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Back to the Yellowstone series, after a long break.
This shot is of the margins of the well-known Grand Prismatic Spring, probably the park's most well-known feature after the Old Faithful geyser. The familiar view is an aerial shot but we didn't have a helicopter handy. 
The main part of the spring is shrouded in steam, since the water is at about 70°C and, although this was taken in late June, that's only really spring at an altitude of a mile and a half! The colours are caused by mats of bacteria that thrive in the hot water. Zones of different temperatures support different mixes of bacteria, causing the banded effect — greener bacteria like hotter water so orange turns to yellow and green closer to the centre. This area is the run-off down towards the Firehole River.
#2 is a closer view of the bacterial mat, taken nearby. I was originally going to upload it on its own but decided it wasn't interesting enough.
All comments and criticism appreciated.
Dave.
Monday, 22nd June, 2009.
17mm, f/11, 1/250s, ISO-100.
| Camera: | Canon EOS 400D |
| Lens: | Canon 17-40mm f/4 L |
| Recording media: | RAW (digital) |
| Title: | Yellowstone (IV) |
| Username: | 
DRicherby |
| Uploaded: | 28 Mar 2010 - 3:11 PM |
| Tags: | Geyser, Grand prismatic spring, Hot spring, Landscape / travel, Orange, Red, Wyoming, Yellowstone national park |
| VS Mode Rating |
Unrated These stats show the percentage of wins and the rating score that your photo has achieved. You can go to the VS Mode by clicking on this icon. Signup to e2Signup to e2 to see which photo this has won or lost against in the vs mode |
| Votes: | 74 |
| Modifications Welcome (Upload a Modification) |
 | Variant - Report |
Comments
Excellent shot Dave. The springs shoreline provides a great lead-in and the colours are stunning.
Derek
Superbly captured Dave, excellent colours and composition.
Carol
Stunning set of images, superb colour and composition, for me it has to be V1.
Hugh
Good governor! That orange is so striking - bacteria!!! ewww - actually, I guess it's a kind of algae, right. It's the steam that makes this though. I like the way you've composed it with the curve coming in from the corner of the frame.
Bacteria - puts me right off the wine............
Anne 
Awwwww, don't be scared of bacteria. Two good reasons:
o There are about ten times as many bacterial cells in your body as there are human cells. The human cells are quite a bit larger and heavier but, at least in terms of head count, what you think of as `you' is mostly bacteria.
o The buttery/creamy taste in certain white wines (commonly chardonnays) is caused by bacteria that ferment malic acid, which tastes of tart apples, in the young wine to lactic acid, which tastes somewhat milky.
But, yes, it is bacteria, rather than algae. Algae are simple plants but bacteria have a rather different internal structure, lacking nuclei and other bits and bats.
What an amazing sight Dave, love the lead in following the water into the steam and the blue sky overhead.
I was initially wondering whether you had a special suit to get this close to the lava, so fascinated to read your information.
But what made you think that telling Anne that she's only 9.1% human would make her feel better about bacteria, or that whenever she drinks wine more of the invading army are moving in afresh
Tim
Super colour and the curve is fantastic, great capture of a truly wonderful place
Mark
Love how this orange sweeps around the picture - amazing detail and write up
Helen
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