Upcoming Yellowstone Trip in June

Make sure to pack a lot of patience. You'll be there along with everyone else. The roads will be jammed with people stopping everywhere to watch wild critters moving about, often turning what should be 30 minute drives into 1-2 hour crawls, and parking lots near many of the more popular areas will be packed.

Hopefully wildfires will be at a minimum and you get to see most of what you're planning.

Take as wide and as long a lens as you can. You'll wind up using both.

Thanks. Great pics, too.

We've been warned about the crowds. I'm not much of a people person in large doses but will have to deal with it for this,I suppose.

I went in early May a couple of years ago and was hit by 2 feet of snow in Rapid City. Snow still on the ground in some of the park, but even early, the traffic was fairly heavy.

It is well worth the trip--I hadn't been before.

In pre-season. attempts to fix up the roads are common

But the standards are mostly open

Artist's Point

Yellowstone is one of my favorite places, but we try to avoid the most crowded dates. Depending on when you are there June can be better than July-August. Make sure you take a long lens (500mm+ or better, if possible), as much of the wildlife is unapproachable or out of reach. You will have opportunities to use every lens in your bag. One of my great regrets is the day we watched a coyote, two ravens, and a bald eagle fighting over a goose the coyote had killed. My 55-200mm kit lens simply was not up to the task, and there was no getting closer to the action. Another issue is timing relative to various geothermal events. I advise making an early stop at the Old Faithful or Canyons visitor center and getting as much information about anticipated eruptions as possible. It took many, many visits over 20+ years, but I finally managed to experience Old Faithful, Grand, Whirling, and Riverside Geysers erupting in close sequence. Make sure to get out early in the morning, and be in strategic locations at sunset. Your best opportunities for wildlife will be in the early AM. Drive slowly and stop often to look for opportunities. There is usually an active bald eagle nest along the road coming in from West Yellowstone, though there will a "no stopping" zone in its immediate proximity (another reason for a long telephoto). You can often spot the eagles hunting in the adjacent Madison River. For geysers, it can be fun to plan your photos to capture rainbows, which will require lower-angle sunlight coming from behind you. Be aware of wind direction and relative temperatures. Thermal features will have more steam in the cool of the morning than in the afternoon, and being down wind of an erupting geyser, while entertaining, does not make for good photographs. I like the trail along the Firehole River, behind Old Faithful, and Norris Geyser Basin at sunset, among others. I recommend having a good pair of binoculars for general viewing and scanning. Due to our heavy winter here in the West you may encounter a lot of residual snow, so plan appropriate footwear and clothing. Locations like JDM's Artist's Point will mostly be jam-packed, and it can be hard to catch a break between selfie sticks. However, look for the less obvious views and perspectives along all of the trails and boardwalks. You will have far less competition that way. For example, shoot Old Faithful from the side away from the crowds:

This image is an experiment using very fast shutter speed to freeze the boiling mud, and there was zero competition for this spot on the boardwalk.

You can find innumerable small and engaging vignettes along the way, particularly given the amazing colors and textures associated with the thermal features:

One thing is for sure: There is far more to see, do, and photograph than one can hope to attain in one trip. For me, I would recommend against joining a formal, organized photo tour, unless someone you trust specifically recommends it. Instead, buy some books or research online, and come up with your own plan that fits your itinerary and interests. One of the most important things is to maintain flexibility. You cannot predict when you'll see a pack of wolves chasing a cow elk and her calf across a sagebrush flat, or find yourself spending an hour watching an osprey hunting and feeding her chick in a nest on a pinnacle in the canyon:

One hard-learned lesson: Don't spend your time trying to recreate the amazing images from the posters and coffee table books in the visitor center store. Virtually without exception they were captured by professionals who spent years chasing and planning for that one image. Buy the book and take it home with you, then find your own unique experience and use photography to document it. Have a plan, then plan to adapt to the unforeseen. But, make sure you identify a few things you really want to see/do so you have a framework for success. Happy trails...

Thanks for everyone's input and guidance, especially the part of not trying to recreate a professionals' work. That's one of my main issues.... I hate learning curves and get impatient.

One thing I will note is that enjoying the experience will be more important than getting the picture but am going the give it my newbie best shot. Hopefully that will help in dealing with the crowds.

These are great pics. Quite inspiring.

Thanks again.