Yellowstone / Teton National Parks

[Thomas Creel]

My family and I recently vacationed in Yellowstone/Teton. I used the early mornings (at least the non-raining days) to get out for some alone time and do some landscape and wildlife photography. All comments and critiques are appreciated.

#1: Schwabacher's Landing (My favorite place on Earth)


#2: Yellowstone Falls (4 Image Stitch)


#3: Bear (I have closer shots but like the environmental feel to this one)


#4: Lone Bison


#5: Moulton Barn


#6: Lupines and the Tetons


#7: Bullwinkle


#8: Firehole River


#9: Oxbow Bend (Midday sun, made the best I could out of it)


#10: Oxbow Bend in Color


#11: Rain Moving In

[ttusa]

Ooooh the Lupines and Tetons and the reflection in #1 are gorgeous!

[trac76002]

We're going in Sept.....I can't wait! Never been.
Great pictures!

[idnurse41]

Absolutely breathtaking work! What a place to see in person!

[tropicdiver]

I need to get back there. Lovely photos.

[jeffkohn]

Excellent work, these are really nice. How recently were you there, I'm surprised how much snow is still on the mountains if these are recent.

Some C&C....

#1 - I really like the reflection, and you've got fantastic light on the trees and mountains. The placement of the 'centerline' of the reflectin bugs me a bit though; I might try cropping a bit from the bottom and left to get it closer to the center of the image. If you're going to have some empty space, I'd rather see it in the sky than the water. The empty area at the bottom of the frame makes the composition feel a little unbalanced to me. I can't help but look at this image and think you should have shot it as a pano, but then I'm a pano freak...

#2 - I like the way your composition and viewing angle emphasize the steepness of the canyon, and I like the placement of the waterfall in the frame. The B/W conversion is also good.

#3 - Great environmental portait. The trees ligne up nicely along the frame edges for a pleasing composition, and I like that you caught the bear mid-step to imply some movement. Perfect lighting for this kind of shot. I also like the color contrast of this image, the way the carmel color of the bear stands out what is otherwise a mostly monochromatic image.

#4 - Love the atmosphere, and the composition works really well.

#5 - Excellent composition, this scene is well-suited to the pano format. The uneven sky is unfortunate, though I would think you can even it out some in post-processing (Viveza works pretty well for this sort of situation). The upper portion of the barn looks unnaturally darkened; I do realize the barn is some darker towards the top, but that seems to be exaggerated hear (grad filter?).

#6 - What a beautiful shot. The flowers make a fabulous foreground, the mounts are sitting in just the right position in the frame. This is my favorite shot. There's a bit of a sign of grad-filter or exposure blending on the left side behind the flowers, but a little burning could easily fix that, and it's really a small thing.

#8 - Love the atmosphere here, and it's nicely composed.

#9/10 - This shot doesn't work for me in color, the lighting is just too hard. It _almost_ works in monochrome; the high contrast works for the foreground flowers but I wish the mountains weren't in shadow.

[Thomas Creel]

Thanks for the comments, all.

Jeff, we were there from June 12-18 and having visited the area many times (and lived in Casper, WY for 8 years) this is the latest I've seen this much snow. My 3 year old enjoyed the snow tremendously.

Concerning the reflection, I was one of about 15 photographers there this morning. I wasn't the first one there so I didn't really get the shot I wanted. The barn is darker at the top, but it is exacerbated by a GND. The pano uneven sky bugs me too, and if I decide to print it I will fix it. That probably may have been exacerbated by a polarizer. I can't remember. The lupines shot was using a GND...it doesn't bug me on this one. I waiver on #10 as well. The flowers are back lit enough for a "glow"...but the sun was probably still too much overhead for my liking. Thanks for the in-depth analysis. I appreciate it.

[MHampton]

Great shots. I can't wait to get there. Tracie, when are you going? My wife and I will be there Sept 12-19.

[zerovision]

Great shots!! These are beautiful pictures. My fav is #5.

[ovimo]

Very nice shots. I love the lone bison. Also I could never get the steam to clear enough to get something like your #8. It is funny, I know, but every time I tried, the wind did not cooperate.

Pity for the Oxbow Bend shot, you had superb clouds. If only you could have been there earlier in the morning. Despite the crowd waiting there for a sunset shot, my best shots are still the morning ones.

Just curious, what lens for the bear? Having used anything up to a 600mm, I was lucky only once in the last 8 years and had the bears (brown mom with 3 little ones) get close enough so I can have them of decent size in the frame. On the other hand, I really am not a wildlife chaser, can't spend the day tracking them for a shot.

Congrats on your shots, I am sure you had a great time.

[KKapple]

10 and 6 are my favorites. Great shots!

[Angelo]

All superb shots. Will be there the first week in August.

[Thomas Creel]

Ovimo, the lens is a Nikon 80-200 2.8 @ 80mm. I do have some close up shots (one 30 feet from our car) of a separate black bear, but I prefer this one because it better shows the bear's environment in my opinion.

[ovimo]

Originally Posted by Thomas Creel

Ovimo, the lens is a Nikon 80-200 2.8 @ 80mm. I do have some close up shots (one 30 feet from our car) of a separate black bear, but I prefer this one because it better shows the bear's environment in my opinion.

Whoa, 30ft from the car is super close, what was the bear's location? I saw most of them in the Tower area in Yellowstone NP or close to Oxbow Bend in the tetons.

[Tim T]

Awsome shots Thomas. Very well done. I'd love to make that trip someday.