Archives For wyoming

Echoes in Yellowstone

Jay Patel —  May 15, 2013

Lower Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (WY), USA

Here is an image from a workshop in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). This was the first day of the workshop, and we had gathered at Mid Geyser basin to practice using GND filters and work on composition.

This shot works well with a GND filter, since the horizon is nice and straight… but instead of using my GND, I bracketed 3 images and then blended them later using our iHDR workflow. Why? Because I let one of our students use my GND filter. :) I prefer to get the shot right in-camera if I can’t, but in a case like this, bracketing works just fine.

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Old Failthful, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (WY), USA

Just a Dream

Jay Patel —  January 2, 2013

I love the Old Faithful area for its amazing natural beauty and the diversity of colors and terrain. The first time I saw that place I felt like this was not quite real… until the masses of people started arriving around noon. :)

I used a LensBaby to create this image. The lens baby was a gift from one of our students, and we were experimenting with it. The lens requires a bit of getting used to. I adjusted the lens to give the clouds a dreamy, motion effect.

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Old Failthful Area, Yellowstone National Park Wyoming (WY), USA

Looking into your Soul

Jay Patel —  November 30, 2012

Here is one of the fantastic hot springs found in Yellowstone National Park around the Old Faithful area. This one reminds me of a giant eyes staring back at you – trying to look at your soul.

I took three bracketed shot using our iHDR Manual Blending Workflow. I stood on the boardwalk and raised my tripod as high as possible to take this shot because I wanted to get as much mid-ground as possible. I had to stand on the bench to be able to look at the settings on the camera. Because I took this shot early in the morning, there was no one around.

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Pearl in the Storm

Varina Patel —  November 20, 2012


Crazy weather makes the best photos. And fun memories too! ;)

This storm came up on us so fast that we ended up having to run from it. It was a beautiful, sunny day, and we were visiting Norris Geyser Basin in Yellowstone National Park (Wyoming). We were out hiking with the kids, and we took a wrong turn on the trail. So, instead of the shorter loop, we ended up on the longer one. And to make matters worse, we mistook the distinctive sound of distant thunder for the rumbling of geysers! We did see clouds moving in, but they didn’t look too threatening – until this one appeared. And it was moving FAST! We knew we’d be in trouble if we didn’t get moving. We were on a wide-flat plain, and we were carrying our tripods – which start to look a lot like lightening rods when you are surprised by weather like this. :)

So, as the rain started to fall, we told the kids to run for it. We headed for the shelter near the trail head. Jay ran ahead with the kids – and I stopped with my tripod to grab one quick shot before catching up with them. The kids were excited – and the younger ones were a little scared – but we arrived at the shelter just moments before the storm unleashed its fury. They watched wide-eyed as pea-sized hail fell in torrents all around us.

The storm didn’t last long, and we were never in great danger – but it was a fun adventure for the kids. At the end of the trip, they all agreed that it was the best part of the whole vacation. :)

That said – please stay safe when you are traveling. Beautiful weather can turn bad fast – and it’s important to be prepared. Check expected weather conditions before you go out, read your trail maps carefully, know where the nearest shelters are, and watch the skies. Bad weather can be incredibly dangerous.

So, what about you? Have you ever been caught in a storm like this?

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Rainbow in Yellowstone

Varina Patel —  September 14, 2012

I took this shot in Yellowstone National Park near the end of a trip with out kids. Storms had been moving through the region all afternoon and evening, and we saw four or five rainbows in different locations as we drove along. As the sun neared the horizon, we pulled over and parked the car near a beautiful meadow. The kids listened to music in the car, while Jay and I took a few shots. We were rather glad that the sky didn’t do this every evening – with the kids along, we wouldn’t have been able to shoot regularly. :)

I shot with a GND filter. The GND let me capture the detail in both the shadows on the ground and the highlights in the sky. I nearly always use a GND filter to shoot sunrise and sunset. The dynamic range is simply to broad to be captured otherwise.

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Simply Hot!

