Overview
Explore the wilderness of Yellowstone National Park through a photographer’s lens. This private safari is an opportunity to practice and enhance your photography skills while you travel through Yellowstone National Park’s incredible landscapes, all with the guidance and keen attention of your professional photography guide. Mountains, rivers, snow and ice, sunshine and shadow, wildlife from North America’s greatest apex predators, like wolves and bears, to the smallest mammals and birds, like red foxes, and birds of prey such as eagles, hawks, falcons, and waterfowl. This region offers diverse photo opportunities you’ll only find here in Yellowstone.
Highlights
- Premium Private Safari
- Personalized Photography Instruction
- Yellowstone National Park Landscapes & Wildlife Sightings
Our professional photography tours are led by one of our passionate wildlife photography guides who are there to maximize your photography goals and build upon your skills. These tours are tailored to each guest and will benefit both amateur and professional photographers alike. Throughout the day, your guide will cover topics such as gear, shutter speed, aperture, ISO, framing, lighting, composition, and more. Our office would love to know all about what your photography goals are so that we can maximize your tour to fit your needs, and will reach out to you prior to your tour to discuss.
It’s important to keep in mind that landscape photography opportunities are subject to change due to weather conditions and wildlife photography is dependent on, well…wildlife, and there are no guarantees for close shots or perfect opportunities. Regardless of the conditions of the day, your guide will be happy to help you with your photography gear, answer any questions you may have about photography, and share some of their best photography practices.
As Yellowstone is a vast landscape, we will travel throughout the day in our luxury vehicle to maximize the sights we can see during the tour while spending ample time out of the vehicle at the stops we make. We ask that our guests come prepared for a variety of weather conditions and terrain.
We offer these full day private tours beginning with an early morning pickup from Bozeman, Big Sky, West Yellowstone, Gardiner, Mammoth, Cody, and Paradise Valley. We will cater your start time to accommodate goals for your tour. Whether you are looking to practice your landscape shots in a variety of light and perspective, or are hoping to home in on wildlife habits and behavior, this experience will afford you plenty of ways to practice and explore your photography amidst the wildly diverse setting of Yellowstone National Park.
Your guide will navigate you through the vast terrain and road systems of Northern or Southern Yellowstone, depending on your interest and starting point, paying mindful attention to elements conducive to successful photography conditions. Yellowstone is known for its protected ecosystem, roadways that have strategically placed pullouts offering dramatic vistas of sweeping valleys, winding rivers, crystalline bodies of water that mirror open sky, craggy, alpine peaks and the potential for spectacular wildlife sightings. Working in this wild space also results in no two pictures being the same; the weather, clouds and lighting vary on a near daily basis. Our guides are well-versed in popular photography spots and will also help encourage you to experiment at each location and challenge you to produce unique work.
The unpredictability of wildlife enhances the experience as well. While many animals, like bison, elk, moose and pronghorn, wolves and bears have distinct habitats they are typically found amongst during certain seasons, there is always the chance of finding them in unexpected places that could create the set up for an entirely unique photo. Then there are less frequently seen species, such as otters, fox, pika, badger, or great gray owls. These animals keep you on your toes, potentially darting along a river bank or dashing through an open field and vanishing before the click of a shutter.
Yellowstone’s wildlife and scenery change in every season of the year. We encourage you to book this unique photography experience specific to your landscape and wildlife of interest. Our office and guide staff are available to discuss these options at length.
It is important to note that appropriate gear for the season is necessary to accommodate for times when we will need to walk short distances in variable weather conditions.
Your Photography Guides
Grant Johnson
Grant has nearly 20 years of experience as a photographer, filmographer and wildlife guide. He assisted the team filming Shark Week for over a decade while based in Bimini, The Bahamas, where he also offered eco-tours in the Caribbean Sea. He has worked for Yellowstone Safari Co. for 7 years and has extensive experience finding wildlife, especially our wild wolves.
Seasonal Highlights
Photography conditions will vary throughout the year, with different seasons offering different highlights.
Spring
- Lush, green landscapes
- Newborn animals
- Heightened wildlife activity – bears emerging from hibernation and elk migrating
Summer
- Fair weather
- Longer Days
- Wildflowers abundant
Fall
- Favorable lighting
- Colors from fall foliage
- Elk rut and bears preparing for hibernation
Winter
- Dramatic, snowy landscapes
- Wildlife in the snow
- Wolves more active and visible during winter months
What's Included
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Hotel pickup
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Professional naturalist guide
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Private safari
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Catered picnic lunch
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Assorted snack basket
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Non-alcoholic beverages (hot and cold)
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Use of UHD binoculars and spotting scopes
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Guide gratuities
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National Park entrance fees
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Camera equipment
Private Safari (Summer)
This is a private safari.
