For the past year, Deby Dixon and Rebecca Latson have collaborated to bring us two columns a month (sometimes more) on how to get the best pictures during our national park adventures. While my photographic aspirations were dashed by their incredible talents, let's take a look back at their tips with hopes you might benefit from them in some way.
A fish in the face was just one photo Rebecca Latson snared during her visit to Katmai National Park and Preserve in 2013. Rebecca Latson photo.
Photography In The National Parks: Dealing With Dancing Snowflakes
Recently a friend wrote to ask where I was spending the winter and when I replied, "Yellowstone," they appeared to be dumbfounded.
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Photography In The National Parks: Capturing Winter In Our National Parks
“Winter” is a relative term. For me, the word conjures images of snow and ice along with such adjectives as “crisp” and “stark.” Winter for others, however, can bring to mind sandy beaches and turquoise water or alligators and migrating birds along with adjectives such as “warm,” “hot,” “humid,” even “wet,” depending on one’s location within the National Park System.
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Photography In The National Parks: Winter Essentials
At this time of year, winter waxes as fall wanes, so I thought it pertinent to now emphasize the concerns and rewards of winter photography, be it in the sub-zero temperatures of Yellowstone or along the balmy beaches of the Virgin Islands or the moss-carpeted downed tree trunks of Olympic National Park.
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Photography In The National Parks: Shooting From The Car, Is It The Best Way To Get The Money Shot?
Is it unethical to photograph park wildlife from your car?
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Photography In The Parks: What's In Your Camera Bag?
What goes into Rebecca Latson's camera bag? We asked her that, and other, questions, with hopes the answers will benefit us all.
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During her trip to Acadia in October, Rebecca Latson took to the air for some unusual shots of the park. Rebecca Latson photo.
Photography In The National Parks: A Biplane’s View Of Acadia National Park
Most people explore Acadia National Park by foot, pedal, or paddle. Contributing photographer Rebecca Latson is not like most people. She toured the park from the air...in a biplane!
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Photography In The National Parks: Landscapes Of Katmai National Park And Preserve
For the most part, a visit to Katmai National Park and Preserve, Alaska, is going to be either for the sport fishing or the bear photography. Usually, not much is mentioned regarding landscape photography within the park. That being said, there *are* all sorts of landscape photo ops waiting to be captured within that amazing place.
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Photography In The National Parks: Capturing The Fall
As the harbinger of winter, the autumn season brings a sense of peace and introspection with its quiet isolation, broken only by the occasional haunting call of a bull elk. Crowds are fewer and dispersed. Colors are saturated. The air is clear and crisp. It’s these elements combined together that make fall my favorite season for photography.
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Photography In The National Parks: Shooting Grand Teton National Park In The Dark Of Night
Just because the sun sets on the Tetons doesn't mean you can't get some incredible night shots of the stars over Grand Teton National Park.
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Deby Dixon focused on the technical aspects of shooting at night in one of her columns. Deby Dixon photo of the Moulton Barn in Grand Teton National Park.
Photography In The National Parks: The Bears Of Katmai
“Walk quickly!” the ranger urgently called out to the two of us as we were halfway across the floating bridge between Brooks Lodge and the Lower Platform. Without another word, my fellow photo tour attendee and I hefted our tripods with supertelephotos attached and “walked (very) quickly” across to the opposite gate nearest the platform before they closed down the bridge for a morning “bear jam.”
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Photography In The National Parks: A Day Trip To Lake Clark National Park And Preserve
Katmai National Park and Preseve in Alaska tops the marquee when brown bears are mentioned, but there's another national park in Alaska that will surprise you with its bear-viewing opportunities.
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Photography In The National Parks: Yellowstone's Famous Bison Jams
It is July in Yellowstone. At the height of tourist season it is hot and dry and traffic is moving slow throughout the park, as visitors take their time meandering the roads, hoping to see a bear or a wolf along the way and hitting the brakes if they do spot some wildlife.
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Photography In The National Parks: Mesa Verde Light And Shadow
That park photograph that didn't come out as perfect as you had hoped might be saved through a little magic with editing software.
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Wildlife are frequent subjects of national park photos. This bull elk was snapped in Grand Teton National Park by Deby Dixon.
Photography In The National Parks: Fox Kits In Yellowstone National Park, Shooting Nature And Broken Hearts
Life is so precious and fleeting and there are no guarantees that tomorrow will come in our lives, or while watching and photographing the wildlife in our national parks, and so every moment counts.
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Photography In The National Parks: How About A Little HDR?
I must be honest and admit that I am on the fence regarding HDR. When done well, an HDR image is rich with color, depth, and detail. When not done well, an HDR image is a bizarre, over-edited scene. So why on earth would I write an article about something for which I don’t always care? Read on.
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Photography In The Parks: Grand Teton National Park's Queen, Grizzly No. 399
If there's an icon in the wild kingdom of Grand Teton National Park, it would be No. 399, a venerable grizzly sow known for her prolific breeding and trio of cubs in tow.
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Photography In The National Parks: Made For Monochrome
Though many photographers head to Katmai National Park for shots of bears, this bruin was found in Lake Clark National Park and Preserve by Rebecca Latson. Rebecca Latson photo.
Color photographs are the mainstay of the national park traveler, but black and white has its role in the parks, too.
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Photography In The National Parks: To The Sun And Beyond In Glacier National Park
Of course I wanted to go to the Sun in Glacier National Park - the very idea of capturing everything between earth and sky, with my camera and lens, filled me with the same visions that I experienced as a child, when walking into a candy store to choose just one piece of chocolate. I wanted them all.
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Photography In The National Parks: Scale, Perspective And Connection
What's the deal with scale and perspective when you're taking photographs in the national parks? It's all about placing things in their proper context...or the context you want to reflect.
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Adding some perspective to Zion National Park was accomplished by Deby Dixon in this self-portrait. Deby Dixon photo.
Photography In The National Parks: Get Intimate With Your Camera
Every now and then, you should get intimate with your camera in a national park.
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Photography In The National Parks: A Winter Watching Wolves In Yellowstone National Park
I woke up one morning thinking about wolves and realized that wolf packs function as families. Everyone has a role, and if you act within the parameters of your role, the whole pack succeeds, and when that falls apart, so does the pack. -- Jodi Picoult
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Photography In The National Parks: Use Your Telephoto Lens For Those Park Landscapes
Using a telephoto lens for a national park landscape sounds kind of odd, right? Most people think of a telephoto or zoom-telephoto lens as good for wildlife and sports images, not landscapes, per se. But it's time to rethink that.
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Photography In The National Parks: Capturing Moonbows In Yosemite National Park
During the full moons in April, May and June, nighttime visitors to Yosemite National Park, photographers in particular, get an extra special treat when the moonlight refracts and reflects off of the spray of water in Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls - it is called a moonbow, or spray bow, as John Muir liked to call it.
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Photography In The National Parks: A Cloudy Day In The Park Can Be A Photographer’s Dream…With The Right Filters
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Photography In The National Parks: Being Ready To Point And Shoot With A DSLR
The coyote was coming down the road towards the Lamar Canyon bridge, straight at me. I wheeled into the pullout, angled the car just right, rolled down the window, grabbed the bean bag, plopped it over the door frame, grabbed the Nikon D600 with the borrowed 500mm lens and placed it atop the bean bag. Flipped on the camera, aimed and - nothing.
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Photography In The National Parks: Sunrises, Sunsets And Silky Waters
Sunrises, sunsets, and silky waters. We all strive to capture those images during our tours of the national parks, but what are the keys we need to focus on to succeed?
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