r/Banff

Given the northern lights show last night, I would have posted a recent photo, but I was stuck at work, so I thought I would upload an older photo instead.

Gear used: Sony A1 mk i, SEL20F18G.

Settings: 5s, f1.8, iso 1600.

I did not have time to optimize my settings for this shot. I was contemplating driving out to Banff National Park on the night of November 11, 2025. While the northern lights data was looking amazing, the forecast was showing heavy cloud coverage all over my city, and my drive to this location. I decided to take a chance, and drove out a little later than I would have liked to, but the sky was clear driving west. I stopped in the middle of my drive to admire the vibrant red colour I was seeing in the sky - it was visible to the naked eye while driving. I realized the weather forecast was not accurate, so I decided to take a chance to drive even further west to my desired location. This was one of my bucket list shots - I have attempted to take northern lights photos at this location on several occasions, only for the northern lights to be visible while facing the opposite direction of this lake/mountain.

When I arrived at the location, I was pretty disappointed to see the northern lights die out. This stretch of the national park has no cell reception, so I was unable to check to see if the northern lights would pick up in the near future. I decided to drive around a little to see if I could find other angles to shoot, but the lights were not visible, and the clouds were starting to roll in. Just as I was thinking of driving home, I took one last chance and drove back to the lake. Shortly after I set up my camera and tripod, the northern lights lit up the sky. The lights were so bright that the snow started to reflect the green and red colours of the sky; in that moment, I was in the middle of interval shooting. I decided it would be best to gamble without altering my camera settings - for this moment, I would have benefited from increasing the iso a little more. I had to increase exposure a little in post, but the noise from not properly exposing the photo was quite noticeable. Luckily, denoising has come a long way, and I was able to reduce the noise of this photo without losing too much detail.

Motivated by the other recent etiquette report.

It was a windy day, crocs shoewear and distracted by their phone.

Please be smarter, we don't want to witness a fatal accident 🥹

EDIT: Pay no attention to the haters who seem to have brought their own agendas to this (race, immigrants, etc). They are just as ill behaved and UNCANADIAN as those who disrespect our parks. To reiterate, there were MANY groups of different ethnicities and presumably nationalities behaving badly - as can clearly be seen in the second picture.

Original post:

Just a heads up to all visiting the parks, please respect the surroundings and restrictions on the trails throughout the park.

The barriers are not there to ruin your day. Rather they are there for your safety, the protection of the ecosystem and wildlife.

Please also respect other guests. By all means have fun but be mindful of the space, your volume and the presence of others around you.

Lastly, please respect the handicap spots. Even if you're parking for 15 minutes with your hazards on, you're taking up a spot others with real disabilities can use.

Sorry about the Karen post but we were at the parks last weekend and some of the behaviors were wild and obnoxious. Not the kind of wildlife most of us aspire to see in parks.

Just to add, none of these behaviors were restricted to just one ethnic group or nationality.

Thank you and enjoy your time in this special place! :)

Was lucky enough to score three nights in Two Jack Main, Spot 33F (super quiet and beautiful mountain backdrop through the trees). For a “sold out” campground, it was pretty empty 🤷🏼‍♂️

Monday (6/29/26) night after getting camp set up, heavy rain came through and it was very smokey. As the days went on, the weather got better and smoke cleared up. Incredible trip. Camped a night in Kamloops, a night in Valemount so I could drive the parkway south from Jasper. Quick Thursday night in Montana then the 8 hours home.

Thank you to this sub for all the tips and tricks I e been quietly sneaking on, back home in Washington State as of yesterday.

Didn’t end up getting to do devils thumb to get the dual lake view unfortunately cause I was by myself and just in normal tennis shoes but still got to do big beehive. Was a great last minute trip!

Lake Minnewanka on a colder day ❄️

Lol - I win!

I am looking for some reference photos for an artwork.

I love my beautiful country! I am proud to be 100% Canadian! 🍁

I can’t take the credit for coining the term, that goes to my lovely mum who visited for a hike today

20th june at 10 pm and the lake looked unreal especially with the moon on top of the lake!