The vast underground plumbing at Yellowstone provides a lifetime of fascination watching it in action. The geysers, something like 1400 strong, have a life of their own, each being very unique based on hydrology, geology and ologies over my pay grade. But that doesn’t stop my watching them in amazement as they put on their shows. One of the reasons why I love being in Yellowstone in the winter and want it cold is because the geyser steam takes on a life of its own once caught in the wind. You take that and add great light and skies, and the photographic possibilities are really limitless!
How to tell this story of site and sound in a still image? The first thing I think is key is the light. I prefer sidelight and a little diffused. Too diffused and the ripples in the steam cloud are lost. Too strong and the same thing, the shades of gray are lost. It’s the shades of gray the help give texture and shape to the steam clouds. Then you need the right background, darker than the steam is my preference. So this day Fountain Geyser was erupting at the perfect time, we were there, the light was great and the skies near perfect. Last thing was to capture the detail in the eruption to give it life. I shot with the D750 / 18-35AFS and once I say/heard the next burst of water, hit the shutter release and shot off a series of 5-9 frames. I then selected back at the computer those eruptions that communicated the power and emotion I felt standing there. The one thing the still image can’t bring to life is how cold it was standing there in the wind nor the tremendous sound. It’s so very cool to listen to the earth and hear the explosion!