Yellowstone River Rapids (click to enlarge)
This image comes from the lower falls of the Yellowstone River. The Brink of the Lower Falls trail takes you from parking along North Rim Drive to the top of the falls. While the trail is pretty steep, views from the observation platform and noise from the water are well worth the effort.
Before arriving at the observation platform, the trail parallels to the Yellowstone River. There are several rapids along this stretch of the river that make for images with an abstract or watercolor effect. This image was taken with a shutter speed of 0.4 seconds, so use a tripod to eliminate photographer induced blur.
Yellowstone River Lower Falls Observation Area: N44 43 05.53 W110 29 46.81
Lower Falls, Yellowstone River (click to enlarge)
This is the lower falls of the Yellowstone River as seen from Artist Point at Yellowstone National Park. This is a nice sunrise spot with interesting compositions as the sun works its way up and across the canyon.
Before heading to Yellowstone I read Photographing Yellowstone National Park. The book talks about the falls and how the cloud of mist turns luminous when lit by the sun at 9:45 in the morning. When I read this I wondered if it was 9:45 day light savings time, mountain time, eastern time or what time was it really? We were at Artist Point for sunrise and hung around to see if the mist would light up at 9:45. We watched the sun march up and across the canyon and sure enough, at 9:45 as advertised, the mist started to light up. Amazing, simply amazing. The colored mist lasted about 15 minutes and then faded away.
One tip regarding a polarizing filter. I initially had my polarizer set up to block reflections. I could see the colored mist with my naked eye but not through my viewfinder. I finally spun the polarizer and the colors popped right out.
Artist Point N44 43 12.50 W110 28 47.20
