Figure 1. Ghost Trees at Winter Sunset, Yellowstone National Park, WY.
On a wildlife safari tour from Old Faithful, I took this shot when the snowcoach passed Fountain Paint Pot.
Ghost trees are a feature in Yellowstone's winter. When snow falls on a tree, the thermal steam makes it stick and look weird, or interesting. These trees are not the best ghost trees I've ever seen or taken. But the winter sunset makes this shot work pretty well.
What makes this shot even more interesting, at least to me, is that it was taken when the snowcoach is at about 30 mph and I took it behind the window glass. When you are taking a landscape photo, you are mostly stationary. Then try to adjust the zoom range and get a better composition. Does any one ever try to get a shot from the side window of a moving car? Some people may have done that from the front, but rarely did that from the side. In a situation like this, it is just like you are standing and shooting a flying bird. And the key to get a good shot of it is fast shutter speed. So this is not a aperture priority situation like most landscape photography, but more like wildlife photography. You can either use larger aperture or high ISO for a situation like this. The shutter speed for this photo is 1/640.
Another reason to get this successful shot is the preparation. I am quite familiar with this park as I've been here many times. When I saw the sun like that, I knew I may be able to get some good shots even on a moving and bumpy snowcoach. When the snowcoach approached Fountain Paint Pot, I was well prepared and took continuous 3 shots. This shot works best after some cropping.
This is one of my favorite stories behind the picture. No one would know this shot is taken from a moving snowcoach if I don't reveal it. People tend to think they have better not move to get a good landscape shot, which is not entirely right. Perhaps the best lessen from this shot is that you can use the way to shoot wildlife for landscape.
