Folds of velour, John Day Fossil Beds National Monolith/ Rebecca Latson
I love every single park system I have actually ever checked out within the National Park System. That said, while every park unit yields fantastic images, I do think there are park standouts for specific topics. So, from all the parks I have actually visited, I started making a list of which parks are my individual favorites for particular photographic classifications. As the list grew, I recognized I had sufficient product for a number of Tourist articles, the very first of which you see here.Favorite Parks
for Colorful Imagery
For this category, I’m not describing favorite parks I have actually visited for fall color, however rather park systems that are noteworthy for their vibrant landscapes.John Day Fossil Beds National Monument (Oregon)This nationwide monolith is one of my favorites for the
incredible landscape colors on display screen. This is not a big park; as a matter of reality, it’s consisted of three small separate units, each about an hour’s drive from the other. Of those 3 units, 2 are especially colorful.Late afternoon sunshine over the Painted Hills System, John Day Fossil Beds National Monolith/ Rebecca Latson The Painted Hills System encompasses a sensational vista of rolling, silky hills layered with maroon and yellow-green crumbly soils suggesting past climate changes. Depending upon what type of light the day supplies, the maroon might turn into a bright, dark, nearly blood-red, and the yellow-green becomes a fantastic gold. While you can stand throughout this unit to capture colorful images, I believe the best media event are focused around the Painted Hills Overlook.Green claystones at the Foree area of the Sheep Rock System, John Day Fossil Beds National Monolith/ Rebecca Latson At the Sheep Rock System, your eyes(and camera lens)will
feast upon vistas of high, crumbly hills and cliffs composed of blue-green claystone, a fine-grained sedimentary rock colored by
the mineral celadonite (derived from the French word céladon, meaning “sea-green “). For close views of this green rockery, park your automobile in the Foree location of the Sheep Rock System and hike both Flood of Fire and Story in Stone trails.Petrified Forest National Park(Arizona)Here’s another park with a”painted “landscape. The hills and dunes in the Painted Desert display varying intense shades of yellow, red, and orange.
Found at the north entryway to the park simply off Interstate 40, there are a variety of ignores providing wide-open views of this vibrant Painted Desert landscapes ideal for both wide-angle and telephoto shots.Storm clouds over the Painted Desert, Scared Forest National Park/ Rebecca Latson If your eyes tire of seeing all those brilliant warm colors, drive south to the Blue Mesa trailhead for a short trek down into the park’s badlands. The crumbly, rounded hills
and mesas are layered with cool tones of blue and purple alternating with cream-colored soils.Colorful landscapes along
the Blue Mesa Path, Scared Forest National Forest/ Rebecca Latson Keep your eyes peeled for areas of scared wood scattered throughout the landscape. Utilize your SLR’s telephoto lens or your point-and-shoot’s/ smart device’s telephoto setting to get a close-up view of the silica colored by manganese, hematite, pyrite, iron, and goethite that changed the initial wood natural matter.Petrified logs along the Crystal Forest Path, Scared Forest National Forest/ Rebecca Latson The numerous colors of petrified wood, Petrified Forest National Park/ Rebecca Latson Grand Canyon National Forest (Arizona )Did your first glance of this national park leave you speechless( okay, aside from the oooos and ahhhs)? Dawn and sunset specifically highlight the vibrant gold, rust red, purple, and mauve within the rock layers of this canyon land. As you roam the routes, you and your electronic camera will be treated to colorful rock strata seen from canyon top to bottom at both North and South Rims.A late-afternoon view along the South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park/ Rebecca Latson
A North Rim Dawn, Grand Canyon National Forest/ Rebecca Latson Favorite Parks for Mountain Landscapes I’m a mountain gal. I was born in Montana and the love of the mountains never left me, even after investing much of my life east of the Rio Grande. In truth, any national park unit with mountains is stunning to me, however of those mountainous parks visited, I do have my favorites.Glacier National Park(Montana)This”Crown of the Continent “boasts a scenic, high-altitude road through rugged mountains carved by glaciers, cut by streams and waterfalls, and carpeted with wildflowers and deep green forests. Glacier National Forest was the first park unit I ever visited when I was a little woman living approximately 20 miles far from the West Glacier entrance. A park like Glacier remains in heart and memory no matter where you ultimately wind up living.The view along the Grinnell Glacier Path, Lots of Glacier area, Glacier National forest/ Rebecca Latson Mount Rainier National Forest(Washington )Composite volcano Mount Rainier is one heck of a mountain backdrop, surrounded by other mountains
like the Tatoosh range, and looming high and glaciated over a landscape of wildflowers, lakes, rivers, and forests. Anyplace you wander within this national forest provides terrific photo ops.Mount Rainier landscape, Mount Rainier National Forest/ Rebecca Latson Denali National Park and Maintain( Alaska)Even if you are not among the 30 percent of visitors to really get a clear view of Denali Mountain, there are still craggy and vibrant range of mountains at which to point your camera. The Alaska Range offers a sharp, toothy jawbone to the back molar of Denali, and the Polychrome Mountains provide splashes of high-altitude color.Denali in the morning, Denali National Park and Maintain/ Rebecca Latson Sunshine and cloud shadows along Polychrome Pass, Denali National Park and Maintain/ Rebecca Latson Favorite Parks for Sunrises/ Sundowns While daybreak and sunset shots are stupendous at any park, the following units are my favorites, and thinking about the number of parks listed for this classification, I think you might state that sunrise and sunset shots are likewise my favorite photographic subjects. Oh, and while I believe
