How to take great Fall photos
15 Oct 2009
I love Fall. I love that dry, earthy smell of the leaves on the
ground. I love the feel of afternoon sunshine and the crispness of
the air. But I hate Fall foliage photos. I hate trying to capture
the immensity of a beautiful fall scene in a photograph.
It has taken me years of trial and error, reading photography
guides, and constantly shooting pictures to develop this set of
tips for taking fall pictures:
1) The first tip is to pick your shots carefully. As dramatic
as valley filled with fall foliage is, when you take it from a
scenic overlook, it just kinda blends together into a lackluster
photo. It may look dramatic, but the photo will be dull. You have
to give your audience perspective and something to focus on. Look
for one object to give your shot a bit of perspective. Split rail
fences add a touch of rusticness that is very appealing. Old houses
and barns also work very well. One of my favorite things to
use to add perspective is a tree with leaves that are off color to
its surroundings.
2) Don’t forget the rule of thirds! This is essential in
making your shots interesting. Place your object of focus in the
left or right third of your photo and you will be amazed at how
much better composed your shots are.
3) Pay attention to the weather! Here in Georgia, we only get
one really gorgeous weekend of foliage in the Fall. That is one of
the drawbacks to living in the South. Once that first heavy
rain hits, a lot of the leaves get knocked off. A light, low
fog, on the other hand, combined with a nice clear sky and a
sunrise can make for some amazing photos.
4) Keep an eye on the trees in your neighborhood and realize
that the trees farther north and in higher elevations will peak
weeks ahead of your location. Check the Web for good weekends for
the location you are planning on going to. There is nothing worse
than taking a trip up to the mountains only to find the leaves
peaked the weekend before and a couple days of strong wind already
cleared the trees.
5) Don’t be afraid to get close… really close. I
love close-ups of Fall foliage. But make sure you switch to a macro
setting on your camera (and lens) so you can get really close. The
camera or lens will tell you the distance it can work in macro
mode.
6) Look for contrasts. Like the off color tree suggestion
above, look for places where the color really stands out from
background. I love small streams for this. Look for an area of moss
covered stones and yellow or red leaves.
7) If you are shooting with a SLR, a polarizer could add some
serious saturation to the colors of your pictures and can be very
beneficial. On the other hand, they can produce uneven looking
skies if used at the wrong angle. Also, if you are shooting on a
cloudy day, a graduated neutral density filter can help prevent
underexposing foliage with a cloudy or white background. This is
also useful for shooting waterfalls in a dark or lush area, since
the whitewater tends to push the camera to underexpose the
surrounding vegetation.
8) Get away from the roads unless you are specifically going
for a fall roads shot. I cannot emphasize this enough. Grab your
camera and get into the woods. This will allow you a lot more
flexibility in terms of camera angle and position.
9) Don’t be afraid of black and white when shooting
foliage. With the right contrasts, you will be surprised how well
your shots could convert to black and white.
Good luck and I will see you out in the woods!
Grant Sinclair is an
amateur photographer and was a newspaper reporter/photographer for
eight years.
© 2009 GetOutTheMap.net
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