Private Safari (Winter)
This is a private safari.
Tour Information
What time is my hotel pickup?
For all photography tours, all of our guests are picked up (and dropped off) at their lodging location. We pick up in Bozeman, Livingston, Paradise Valley, Gardiner, Cody, West Yellowstone, and Mammoth. At the time of reservation, we’ll confirm your exact pickup time, based on the season, as well as your exact pickup location.
Please allow your guide an additional 5-10 minutes before and after the scheduled pickup time in case of weather delays or traffic conditions.
Approximate pickup times include:
Summer (April – October)
- 6:00AM Bozeman
- 6:00AM Cody
- 6:00AM West Yellowstone
- 6:30AM Livingston
- 6:45AM Paradise Valley
- 7:30AM Gardiner
- 7:45AM Mammoth
- 6:00AM Gardiner** (Early Bird Upgrade)
- 6:00AM Mammoth** (Early Bird Upgrade)
Winter (November – April)
- 7:00AM Bozeman
- 7:30AM Livingston
- 7:45AM Paradise Valley
- 8:30AM Gardiner
- 8:45AM Mammoth
- 7:00AM Gardiner** (Early Bird Upgrade)
- 7:00AM Mammoth** (Early Bird Upgrade)
**Early bird upgrades, from select locations, are available for an additional fee.
How long is this safari?
Total tour duration varies depending on your pickup location. All tours include 7–8 hours in Yellowstone National Park, with additional drive time possible for pickup locations outside the park. Please refer to the Tour Duration & Approximate Pickup Times section of your confirmation email for your estimated total tour duration and pickup times.
What is the itinerary?
Your exact route and itinerary will be determined by your interests, current wildlife sightings, and current weather and road conditions. Our guides are all highly experienced, with thousands of hours in the field, and will expertly tailor your safari to you and your group.
Our guide was excellent and spotted things that neither my wife or myself would have found or seen on our own. We had a three dog day on day one and saw 14 moose on day two. On day three we saw large herds of pronghorn antelope, bighorned sheep, and both golden and American bald eagles. He was courteous and ensured we were always in position to take the best images possible and did not hurry or rush us to move on. As an amateur photographer and my 6th trip to the park, I took some of the best images I have taken in Yellowstone National Park.
Safari Tour Gallery
All photography has been shot by our talented tour guides.
FAQs
How close are we going to be to the wildlife on this tour?
Wildlife are unpredictable and are often wary of the roads, but that is not always the case. We do sometimes see mammals and birds within distance for most lenses to capture, even if we walk to better viewing places not near the road. For those guests interested specifically in wildlife photography we recommend bringing or renting the longest lens you feel comfortable using.
Do you provide any photography equipment for this tour?
We do not provide any photography equipment for you on this tour, but do work with a local camera shop in Bozeman, MT where you can rent bodies and lenses for reasonable day-use rates. If you’d like to have camera gear reserved for your tour, you can rent a pro level kit and it will be ready and waiting for you when we pick you up from your lodging. Each rental package has a top of the line camera body (Canon, Sony, Nikon or similar) and two lenses, a telephoto zoom for capturing wildlife and a standard zoom (24mm-70mm) for shooting everything from landscapes to historical architecture and thermal features. **Rentals are subject to availability with our partner.
Will we see any geysers or thermal basins on this tour?
Most of Yellowstone’s geysers such as Old Faithful and hot springs such as Grand Prismatic Spring are located in the southern half of Yellowstone National Park. Our photography safari focuses mostly on the northern range, however if you are interested mostly in the volcanic region of the park we are happy to build a specific itinerary for you!
Further Reading
North America’s Awe-Inspiring Wildlife on the Northern Range
Nov 28, 2022
Yellowstone National Park is widely regarded as the best place in the United States to view and experience our country’s native wildlife, and there is nowhere in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem with better access to this abundance of biodiversity than the Park’s awe-inspiring Northern Range…
Yellowstone in Winter
Feb 27, 2023
The route between Gardiner, MT and Silvergate, MT remains open year-round; this incredible drive will take you by the novel travertine terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs, through the iconic Lamar Valley, and eventually to the foothills of the steep beauty that is the Beartooth Mountain Range. Aside from the scenery, this park region is also rich with wildlife, even during the winter months, so you can get your fill of geothermal features, views, and the opportunity to observe the glorious fauna that Yellowstone is known for…
