Two of my Yel­low­stone images will appear in an upcom­ing exhibit at the Renais­sance Gallery in Carmel, Indi­ana. The group pho­tog­ra­phy show is titled The Next Step, is curated by John Paul Capon­i­gro, and will be open May 20 to June 24, 2011.

One of the images in the show is this one: Cis­tern Spring, Yel­low­stone #1. It’s part of a series I’m work­ing on that focuses on water and cam­era motion (which is a sub­set of my Motion|Pictures series). There’s much to be said about pho­tograph­ing water (at slow shut­ter speeds, while mov­ing the cam­era) — but I’ll save that for later posts. What I’d like to point out here is that the best way to pho­to­graph hot springs like this one is often not under the photographer’s stan­dard work­ing con­di­tions: early or late in the day with some nicely pho­to­genic clouds. To see the beau­ti­ful blue of a spring like this one, the sun needs to pen­e­trate into the pool’s depths, and you usu­ally need a bright blue sky above. So mid-day, then, is often the best time to see (and pho­to­graph) the star­tlingly bril­liant col­ors of Yellowstone’s hot springs. And on a clear day, Yellowstone’s gen­er­ally high ele­va­tions help things along by cre­at­ing intense blue skies. So if you’re in Yel­low­stone and it’s get­ting near noon, don’t set­tle down for a long leisurely lunch in the shade. Grab your cam­era and look for some great hot springs color.

Tech­ni­cal Data:
Body: Canon EOS Dig­i­tal Rebel XTi
Lens: Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 40mm
Expo­sure: ISO 100, f/22, 0.3 seconds