Yellowstone Night Photography



Join us for this unique opportunity to photograph the incredibly dark skies of Yellowstone National Park. David Kingham is the author of Nightscape: A Complete Guide to Photographing Under the Night Sky, and is one of the pioneers of night photography. We will show you how to photograph the night sky, plan out your shoots, and process your images for clean, natural results.
Group Size
8
Investment
$1,995
Initial Payment – $995
Your Leaders
Fly To
West Yellowstone or Bozeman, MT
Fitness Level
Easy
Learn More
Description
Yellowstone National Park has some of the darkest skies in the United States, with most of the park being in a Bortle class of 1, the darkest skies you can find.We will show you how to combine these stunning skies with the beautiful landscapes of Yellowstone.
During the day, we will show simple yet powerful techniques to process your night photos so you can walk away with an image you will be proud to hang on your wall. We will also discuss scouting, planning, and weather, so you are prepared to plan out your next night shoot. On top of that, we will have an image critique session.
Light painting is not allowed in Yellowstone National Park to protect this incredibly dark sky. Instead of lighting, we will show you how to create foregrounds by doing long exposures or twilight exposures that you can later blend in Photoshop quite easily. This will be an essential skill to have as more and more parks are banning light painting.
This is not an advanced course on night photography; we will be showing you the basics to take great night photos no matter your level of skill. We will be touching on some slightly advanced methods like stacking, but this is not a requirement to create great photos.
What is Included
What is Not Included
* Please note that carpooling is REQUIRED. We must get down to three vehicles for our group since parking can be a challenge at times.
Important Details
- Lodging: We have rooms held at the Holiday Inn in West Yellowstone for $329/night. You are welcome to stay anywhere in the West Yellowstone area.
- More details will be emailed after signing up.
Itinerary
- August 25th
- Meet at 5:00 pm at the hotel for introductions and presentations to get you primed for photographing the night sky in Yellowstone!
- Go out for our first night under the beautiful night skies of Yellowstone. We will eat our sack lunch in the field. We will return to the hotel around 2 am.
- August 26th
- Rest in the morning and meet early afternoon scouting and post-processing sessions.
- Another night under the stars at new locations.
- August 27th
- Rest in the morning and meet early afternoon for more in-depth post-processing.
- Another night under the stars at new locations.
- August 28th
- Meet in the morning for image critiques, the workshop will conclude at 1 pm.
Safe, Legal, Responsible.
We are proud members of Nature First Photography. This movement is dedicated to responsible nature photography. At its core are seven principles that we abide by and promote to our clients. We hope you will join the movement!

Concerned About Your Safety
We understand how important your safety is when we’re in remote locations. This is why David and Jennifer are both certified Wilderness First Responders, we are prepared for any situation large or small. We also carry satellite communication devices should we need rescue assistance in remote areas.
Legal
We always run our workshops on the up and up. For this workshop, Exploring Exposure is Authorized Permittee of Yellowstone National Park. We are also an equal opportunity service provider.
Our Philosophy
We encourage you to find your unique style of creativity with focused training based on your style and skill level. You will experience a rigorous learning experience in the field and the classroom to take your photography to the next level.
Our passion is seeing you grow in your photographic journey. We put your interests ahead of our own. Early on in the workshop, we will not photograph at all. Our focus is your learning experience, and we will not run off to chase the light and leave you behind. As the workshop progresses, we will take a few photos in a limited manner. This is so you can see how we approach a scene, demonstrate techniques, and create comradery with the group. Our focus will always remain with YOU.
We understand everyone comes to workshops at different points in their photography journeys. We will be there to guide and help you, whether you are a beginner or advanced shooter. There is always something to learn about photography, and we will do our best to help you find your creative vision.
Above all, we want this to be a fun experience for you. With our small group size, we get to know our clients very well, and we feel like they are part of our extended family. We do this for the love of photography, and there is nothing that gives us greater joy than seeing our clients grow and find their artistic vision.
Questions?
Please do not hesitate to send us any questions you may have, we would be happy to help.
Private Yellowtone Workshops
If you are looking for a private guide to show you around Yellowstone, look no further. We spend extended periods here and are constantly exploring the incredible landscape to find all it has to offer. We can be your private tour guide or we can turn your experience into a full workshop training you on composition, vision, post-processing with Lightroom and Photoshop, all without the group.