of it: whatever park system you check out for Golden Hour(sunrise or sunset
)photography, do remember to bear in mind of the sun’s angle during your stay. Relying on the time of year you travel to a park, the sun may not rise or set at precisely the same area, which might make or break that special shot you want at a renowned location.Crater Lake National Park( Oregon)All or a portion of Crater Lake in your sunrise/sunset compositions resembles the cherry on top of a tasty ice cream sundae. During my July go to, my 2 favorite dawn spots were the Watchman Overlook and Sinnott Memorial Overlook.Sunrise at the Watchman Overlook, Crater Lake National Park/ Rebecca Latson
For a summertime sunset, the view was beautiful from Palisade Point Overlook.A sunset view from Palisade Point, Crater Lake National Park/ Rebecca Latson Mount Rainier National Park(Washington )Oh, you discovered I’ve currently listed this park as a favorite for a different classification? Well, some parks are favorites of mine for a variety of different categories, and Mount Rainier just happens to be among those parks. You see, daybreak at Tipsoo Lake is fantastic. Sunrise at the Dawn area is also fantastic. Sunrise at Reflection Lakes is likewise wonderful. Dawn at the Paradise area is also wonderful. Dawn is … well, you get my drift.A wintry autumn daybreak over Tipsoo Lake and “The Mountain,”Mount Rainier National Park/ Rebecca Latson Daybreak at the Sunrise area (yes, the
sunrise is that saturated, however just for a few minutes), Mount Rainier National Park/ Rebecca Latson Dawn over Reflection Lakes, Mount Rainier National Park/ Rebecca Latson Bryce Canyon National Forest (Utah)Anywhere you want to set up shop for a sunrise shot
will be the best place, whether it’s at Daybreak Point, Sunset Point,
Inspiration Point, down along the trail with Thor’s Hammer in the background, or on the Rim Trail between any of those locations. And, if you take place to turn your camera away from the rising
sun and point it towards the surreal hoodoos within the park’s natural amphitheaters, you’ll be treated to a blazing show of deeply-saturated oranges, golds, and pinks. Bryce Canyon understands how to toss a fantastic daybreak party.Sunrise at Daybreak Point, Bryce Canyon National Park/ Rebecca Latson Sunrise over Bryce Amphitheater, Bryce Canyon National Park/ Rebecca Latson Glacier National Park (Montana )Sundown at Lake McDonald near the West Glacier entryway and daybreak at the Wild Goose Island view location are two favorite places yielding amazing, in some cases remarkable, compositions. Daybreak over Swiftcurrent Lake in the Numerous Glacier location of this park is also quite special.A winter
sundown over Lake McDonald, Glacier National Park/ Rebecca Latson Storm clouds and a swath of fall dawn at St. Mary Lake, Glacier National Park/ Rebecca Latson Dawn and moonset over Swiftcurrent Lake in the Many Glacier location, Glacier National Park/Rebecca Latson Olympic National Park (Washington)There’s something about the fantastic simpleness of an ocean sunset, isn’t there? I recorded numerous Pacific Coast sundowns during my winter and summer season stays at this national park.Sunset’s afterglow at Ruby Beach, Olympic National Park/ Rebecca Latson A Kalaloch Beach sundown, Olympic National Park/ Rebecca Latson Padre Island National Seaside (Texas )Just as with sunsets, daybreaks over a large body of water(like the Gulf of Mexico) are fantastic, and this nationwide seaside provided me adequate opportunity for beautiful morning shots over the course of two various visits.Sunrise at Malaquite Beach, Padre Island National
Seashore/ Rebecca Latson Dawn at the beach, Padre Island National Seashore/ Rebecca Latson Favorite Parks for Night Photography”Half the park is after dark,”according to the National forestService. I absolutely concur, except that as I get older, I find it more difficult to stay up late enough( I am not a night owl). When I am out in the dark with my camera and tripod, I can inform you it’s one cool experience. After your eyes become accustomed to the inky night lit just by those determines of light, you’ll start to see other things
, like the “sound “of silence. It’s profound … up until it is broken by the yip, yip, yipping of a coyote, or the hollow hooting of an owl somewhere in the distance, or the burbling flow of a close-by
stream, or the rustle of bushes close by that may make you a little– um-nervous.Mount Rainier National Park (Washington)Pre-dawn stars at Reflection Lakes, Mount Rainier National
Park/ Rebecca Latson Reflection Lakes is incredible for night photography. Even if you are getting here before the dawn breaks, you can still capture remarkable star shots in the sky that are also shown in the
lake water, with Mount Rainier towering over the composition.A busy summer night at the
Dawn area, Mount Rainier National Park/ Rebecca Latson The Daybreak location is a terrific location for night photography with the proviso that you may likewise record” civilization”in your star images, relying on where you set your tripod. While some photographers(most likely most photographers)might not be so enamored, I believed night photography at the Sunrise
area was lovely and intriguing, with the Milky Way looming over”The Mountain,”light streams of hikers moving along the path below, and proof of an often-busy summer season night