Figure 1. Old Faithful Geyser at Full Eruption, 5:08pm, September 11, 2010. Sunset is at 7:44pm.
Old Faithful Geyser is the icon of Yellowstone National Park. This is a must see for first time visitors in this park. After all, geysers only exist in handful places on earth and Yellowstone has the largest collection of geysers in the world. You can feel the excitement from the crowd when they see this famous geyser at its full eruption. On the other hand, feeling their disappointment about some initial "fake" eruptions is as fun as their excitement.
In one busy summer evening, there is a grandma from Michigan sitting beside me waiting for the Old Faithful Geyser. Her family just arrive the park via North Entrance from Gardiner, MT. The crowd start to build up around Old Faithful Geyser and she happens to find a seat beside me. Her family seems busy handling the check in process in Old Faithful Inn at the same time. When the "fake" eruption happens, she hurries to get some shots and then asks me, "That's it?" "It's a warm-up." I reply. Then she smiles and says, "Tell me when the real thing happens."
Photographing Old Faithful Geyser or other big name geysers is not as straightforward as it seems. The so-called big name geysers include Beehive, Daisy, Grand, Castle and Riverside Geysers in Upper Geyser Basin and Great Fountain Geyser in Lower Geyser Basin (Firehole Lake Drive) as well. At first thought, a geyser looks like a reversed waterfalls. It just "flows" in the opposite direction as a waterfalls. To get a shot of geysers seems to be similar to get a shot of waterfalls.
In fact, more conditions are required to get a good geyser photo, especially big geysers. First, geyser eruption is accompanying with steam. If the bursts of the water are surrounded by too much steam, it looks like a steam vent and thus produces a failure photo. In general, the bigger the geyser the more steam it will generate at eruption.
One way to get rid of steam is to have wind blowing, though you can not ask but hope. Yes, wind is a factor to get a good geyser photo, such as Figure 1. Photographers know good lighting is essential for good photos but few photographers know wind can be beneficial in some cases. Of course, you should not be in the position where wind is blowing toward you. Usually I like to be in the position when wind is blowing laterally. It may still work if wind is blowing away from you. You can make a judgment by watching the direction of the steam before the geyser eruption. Although the wind may not blow in the same direction or completely calm down when the geyser erupts, I take my chance.
Figure 2. Old Faithful Geyser at 7:42am, July 7, 2009 . Sunrise is at 5:47am.
When the temperature difference between the air and the water of the geyser is large, the amount of steam is large. This means sunrise or early morning tends not a good time to get a good geyser photo, but sunset of late afternoon is ok. Yes, sunrise and sunset makes difference for geysers (and some others). This also means winter tends not a good season to get a big geyser shot. Even in the hot summer, the time before 9:00am is not really warm and there is usually too much steam around the geyser. Early morning also tends to be calm without wind. Figure 2 is a typical Old Faithful Geyser shot in early morning. You can compare the two photos and see the role of the steam.
So does that mean afternoon a better time than morning to get a geyser shot because the air temperature is higher? In term of temperature difference, this is correct. Unfortunately, summer afternoon tends to be cloudy. The clouds usually start to build from mid morning. When shooting a geyser, one should avoid too many white clouds in the background, which competes with the white bursts of the geyser. This is mostly not a problem when shooting a waterfalls. The background of a waterfalls is usually not as bright as the white color of the waterfalls. This gives good contrast naturally. Even you manage to find a clear background for the geyser, the clouds may just move to block the sun at the moment when the geyser is erupting. Without the light, geysers seem to lose their power.
Concluding from the above, good lighting is not enough to get a good geyser shot like Old Faithful. Wind is preferable assuming you stand in the right position. Hot air temperature is also favored to reduce the steam. Sky should be as clear as possible, but black clouds in the background after the thunderstorm can be beneficial.
A good geyser shot requires more conditions than other landscape. Big geyser eruptions last minutes but takes hours to wait, which adds another difficulty. Thus you won't often see good geyser shots with powerful and explosive feelings. Check the gift shops or bookstore. Shots at Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone or Travertine Terraces of Mammoth Hot Springs tend to appear in book covers more often than geysers. This is also true on the website like Flickr. People share photos at Grand Canyon and Mammoth Hot Springs more often than geysers in Yellowstone.
So how do I get a shot like Figure 1? Feel the temperature, feel the wind and check the sky. Then give it a try.
