Traveler contributing photographer Rebecca Latson took herself and her cameras on a 2,000-mile September road trip to visit four national parks in the Canadian Rockies. Despite the mixed bag of weather and clash of expectations versus reality on the road, Rebecca captured amazing shots which she uses to illustrate tips and techniques for your own national park road trip.

Sometimes, you see amazing wildlife during your national park adventure, but you just don’t have the right lens on your camera, or maybe your telephoto lens (or setting) doesn’t far enough reach for a sharp, close-up shot. Go ahead and capture that wildlife image anyway! You’ll have a beautiful landscape shot of the environment in which that wildlife dwells.

Death Valley National Park, a land of extremes and contrasts, is a fantastic venue for photography no matter when you visit. Traveler contributing photographer Rebecca Latson recently returned from several days at Death Valley with a passel of pictures as well as advice and techniques for capturing your own awesome shots.

Every photo you capture of your experience in a national park fleshes out that visit for yourself and your viewing audience. That national park photo story should include a few low-light shots of your explorations through a shadowy forest interior, or around the spacious lobby of a rustic park lodge, or gazing skyward toward the Milky Way on a clear, moonless night outdoors.