Bazbo Loc: Lisboa, Portugal

I will be spending some time one the Olympic Peninsula (including the national part) in September.

Any tips for photography or spending time there is general?

Thanks in advance

jak86094

Expect lots of wind, and in the rain forest expect lots of shadow. You can also rain a lot...just depends. If you drive around the peninsula to the west side, there's a lodge with a tall rain gauge outside. Hope you get good weather. Enjoy your trip and share some of your photos when you get back. If you have some extra time, consider taking the Washington State Ferry to the San Juan Islands. Pick a couple of islands to disembark and drive around (my favorite is Orcas Island...the largest and highest). The County Seat is San Juan Island.

halraiser

Take plenty of mosquito repellant

Photocraig

The juxtaposition, of the verdant foreground near subjects on the Peninsula with the snow covered peaks on the Mainland make for some nice images. That was my impression 30 years ago.
C

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

Deer Park on Blue Mountain. At dawn you can get shots of Mount Rainier in the far distance usually with a fog bank covering the lowlands in between. Spectacular in the right light. It's a short walk to the top of the hill for panoramas.
Hurricane Ridge in the Park. Glaciers across the valley. You usually see deer and in September the buck's racks should be fully formed maybe still in velvet. It's not unusual to see Black Bear in the vicinity.
The rainforests on the west side of the peninsula are beautiful and lots of seascapes. You might see elk.
There is an Indian reservation covering the far north west corner of the peninsula. You need a recreation pass to go into the reservation. You can buy them at convenience stores and gas stations. Cape Flattery is on the reservation and is the farthest north west point of land in the contiguous U.S. Good place to get puffins and other sea bird shots if you have a good telephoto. Don't miss the smoked salmon shacks. Best hot smoked, as opposed to cold smoked, salmon in the world.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Lots to see.

https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS716US717&ei=GIxtW52xCI3xzgKsh7XACA&q=photo+ops+on+the+olympic+peninsula&oq=photo+ops+on+the+olympic+peninsula&gs_l=psy-ab.3..33i22i29i30k1.182033.187856.0.188913.24.24.0.0.0.0.204.2712.8j15j1.24.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.24.2693...0j35i39k1j0i22i30k1j33i10k1.0.mlIybjr2WGs

Bazbo Loc: Lisboa, Portugal

Thanks everyone. I appreciate the tips.

SandyR Loc: Brookings, OR / Sedona, AZ

Toment Loc: FL, IL

South of Port Angeles is Hurricane Ridge, a beautiful view of the the Olympic peaks.

Have fun👍

greenhead

For photography I suggest Hurricane Ridge, Ho Rain Forest, Ruby Beach, Rialto Beach, Lake Crescent, and the Dungeness Spit and the New Dungeness Lighthouse on the Spit. The Ho Rain Forest is one of the few temperate rain forests. The Dungeness Spit is one of the world's longest sand spits and a national wildlife refuge.

Crescent Lake also offers good photo opportunities, and a good place for lunch with an excellent view.. There is a lodge there, but it is very likely that it is fully booked. The same is true of the other national park lodges.

Once you get beyond Port Angeles good hotels and restaurants are hard to find.

The rainy season may or may not have started. Rain is more likely wast of Port Angeles in places like Forks and Neha Bay.

