How to make the most of your fall photography adventure –

Autumn is my absolute favorite season. Hills and mountain roads light up with bright colors, cozy blankets and sweaters awaken from summer slumber and my personal favourite…it’s pumpkin spice season! (I know…you can explain the error of my ways to me later.)

Autumn is also one of the most magical times for photographers.

You got up and got up, probably as early as 12:30am (keep it up!) and made your way to your favorite view. You’ve captured the stunning landscape shots you know your friends and family will love, and now you’re dying to download your map…

But wait! Don’t go home yet! There are many additional ways to capture the beauty of fall that go beyond (or below!) the sweeping landscape shot.

intimate scenes

As impressive as large landscapes are, smaller autumn scenes can create an irresistible sense of intimacy and mood that can be just as captivating.

Look for smaller areas that feature fall’s signature colors, but also make your viewer feel like they’re immersed in the scene with you. Find paths to act as guides and give your audience a visual invitation to move deeper into the photo. Shooting from a lower angle can also be an effective way to invite your audience to experience the scene alongside you.

Areas where light is focused on only a small portion of a scene can also create intimacy by offering a private glimpse into a “secret” world. Partly cloudy days or dense forests are ideal for this, as the sunlight can penetrate much more specifically. Or look for areas where dense stands of trees give way to clearings, creating a contrast between forest shadows and lighter, open spaces.

Isolate the case details

So many beautiful details can easily escape the casual observer, so show them what’s missing! Drops of dew on a fallen leaf or a tiny explosion of color at the edge of a path can be the stars of a unique composition. Experiment with larger aperture settings (lower f-numbers) to achieve shallow depth of field. This allows you to keep your main subject sharp while minimizing distracting background or foreground elements by throwing them out of focus.

Positioning yourself so that the sunlight shines through your subject from behind can really bring out hidden texture and detail. This is called backlighting, and it’s a technique you can use to give your leaves that glowing, “glowing” look. You don’t even have to show an entire tree – you can focus on the contrast between the light, rounded shapes of the leaves and the dark, straight lines of the branches and trunk.

A macro lens is great for detail shots because it lets you get nice and close to your subject, but you can get detail shots with any lens you have. Just make sure you’re not so close to your subject that your camera can’t focus properly. Don’t worry – if you have to go back to get everything in focus and this results in a larger field of view than you’d like, you can always crop later in the image editing software.

Look up…

Is your natural instinct to aim the camera at what’s directly in front of you, at least initially? I also.

But when we talk about trees, don’t forget to look up! Capture a sense of soaring height by shooting through a grove of trees right off the ground. Present glowing leaves against a clear blue sky.

Unless, like me, you’re particularly excited about lying squarely on the muddy, buggy ground (ick!), keep your camera close to the ground and point it up through the tree branches. Use a movable rear LCD screen and Live View function to compose the picture the way you want, then shoot.

…and look down

We often focus so much on the brightly colored leaves that we forget to see what’s going on beneath these magnificent trees. Especially here in Colorado, where most of our fall color is yellow, the bushes and scrub beneath these elegant aspens can often bring out fantastic contrasting shades of red and orange that complement and highlight the golden canopy.

Look for small collections of different colors and types of leaves and see what kind of still life-style compositions you can create. Fill your frame with small vignettes of interestingly shaped leaves, or find a single bright leaf highlighted by the sun against a dark background. Use a shallow depth of field to isolate a sharp, textured leaf in a jumble of colors.

Do the Hokey Pokey!

OK, maybe not quite, but experiment with movement!

Set your camera for a slower shutter speed than usual and move the camera while pressing the shutter button while the exposure is being recorded. The resulting “blurred” image transforms a static subject into something abstract and unique.

Autumn is the perfect time to play with this type of intentional camera movement, as the bright colors make for vibrant and interesting images. Try moving up and down, side to side, and for a really different effect, try zooming in or out on your lens during the exposure. Stabilize your camera on a tripod if you want to reduce or eliminate the “shake” that can occur when trying this technique in your hand, or if you want straighter lines.

You may have to play with different shutter speeds to get the blur you want, but experimenting is half the fun. Just remember that increasing your shutter open time means you’re letting more light into your camera, so you’ll need to adjust your other settings accordingly.

sad? drizzle? Dramatic!

While we all love feeling the warm sun on our faces and the plentiful light of a bright fall day, cloudy and stormy days can mean unique and dramatic images.

Cloudy light means the colors are more saturated, showing off the colorful fall foliage at its best. It also creates a lot more contrast that can add drama and intrigue to a composition.

Look for areas where the background turns almost black and highlights a light branch of leaves. Stormy skies can provide a turbulent backdrop over calm foliage. And darker scenes add an air of mystery and whimsy that can put a whole different twist on a classic fall shot. In particular, the softness of haze and fog can not only add a touch of spooky, but also create a fabulous textural contrast between the much more clearly defined lines of trees and leaves.

Whatever the weather and wherever you are, I hope this stimulates your creativity for the next time you embark on a leaf spying adventure. Observe, explore, experiment, don’t be afraid to make mistakes (I make a lot of them!) – you never know when a mistake may turn out to be a masterpiece. And above all… have fun!

Editor’s note: We welcome this contribution from Michelle Fox. Michelle accidentally started a portrait photography business 18 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history. After spending many years following children on camera and cultivating a longtime love affair with high school graduation photography, her passion has taken a definite left turn into the world of landscapes and wildlife. Fueled by her favorite chai latte, she also enjoys teaching beginner photography and editing classes through the Denver Photography Group. Her images can be found in a gallery in Frisco, CO and (coming soon!) on her websitee.