In many articles I write for the National Parks Traveler, I stress a couple of things for capturing a great image: look for texture and look for color(s). This telephoto shot of a bison seen between Mammoth Hot Springs and the Lamar Valley in Yellowstone National Park is an example of both color and texture. Take a look at the thick, wooly textures of the bison. And take a look at the differing shades of red-brown. When you look at a bison from a distance, you don’t necessarily see all those color gradations within its furry coat. And you know that the bison has a thick, wooly coat for the winter, but when you look at a close-up, you see the fine differences in texture, from what looks like soft undergrowth to much coarser wooliness. Even the bison horn has a certain amount of textural and color differences.
I captured this image at a turnout on the way to the Lamar Valley, testing out my previously-underused 200-600mm lens on the Sony A1. While not a prime lens, it’s a pretty decent lens for getting close to the subject.
To me, wildlife photography was made for black-and-white photography. Or maybe it’s vice versa: black-and-white photography was made for wildlife. Yes, I love seeing wildlife and its environment in all the wonderful original colors of that environment, but you can’t disagree that reactions and drama aren’t ratcheted up a notch when a color image of wildlife is converted to black-and-white.
Take the bison in the snow, for instance. The day itself looked a little on the monochrome side, with the predominant colors being the brown-red coats of the bison herd on a snow-carpeted hillside. When converted to monochrome, textures, patterns, and the differences between light and dark really stand out in the absence of color.
Lone Coyote Just Off The Trail In Upper Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park
The shading of this beautiful lone coyote goes hand-in-hand with the lights, darks, and shadows in between when converted to black-and-white.
And the trumpeter swan below is a part of the icy image – rather than separate from its environment – when converted to monochrome.
Trumpeter swan on the Firehole River, Yellowstone National Park
My father – from whom I inherited a love of photography – only shot in black-and-white with his Mamiya twin lens film camera, scores of decades ago. He’d return from a day out hiking in Glacier National Park and go down to his basement darkroom to process the day’s shots.
Speaking of getting a monochrome image, IMO, it’s always best to go ahead and get the color version as your original, then make a copy and turn that copy into monochrome once you have returned to your computer. That way, you’ll always have the color shot in addition to the monochrome image. Sure, most cameras have in-camera settings to use for solely capturing black-and-white, but then you won’t have any original color shots unless you waste the time to change the menu setting from monochrome back to color. It’s a hassle, especially if you only have minutes before that elusive wildlife disappears or moves to a less-than-desirable background.
The next time you are out with your camera photographing the wildlife and birdlife, go ahead and get that shot in color, but when you return to your computer, make a copy of that shot and convert it to black-and-white and look at the differences.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
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Tipsoo Lake in Mount Rainier National Park on a clear day versus a wildfire smoke-filled day
I know, I’ve been pretty remiss about posting to this site. I have good intentions and then I get either lazy or sidetracked.
Putting that aside, I recently visited Mount Rainier National Park during the week the smoke rolled in from the wildfires in California and Oregon. I didn’t realize this until after I got there, since the weather reports were calling for clear, sunny skies and I wanted to get out along Stevens Canyon Road and the Nisqually-Paradise Corridor to photograph and video some scenes. My plan changed a bit, as you can see.
When I returned home, I had questions about what might and might not be impacted by all this smoke (aside from being able to photograph a landscape), so I did some quick research, wrote an article, and the National Parks Traveler published it today.
To read that article, click on either image above or below.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
Viewing the Nisqually River from the bridge over the river on a clear day versus a smoky day
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A highlight of my summer visit to Padre Island National Seashore a few years ago was the opportunity to photograph a public Kemp’s ridley sea turtle hatchling release into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. If you are thinking of attending a public viewing of the releasing of these nacho-sized little guys, however, you’ll have to wait until 2021, as all public viewings have been canceled for this year due to the coronavirus. As you can see in the last photo, there is definitely NO social distancing of the 700 – 1200 participants who attend these viewings. On that particular day I took the photo, there ended up being 900 people.
