Quick Details
Highlights:
- Private & customizable (just your group!)
- One-on-one instruction on using your camera, composition, utilizing natural light for optimizing photos, and more
- Vast wide-open landscapes and abundant wildlife
- All skill levels welcome
- Breakfast and lunch – picnic style
- Interpretation of wildlife activity and behavior through observation and dynamic, engaging discussions
Spend the day immersed in photographing Yellowstone’s wildlife-rich Lamar Valley area, revered as the gem of North American wildlife photography. Yellowstone boasts the largest intact ecosystem in the northern temperate zone, and scientists believe the park is now as rich, diverse and healthy as it has ever been.
Winter is a special time to experience wildlife in Yellowstone, as the deep snows have pushed the wildlife out of the higher country, concentrating animals on Yellowstone’s Northern Range. Thousands of elk and bison fill the lower-elevation valleys and grasslands. Abundant bighorn sheep, mule deer, whitetail deer, pronghorn and moose also filter out of the mountains and concentrate where there is less snow, milder temperatures and easier foraging. This migration places them where we can best observe and photograph them and the predators that come here to hunt them.
Exploring Yellowstone’s Northern Range, including the Lamar Valley, our focus will likely be on the predators and their prey, which are most active during the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. We will spend our time in the best places to find these icons of American wilderness while discussing the ecology and natural history driving their behavior. Understanding the ecology and behavior of your subjects will help you tell their story through your photographs and will help you read and predict their movements to best position yourself to capture outstanding images.
On these excursions we have good chances of observing bison, elk, coyotes, bighorn sheep, moose, fox, birds of prey and numerous other species both large and small. While never guaranteed, winter elevates the possibility of photographing wild wolves up close as they occasionally travel near road corridors in search of prey, packmates, and—in late January through early March—breeding partners. Your guide will use their local familiarity and expertise of animal travel routes, winter habitat preferences, and understanding of the timing of best-light to ensure your day is filled with instruction and tips to help you find success as you venture out on your own Yellowstone photographic adventure.
Every moment in Yellowstone is different and unpredictable, and, therefore, we like to leave room for adapting to situations as they arise to fully maximize each opportunity as it presents itself!
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December 1 – February 15th:
- Gardiner, MT, Sage Lodge & Chico Hot Springs: 6:30am
- Mammoth Hot Springs: 6:45am
- Tower Junction: 7:15am
February 15th – March 31st:
- Gardiner, MT, Sage Lodge & Chico Hot Springs: 6:00am
- Mammoth Hot Springs: 6:15am
- Tower Junction: 6:45am
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- Full-day (8 hour) private guided tour with photography instruction
- Transportation in our fully equipped touring vehicle (we drive, you enjoy the scenery)
- Plenty of space for your photography gear and extra clothing
- Breakfast pastries and hot drinks (coffee, tea, hot cocoa)
- Healthy and hearty snacks and beverages
- Full picnic lunch spread
Gratuity is NOT included in the price of the tour. Tipping your guide is a common practice in North America, and tips are an important part of their income.
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In order to reserve your tour, a $200.00 deposit per tour day is due at the time of booking. Preferred payment method is via credit card through our secure booking system. The balance due will be charged to the credit card on file 30 days prior to your tour departure date and a receipt will be emailed at that time.
Should you need to cancel your tour with us more than 30 days prior to your tour departure date, your deposit is fully refundable. Should you need to cancel your tour within 30 days of your tour departure date, your payment is non-refundable. We strongly recommend that you purchase third-party travel insurance that will protect you in case of unforeseen cancellations or changes to your travel plans (for suggested travel insurance companies, see Forbes Advisor).
Should your tour need to be canceled due to factors beyond our control, including (but not limited to) extreme weather conditions, wildfire, natural disaster, park closure, airline cancellations, or an “Act of God” we are unable to offer a cash refund.
As a small business, we regret that we are rarely able to make exceptions to our cancellation policy.
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What our Yellowstone Wild Photography Guides Recommend:
Photography Gear:
While we are happy to accept all levels of photographers, there’s a few things you should know about gear, as you make your plans.Wildlife in Yellowstone seems to either be right next to the road, or a mile away from it. While you don’t need professional photography equipment in Yellowstone to get an award-winning image, at least one telephoto lens reaching 600mm is ideal for wildlife subjects.
Recommended Gear:
Batteries/Charger – Enough battery power to shoot the entire day (recommend 3 batteries per camera body).
Media – Enough memory to shoot the entire day/week (recommend at least 64GB per camera body).
Cleaning – Lens cloths, air blower, lens solution.
Filters – Clear UV, Polarizer
Tools: Allen wrenches or Leatherman type toolRequired Equipment:
At least one quality camera body (DSLR or mirrorless recommended) with lenses of your choice.
