video like this
Sorry I let you down.
It’s not too late David.. it’s not too late..
😊
✌🏼