Photographing Fall Foliage

by Larry Millican

 

Color – lots of color. That’s what many of us are talking about this time of year. Everyone’s asking “when will it peak?” There are web sites and television broadcasts that track foliage change as it moves southward. It’s time to take your camera out & capture “Fall Color!”

 

 

Equipment needed

For the type of photography we’re talking about, nearly any camera can help you take great photographs. However, if you have a 35mm or digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, you have much more flexibility than if you try to use a compact or single use camera. Quite often, you’ll need a telephoto zoom lens to get close; other compositions might require a wide angle lens to include more in the frame. Many photographers think filters will make the photograph, but that’s only partially true. Any time you’re photographing, you’re photographing light, so you try to have the best lighting conditions for your photographs, whenever possible. However, there are a couple of filters that will certainly come in handy at times: a circular polarizer filter and an enhancing filter. Both will make colors more vibrant and saturated, and will increase contrast, and each has drawbacks to keep in mind when you’re using one of them.

 

Another nearly indispensable accessory is a tripod. While you can usually hand-hold your camera when photographing fall colors, a tripod will help you steady your camera as well as help you lock down your composition. Without a tripod, image stabilized lenses or cameras help to keep camera movement from ruining your photo. Quite often, we’ll be photographing in low light conditions, which makes a tripod or stabilized lenses/cameras worth their weight.

 

Things to remember

Believe it or not, you can often get better photographs of fall colors on overcast days than on bright, sunny days. This is because overcast days have less contrast between the bright and dark areas of your picture. Our eyes can see high contrast scenes better than our cameras’ sensors or film can, so while we might think a sunny day makes for better photographs, in reality, our photographs show the color better when there’s less contrast such as on an overcast day. I mentioned drawbacks to both a polarizing filter and the enhancing filter. A polarizing filter reduces glare and reflections on water, leaves and other vegetation. In doing so, it helps to saturate the colors in your scene. When you attach the filter, you’ll notice it has two parts: one to screw onto your lens, the other will rotate freely. You might wonder why, if you’ve never used one before. While you look through your viewfinder, you can rotate the filter and see the varying amount of effect on your photograph: reflections lessen and sometimes completely disappear, and colors become richer, more saturated.

 

However, the price you pay for using this magic filter is a decrease in light passing through your lens – as much as two stops. For example, if you’re using a shutter speed of 1/60 without the filter, you new shutter speed could drop to 1/15th of a second, making it more likely you’ll need to use a tripod. Or, if you can’t lengthen your shutter speed, then you’ll have to adjust your lens’ aperture, which will decrease your depth of field.

 

An enhancing filter does just as its name implies – it enhances foliage colors. Your reds, especially, will appear much more saturated, and contrast will increase, also. The one thing to remember when using this filter is it will turn a blue sky strangely pink. Likewise, rocks and other objects that shouldn’t, will take on a magenta cast.

 

When photographing fall foliage, remember the basics of composition, especially to “keep it simple.” If you’ve found a tree with some great color, you want all the viewer’s attention on that tree; you don’t want their attention to be distracted by anything else in your composition. So, keep it simple. Likewise, remember the rule of thirds and use it whenever it helps your composition.

 

Finally, take lots of pictures. Try different compositions, different exposures, and wide views and close-ups. Quite often, you’ll find a photo that you didn’t expect is the one you like the best. Just remember to look – and have fun!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Larry Millican has been at Bedford Camera & Video for 7 years, and manager of the Fort Smith location for the past 5 years. He’s also been involved in photography for more than 20 years, as a photographer and as an instructor.