techniques
Winter wildlife tours in Jackson Hole
A favorite time of year, winter wildlife tours in Jackson Hole can offer some unique opportunities. To begin with, the animals are much easier to spot! With a heavy blanket of snow covering the valley and the trees being leafless, the wildlife "pops" off the landscape. The stark snowy backgrounds can also help to isolate the animals in the image by creating some nice negative space. While we do have more overcast days during the winter months, this can provide for some nice, even light on ...
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Yellowstone Photography Tips
My clients often ask about Yellowstone photography tips. Other than getting out early and staying out late for the best light, one of my best tips is the proper use of different filters. A circular polarizing filter is quite useful for increasing contrast in the sky and also for enhancing colors. I like to use this filter when shooting the hot pools in Yellowstone; it can really make the colors pop. Polarizing filters have the greatest effect when the sun is at a 90 degree angle to the su...
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Jackson Hole Photographers
Along with some other Jackson Hole photographers, I've been doing more night photography lately. With todays cameras, capturing the beauty of Grand Teton National Park under the stars has never been easier. I use a variety of different flashlights to lightpaint different subjects, from a small headlamp all the way up to a 1 million candlepower spotlight. After setting the initial exposure for the sky or stars, I'll then experiment with the length of time the subject is painted. Do some exper...
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Grizzly Bears
Knowing that the Grizzly bears in Grand Teton and Yellowstone Parks had started to emerge from their hibernations, I've been out trying to locate them. I came across this bear in the north end of Teton park; an exciting experience and my first sighting of the year. He emerged out of some willows right at twilight, heading to the river. A typical good news/bad news situation situation for a photographer. Good news is I had a great subject, bad news being the challenge of photographing in low...
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Photographing Birds In Flight
A nearby pond often offers great opportunities of photographing birds in flight. This pond has open water throughout the winter and many species of waterfowl visit. Although the light was fairly flat, I knew that some Trumpeter Swans and Canada geese would be there. I was hoping for some images of take-offs and landings; the birds approach from every angle and having an autofocus 300mm telephoto is certainly helpful. Typical of mountain weather, the clouds broke for a moment and gave a litt...
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