Pinnacles Overlook at Sunset, Badlands, SD 2012 © Joel Nisleit
A vacation for me isn't like a vacation for everyone else. While most people think of theme parks, beaches, resorts, and lounging, I'm thinking about how I can capture the best images of the nature I love so much. In this series I share how I photographed my recent vacation to South Dakota.
This isn't meant to be a complete guide to SD or how to photograph it, rather a look at my personal experiences, what I learned, and how you can bring home images more exciting than cookie cutter tourist shots. You'll find travel and photo tips not only specific to the locations I visited but that will help you improve your photography overall.
We begin with magic hour -- the hour surrounding sunrise and sunset. It amazes me so many people miss the best parts of the day because they'd rather sleep in. Then they're relegated to the same old dry tourist shots that millions of people have already taken -- harsh, flat daylight, seen from every pullout and photo spot that everyone else has shot from.
Of course I understand it isn't all about photographic desire. Schedules sometimes just don't allow for sunrise and sunset shots, and some people just don't care about taking a quality photograph. But you paid a lot of money to see stuff, so why not really see it?
Try this, and you'll see what I'm talking about. Get up for a sunrise, and stay out for a sunset. You'll usually see more people at sunset than sunrise since they're already up, but if you really want a place to yourself, get up for a sunrise. You'll be rewarded. At some of the most-visited photographic locations at the best times, you'll be surprised how few people are there. And now that you've captured the absolute best lighting of the day, you can spend the rest of the day sleeping, if relaxation is what you want.
You can see this strategy at work in the following image. Taken in the bowl between Yellow Mounds and Pinnacles overlook in the Badlands, the camera faces west to capture the warm sunrise as it paints a patch of rubber rabbitbrush and spills onto the peaks. There's simply no way to recreate this light after the fact. You have to be there. The shots were taken just off of the road, not far from a nearby pullout. Several cars had driven past, but none stopped, and there were no other photographers in the area. We had the place to ourselves for this magic moment. And look what everyone else missed!
Pinnacles at Sunrise, Badlands, SD 2012 © Joel Nisleit
Good magic hour shots take a bit of planning. It's ideal to scout your locations ahead of time and imagine where the sun will be. Star Walk, the iPad app, is perfect for keeping track of daily sunrise and sunset times on the road. Ideally, set up about a half hour before the stated rise/set time, and then let the magic happen. Satellite imagery, such as Google Earth, can help you pre-visualize the location and how the sun might hit the landscape. When you're physically there, you don't have to plant yourself in one spot and take 100 images there. Look for various vantage points and angles. There's always more than one.
Badlands Photo Tips:
Coming Soon: Custer State Park, Needles Highway, Lake Sylvan, Spearfish Canyon
Click here for South Dakota gallery, in progress