Jay Patel —  August 31, 2012

I love the geology at Yellowstone National Park. It provides breathtaking photographic opportunities. This is a simple image of the steam rising from one of the hot springs.

Steam and Mist really light up when they are lit from behind or from the side. Back-lighting can be hard to deal with because it can be very direct, but side-lighting isn’t too difficult. The steam in this shot was lit from the side. The light brings out the textures in the steam, the ground, and the mountain beyond. The beautiful light fills the frame with the textures and colors of the steam.

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Geyser Land

Jay Patel —  August 15, 2012

Side-lighting on the mist rising from this hot springs provided an opportunity to capture the steam in just a touch of soft light. The brilliant orange tones in the bacterial mats around the pool provided an interesting foreground.

If steam or mist rise above the horizon, Graduated Neutral Density filters don’t work very well. A GND filter will darken the top of the steam as well as the rest of the sky, which makes everything look unnatural. I blended images manually for this shot, but even so, it required careful processing. To capture this photograph, I waited until the steam from the hot spring was dispersed enough to showcase the interesting patterns, and to let me see the details behind the pool. Yellowstone National Park is a beautiful place, isn’t it?

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Featured Download: Wyoming Summer

Varina Patel —  June 8, 2012

This shot is from our wonderful  2008 Yellowstone vacation with the kids. So, this featured download is a tribute to summer…

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Our trip to Yellowstone was a fantastic experience for the kids – and it was my first trip to the park as well. This shot doesn’t show the geysers for which the park is best known – but for me, that’s not important. It’s a little slice of summer.

Do you remember how much you loved summer when you were a kid? My childhood was all about playing in the fields behind our home in northern Idaho – and later, in the creek behind our house in Ohio. In Idaho, my friend and I would climb under the barbed wire fence (ouch) and catch frogs in the pasture, or ride our bikes to the lake and watch the turtles. In Ohio, I climbed trees, caught crawdads, and built dams in the creek… and when I was older, I went hiking or canoeing as often as I could. For me, summer is all about the great outdoors.

We try to pass on our love of nature to our children – we take the kids canoeing every summer, and fishing too. They spend hours catching crawdads and minnows and playing in the river near our home every summer. Having kids makes it easy to keep in touch with your inner child, too.  Have you caught a crawdad with your bare hands recently? Built a big fort out of sticks and brush? Saved a butterfly from a spider’s web? Built a canal out of stones along the river’s edge? I did all those things last summer – with my children.

I have to say – this was a fun post to write! :) What do you remember from your childhood summers? I’d love to hear it!

Summer is good for the soul. Enjoy it while it lasts!

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Summer in the Tetons

Jay Patel —  May 29, 2012

This shot always reminds me to reflect on my priorities. Many people spend days, weeks, and months sitting in a little cubicle, staring at a little screen. We all need a bit more time outside. So, this summer why not take some time and spend a few days in a place like this?

I came upon this spot at Oxbow bend on a day with almost no wind. I included just enough reflections to add interest to the photograph. The light is harsh in this shot, but I’m ok with that because the distribution of elements is such that there are no large areas of harsh shadows or blown highlights in the image.

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Man versus Nature

Varina Patel —  April 19, 2012

Most of the time, we go out of our way to avoid people or man-made objects when we shoot. But sometimes certain “human elements” can enhance an image. They give us something we can relate to. Something familiar and safe. Maybe a sense of scale, or history, or struggle. Here are a few of our photos that include a little bit of humanity.

This lovely, old bridge invites the viewer to walk right into the scene and explore the temperate rain forest in Washington’s beautiful Olympic National Park.


The light streaming between these silhouetted forms lends an ethereal feel to a decidedly human scene. This is a shot from one of our workshops in Yellowstone National Park.

The interior walls of this cabin in Wyoming frame the distant Tetons and remind us of times gone by.

A wide-angle lens adds an off-kilter feel to this shot of an open gate and the pretty Tennessee cabin beyond.


I took this photograph of our friend, Anna, during a visit to Canon Beach. This is one of my favorite portrait photos. I think this shot speaks for itself.

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