msbanks720 Loc: western washington

the Olympics - one of the places where, if you stop for a minute and close your eyes, you can hear the world's heart beating. others have posted some excellent suggestions and I would highlight a few. first thing is to check online and at ranger stations for possible impediments (road maintenance, beach preservation, trail restrictions, etc.). last time I was there hwy 101 was undergoing maintenance near lake crescent and it took 3 hours to travel a normal 20 minute drive.
first, hurricane ridge. sometimes, the sun and fog combine for the most amazing photo chances on the way up or down. watch out for the cut outs and view points (and the deer). when you get there, spectacular panorama of the peaks on the left beyond the visitor's center - be prepared for fog and inclement weather and be ready to fire when the sun breaks through briefly.
second, Dungeness spit. it can be very windy and the hike out to the lighthouse is about 5 miles, if memory serves. check the tide chart! you will be walking on sand and rock and that short distance can seem like a hundred miles about halfway into it. along the way, great places for driftwood shots, wildlife and the lighthouse framed against the mountains in the background. I found a cp filter to be really helpful since the angle of the sun is about 90 degrees from hike direction. the hike down to the spit also has some great ops for close ups, macros, and light/shadow contrasts. some of the driftwood is amazing. I took my 7d2, 18-135stm, 200 2.8L + 2x converter and just for fun, a yuongno 100mm f/2 (an amazing lens, by the way, with incredible bokeh). I had the lightweight 10-18 efs in my pocket, but ended up not using it. check the tide chart - it is much easier to walk the spit at low tide, but if you go all the way to the lighthouse, you will want to pay attention for the round trip.
third, hoh valley - this is a magical place and it is very green! you want to accent the vibrant colors, but you don't want your white balance to make it look garish. if you're shooting raw, you can fix in post, but I find it much more satisfying to get the balance right the first time. again, contrasts with light and shadow are everywhere and something that others often miss - texture! that 100mm f/2 with its awesome bokeh took some great shots of moss on bark, raindrops on leaves, patterns in ferns and other plants. often, an opening in the canopy from a fallen tree will let in serious sunlight and you will have to work on exposure balance to pick up details and still retain the light shadow contrasts.
fourth - Lake Crescent. some spectacular landscape panoramas along the drive there and from the beach in front of the lodge. birds everywhere so if you are into bif or even just ducks cruising the tourists for handouts, this is a great place. and the drive there from port townsend or port angeles can be draining, so my advice is to park, have an adult beverage in the lodge and sit outside on the water and let the magic come to you. there is a wonderful waterfall nearby and some neato short trails so bring an ND filter and practice that silky water motion thing if you are inclined. staying at the lodge in the fall might be difficult if you have not already booked, but there are places nearby (as a previous commenter said - not a lot of places, but there are some).
fifth - pacific ocean area - this is for serious people only. getting there, staying there and shooting there are a challenge. spectacular scenery, extreme weather and elevation changes. this is the pacific ocean in all its glory and fury. September can be an interesting month out there on the front lines with mother nature, so think about it and come prepared.
sixth - time factor! if you have never been out to this area, the time/distance factor can be disrupting. the peninsula is BIG! and there is only one road that circles the park and it is one lane in each direction, except for a short distance around port angeles. the average speed is 40mph or so - less if you are behind the logging trucks or local farmer folk, more if you find open road (not likely). for example, it can take an hour or more to go from port angeles to the visitor center on hurricane ridge. 90% of the traffic is tourists who have never been here before and they slow down at every bend in the road. it can take hours to get to lake crescent or the hoh valley. we stay in port townsend (stay here - it is totally worth it - plus if you want to go to the san juans, this is where you do it) and it is 60 miles to lake crescent lodge. that 60 miles can take up to 3 hours depending on the day, time, weather, maintenance, etc.
seventh - forget the san juans. I know - heresy! - but seriously. it takes a few hours to get there and a few hours back and all you have time for is a stroll through Friday harbor, a quick lunch and tour of the whale museum and that's about it - back on the boat to return to port townsend. forget it. here's the best thing we found if you're a marina/harbor/seabird junkie - go to the John Wayne Marina in Sequim and spend a leisurely afternoon having snacks and beverages on the deck overlooking the water. bring your 200mm or a zoom lens and a 10fps camera and spend the time shooting kingfishers, gulls, terns and the occasional eagle arguing over dibs on the detritus the humans leave for them to fight over. trust me - you can spend half a day in a boat with no photo ops or you can spend that same time in a totally neato place (I mean, the John Wayne Marina! - c'mon man!) shooting to your heart's content. and Sequim is the rain shadow divider - it is sunny there almost all the time. I brought the 7d2, the 200mm and my 18-135 and I had the time of my life. this one kingfisher parked his ass right near our table and between his preening in the sun and darting back and forth to score munchies, it was all I could do to keep up with him. he was so close, the 200 was actually too much lens.

Finally - the peninsula is a multi-day affair - you did not say anything about how long your trip would be, but i recommend at least 4 or 5 days. first few days - port townsend - stay at the palace hotel (this place is awesome). they offer multi night specials for monday/tuesday stays. from here, dungeness spit, sequim and the john wayne marina, hurricane ridge. plus, the town itself offers amazing photo ops. victorian architecture, fort worden, shore life and some amazing food/beverage venues. then, find a place out near lake crescent - the lodge would be awesome, but there are others nearby. spend a day in the hoh valley, a (hopefully, sunny) day at the lodge and if you are energetic, take the small road that goes up the elwha valley (serious ungulate photography possibilities. plan to spend one entire day getting back to seattle (assuming that is where you are coming from). in fact, you should plan on most of day to get out there as well.
by now you can tell that I love Olympic national park and the peninsula so I will shut up and leave you to what I am sure will be an amazing adventure. bring a spare battery and a couple of cards because a great shot comes along about every 2 seconds.

lake crescent


hurricane ridge


dungeness light house - hand held


I B Grooming!


wanda loves the woods

greenhead

You should be aware that there many forest fires in Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. As a result visability on the Olympic Peninsula is very poor. Normally I can look out my living room window and see many of the Olympic peaks. Today I cannot see the first line of hills. A strong on shore wind could restore visability. I expect many of the fires to still be burning well into September.

If visability is limited when you are here, I would recommend you spend more time in places like the Ho rainforest and other forest areas where you can see interesting things without needing much visability. The area around Sol Duc Falls is a another example.

greenhead

Our smoke has finally cleared, and I hope it is for the season. Now all you need to worry about is clouds and rain. Generally, the area around Sequim and Port Angeles is drier and less cloudy than the coast.