At a minimum, we recommend one telephoto lens (maximum focal length of 400, 600, or 800mm would be ideal) for safely photographing wildlife, as well as one wider lens (examples: 16-35mm, 14-24mm, 24-70mm, etc.) for photographing landscapes.Recommended Lenses:
- Canon/Sony/Nikon 500mm or 600mm f/4
- Canon/Sony/Nikon 400mm f/2.8
- Canon/Sony/Nikon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6
- Canon 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1
- Canon 200-800mm F6.3-9
- Nikon 600mm f/6.3
- Nikon 200-500mm f/5.6
- Nikon 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3
- Sony 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3
- Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3
- Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3
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Yellowstone Wild photography instructor guides are leaders in the field of ethical wildlife photography. Deep understanding of wildlife biology and keen observational skills drive our guides’ uncanny ability to set our photography clients up for powerful images, while truly respecting the wildlife and without causing any undue stress, discomfort or harm. The ability to read animal behavior and predict their next movements, along with an intimate understanding of the topography, often allows us to plan ahead and set up for dream shots of Yellowstone’s iconic wildlife on the stunning winter landscape.
We encourage our photographers to focus on capturing images of wildlife interacting naturally with their habitat, with each other and their prey species, unaffected by our presence. Our photo guides strive to help clients capture images that tell powerful stories of animal behavior and ecology, and create a sense of place out in the pristine winter setting of Yellowstone National Park!
Although we acknowledge the appeal of getting up-close, portrait-style images of wildlife, we are careful to adhere to our ethic (and Park Service Regulations) that if our presence is causing an animal to change its natural behavior in any way, we are causing undue stress. Life in the wild is never easy, and Yellowstone’s severe winter conditions make every day a struggle for survival for all wildlife. In fact, winter kills more wildlife in Yellowstone than any other factor. By reading animal behavior and being sensitive to their needs, we can assure that we are not making their day to day lives any harder.
The result of honoring this ethic, coupled with proper equipment (see below), is authentic images of wildlife living their lives in their native habitat and behaving as if we are not there. This sense of place helps tell the story of wildlife existence within the harsh winter conditions found in Yellowstone – often highlighting the dramas of the struggle to survive. These stories of the realities of life versus death in the wild offer compelling additions to any photographer’s portfolio!
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It is important to remember that the wild animals we seek to observe and photograph are exactly that, WILD free-ranging animals that can roam across all of Yellowstone’s vast and rugged 2.2 million acres. The probability of locating and observing them is greatly elevated due to your guide’s intimate personal familiarity with the landscape and the animals themselves. We do not guarantee any wildlife sightings on our tours; however, we will guarantee that your guide will use their knowledge, skills, and network of other guides, wildlife watchers and photographers to do everything we can to find and photograph the animals you’d like to see. We are in the park nearly every day searching for and watching wildlife, and that consistent experience pays off in finding the animals you’ve traveled to see.
How likely are you to photograph wild wolves? There is a good chance that wolves (sometimes multiple packs in a single day!) will be visible. However, as our wolves are truly wild (they do not like to be close to people) and their movements can be unpredictable, up close portrait-style photo opportunities are rare and should not be expected. We encourage our photographers to focus on capturing images wolves out on the vast Yellowstone landscapes, interacting naturally with their habitat and with each other and their prey species. Our photo guides strive to help you craft powerful stories through your images of animals being truly wild in their native habitat!
We strictly adhere to ALL NPS Rules & Regulations as well as our own Yellowstone Wild Code of Ethics (see below).
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As a licensed Commercial Use Permit holder with Yellowstone National Park, we must follow all park rules and regulations. Additionally, as life-long proponents of wildlife and wild places, we will also follow our own ethical wildlife viewing and photography practices.
We will take this opportunity to teach you about how we can have the very best viewing and photography opportunities possible without having negative impacts on wildlife by respecting the animals’ space and movements as they go about their lives.
While on tour with Yellowstone Wild LLC, we will observe the following park rules (subject to law enforcement):
Keep at least 25 yards from all wildlife, except:
Keep at least 100 yards from wolves and bears
Avoid remaining near or approaching wildlife, including birds, at any distance that disturbs or displaces the animal.It is our ethical responsibility as visitors to the park to make sure that our actions do not inflict undue stress or hardship upon the animals that we are observing. Wild animals in a natural setting do not have easy lives, and the last thing we want to do is make their lives any more difficult. Your guide is an expert at reading animal behavior, and the moment that our presence is bothering an animal, we MUST back off until we are no longer disturbing its natural behavior. Failure to promptly respond to your guide’s instructions to back away from wildlife may result in the termination of your tour, subject to the discretion of your guide.
Still have questions? Check out our FAQ’s page!