When I visited Yellowstone National Park last year, I recorded all sorts of sounds of the park’s geology. And, in today’s Podcast #60, the National Parks Traveler has captured other sounds of wild Yellowstone.
To listen to Yellowstone’s sounds of geology (plus running water and some birds), click on the image above.
To listen to the National Parks Traveler’s Podcast Episode 60 (with different sounds of Yellowstone), click on the image below.
I just finished listening to the National Parks Traveler’s Podcast Episode #51. Loved it! I had the book on pre-order already and am really excited about reading it when it becomes available. And of course, I love bison. If I didn’t think the hummingbird was my spirit animal, I would think bison were. Anyway, if you like wildlife, botany, geology, or bison, you should give this podcast a listen.
Just click on the image to be taken to the podcast site
As for this image, it was taken during my atumn trip to Yellowstone National Park. It’s what I first beheld when approaching Porcelain Basin, within the Norris Basin area. Those two steamers there are, I believe, Black Growler Steam Vent and Ledge Geyser. Correct me if I am wrong. I was looking at a map of the area and they seem to be in the same position as the two named entities.
For all that autumn is a less-visited time (relatively speaking) for Yellowstone, this particular area was pretty crowded, mainly with tour buses. So I had to stand there a bit in order to get a clear, non-peopled shot. That gorgeous turquoise water makes me think of glacier-fed waters, but in reality, these waters are hot and would literally skin you alive if you dipped a toe in them because they are so caustic.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
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It’s pretty cool when we see bison roaming the landscapes of Yellowstone and Grand Teton national parks, and they sure make for great photo ops. Now, Montana officials are going to allow wild bison back in the state, but they want more study done as to where they are going to be allowed to roam, according to an article published in today’s edition of the National Parks Traveler.
To read the article, click on either of the images above.
Wheeee! TFW (that feeling when) you know it’s Friday and you have a fun weekend planned.
I’m working on the Lake Clark National Park and Preserve gallery on my photo website. One more gallery after this one and I’ll be up to date with keywording the National Parks and Other Landscapes folder on the site. The Lake Clark one will take a little longer because I found images I’d not even looked at in the archives. I don’t know why I never worked on them. Maybe I didn’t have the editing skills to bring out the potential. Who knows. At least I have a few more images to add to the gallery, so there will be more than just 46 images for that gallery (some galleries have way more images, and others have around that many or less).
This little guy (or gal – I didn’t look up its knickers) was having fun rolling down a pebble incline while it’s mother watched off to the side. I was with a photo tour and we were in the referenced park, standing on the beach and photographing this momma and her cubs that had emerged from the forest. It was one of those trips where, if it hadn’t been for her and her babies, we would not have had much wildlife to photograph during our stay. It’s like that, sometimes, with wildlife and with wildlife photo tours. Sometimes you have a plate full of fun, and other times, you make do with what you can get.
The National Parks Traveler published my latest “Photography In The National Parks” column. This one deals with what you might see and photograph in Yellowstone National Park, beyond the wildlife and geysers you expect to see.
To read the article, click on the image above.
Copyright Rebecca L. Latson, all rights reserved.
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Portrait of A Moose Cow, Fishercap Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana
Last week was Waterfall Wednesday, so this week, it’s all about the wildlife. This beautiful moose cow was photographed at Fishercap Lake in the Many Glacier area of Glacier National Park, Montana. I’d already heard that moose sightings were common at this lake, so I spent different times of day photographing there. It was nice to be able to do this, since my timing was a little poor to visit this national park. The Sprague Fire was raging, and there was so much smoke in the air during that time, I could barely see the mountains for landscape images. So, I’m glad I was able to clearly focus on something else.
All images on these posts are the exclusive property of Rebecca L. Latson and Where The Trails Take You Photography. Please respect my copyright and do not use these images on Pinterest, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, Snapchat or any other business, personal or social website, blog site, or other media without my written permission. Thank you.
You can reach me at rebeccalatson@wherethetrailstakeyou.com
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