Many people come to Jackson Hole to experience the grandeur of the Tetons. Current visitors might not be too excited about all the smoke obscuring the vista views. The smoke of 2015 is streaming into the valley from wildfires in Idaho and Montana (and probably Oregon). As I write this post (August 19, 2015), newspaper reports are not too optimistic for clear skies anytime soon. Conditions might not be ideal by most people’s standards, but they certainly offer plenty of opportunities.
Now’s a perfect time to be more creative and more open to what you actually can capture during the hazy days. My best immediate suggestion would be to be out very early and very late. The colors in the sky will be much more vivid than on most ordinary days. Morning light will remain “golden” much longer. Your images will probably have a unique, saturated appearance.
This image was taken late in the evening. The moose was in the shade, but the light dispersed nicely into the scene.
If you can get close to your subjects, the layers of smoke will not be apparent at all.
Smoke and haze will usually turn textured distant mountains and tree lines into solid planes of solid color.
Watch for layered mountains and screaming colors in the morning sky.
Remember to look for smaller chunks of the landscape. Simplified shapes can be very powerful!
Scenes we’ve seen a thousand times before can take on an ethereal character.
Also, remember smoke is similar to fog and rain—though it might be more vivid. Here are a couple of old Feature Posts that might give you additional ideas on how to capitalize on the smoky conditions:
On many late summer days, a fair number of photographers take a nap or spend the afternoon looking for future shooting locations. Light is often “too contrasty” for their tastes. With the filtered light, it is possible to shoot all day.
Software Helpers
This is a screen grab of an image in Lightroom showing the morning’s hazy skies.
The new Lightroom Dehaze filter is located in the Effects tab. It is easy to overdo the effect, and occasionally you might find it necessary to cut back on the Vibrance and/or Saturation sliders. You might also want to try this filter on “normal” shots.
The image above is the same image after applying the Dehaze filter at +74, as shown in the screen grab above. It might be worth noting this shot was taken just as the morning’s sun had barely cleared Shadow Mountain at my back. The gold was very saturated and the pink cast in the mountains was amplified as a result. The Dahaze filter won’t solve all problems, but it can certainly help! Advanced Photoshop and Lightroom users could probably recreate the results, but the adjustment above was created with one simple slider!
Comments: In some years, the Forest Service and National Parks set controlled burns in the late part of summer and into fall. Most photographers, including myself, complained about the smoke and plead for them to set the fires after the fall foliage season. Our pleas were seldom heeded. Even the JH Chamber of Commerce’s requests for later burns had little affect. This year’s fires are different. As far as I know, none of the current smoke is a result of local fires or controlled burns, so we really have no valid bureaucratic complaints, at least on a local level. Hopefully, we can stay fire free for much of the season. There are plenty of photographic opportunities either way.
It might be worth noting the circumstances this year. When we had prescribed burns and controlled burns here in the Tetons, some photographers bailed on our area and headed into Yellowstone to escape the smoke and haze. The Chamber of Commerce didn’t like it, of course. This year, most of the western states are going to be covered by the same blanket of smoke. The Tetons might be the best place to be during the late summer and fall.
Please, if you like this post, share it by clicking on the Social Media Icons and spread the word! Mike Jackson