Spontaneous Trip to Yellowstone National Park!

Kias

Senior Member
Whoever said we can't be spontaneous, I now get the last laugh! :p

In 2014, we're forgoing the normal Disney Cruise, Rentin' an RV and headed to Yellowstone, via Mt. Rushmore, Pipestone National Monument, and anything else we can find in the 14 days we'll be gone. Oh, and then down to Grand Teton.

Now, I've never been to any of these places, but I have been to the Grand Canyon. If any of these places is like that, it'll never be captured in a picture. Gotta try though! I grew up seeing all the pictures of the Grand Canyon, read all the specifications, blah blah blah. Then just happened to be driving by one day and saw the signs and thought, "Eh... Why not..." Walked up to the edge on the south rim, and...

OH

MY

GOD

When they say it can be a life changing experience. They're not kidding. If you've been there, you know what I'm talking about. If not, you have no idea and never will until you go there. It can't be described in words, or a photo, or a drawing.

Anyway, hopefully Yellowstone will be like that. So, on to the question.

Which Lens? I'll have my trusty 17-70 2.8, and definitely a 70-300 4ish by then. But what lens is worthy to try and capture the grandeur that is Yellowstone?
 
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292smith

Senior Member
I love the Yellowstone area. Way to much to see in a few days.
I'd take both lenses. Lots of animals to shoot with the big lens and the small lens for all the landscape opportunities. You should have a blast.
 

stmv

Senior Member
yes, I would suggest a belt bag that is large enough to hold the larger lens, and then you can easily swap lens on the fly,, that is what I like doing when doing a walk about. I like the weight on my waist,, versus the back, or sling bag.
 

BackdoorArts

Senior Member
If you're going to be in an RV then take everything you've got, and definitely something long that will get you those critters in the distance. 300mm is nice, but I know when I had one at Yosemite it wasn't quite enough to grab a couple bears and Golden Eagle that we saw, making me wish I'd somehow managed to squirrel away my 150-500mm in the bag. National Park trips are events where you never want to hear yourself say, "Dang, I wish I'd brought..."
 

Kias

Senior Member
Well I'm definitely taking everything. Should be lots of room for it. I was wondering about a wide angle lens for landscape photography. Don't know which way to go there. The more I take photos at my existing 17mm the more I'm seeing just how wide it really is! Not sure if it's going to be wide enough for out there though...
 

stmv

Senior Member
Practice doing row matrix (side by side,, and stacking two high, overlapping 1/3) and Adobe CS -> photomerge,, or PTGUI,, easy way to widen your shots
 

Kias

Senior Member
Practice doing row matrix (side by side,, and stacking two high, overlapping 1/3) and Adobe CS -> photomerge,, or PTGUI,, easy way to widen your shots


Thanks!! I forgot all about that!

I do that with my phone all the time. Plus I bought a tripod specifically to help me do panos with my new camera! LOL

There's just too much stuff getting crammed into my brain right now.

Phone pic. 'bout twenty or so photos stitched together.

PANO_20121102_192239.jpg
 

nikonpup

Senior Member
yellowstone is a minium 2 day trip, one day north loop, one day south loop. Then as many days as u can in teton, another oh-my-god. Lens: The two u have will do most of
the work, suggest renting a longer lens for critters. Yellowstone and teton web sites have planning info.
 

Kias

Senior Member
Thanks!

Forgot about the rental lenses too...
My list of stuff to get for our spontaneous trip just gets longer and longer!

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus
 

John101477

Senior Member
as has been said before bring everything you have... honestly with a trip of this magnitude I would really really suggest having a fast telephoto. quite a few images you will want to get in the morning through Yellowstone and the Tetons. Even if you have to rent the darn thing it might be better than not getting the shot because it was to dark. It is not quite like shooting the Grand Canyon from the south rim.
also take a 2x telecon. trust me when I say that IF you see a Grizz, you want to be a GOOD distance away not to mention the sea of 500mm lenses with people standing on top of their priuses to get the shot.

What ever you do, dont rush Yellowstone or the Tetons. While I "like" Yellowstone, I LOVE the Tetons. Both are extremely diverse and worth the time to explore both properly.
222524_4887700670002_990163533_n.jpg 485126_4887699789980_1795447828_n.jpg 535476_4887698749954_962243910_n.jpg
 
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