One of the most rewarding experiences a photographer can have is associating with the fall colors while taking pictures. There is a sense of vibrancy, soft light, fog, and a moody atmosphere associated with these colors.
As it is true that the colors peak for only a few days, but that is what makes fall photography incredibly special.
If you are looking to make the most out of your fall photography experience, I invite you to read some of my favorite tips on photographing the fall season:
Plan Your Trip During Peak Color
Fall is one of the prettiest times of the year to take a stroll around the countryside, but autumn doesn’t happen everywhere, and it doesn’t happen all at once.
In many parts of the Northern Hemisphere as well as in parts of the Southern Hemisphere, you can enjoy a more or less intense fall color show depending on your location and your latitude.
There are places at a higher latitude and elevation where you can photograph the fall colors earlier, so be prepared to do your research prior to your visit to determine when is the ideal time to visit.
Although the peak of fall colors can be a bit advanced or delayed depending on the weather conditions and the rain, statistically speaking, it occurs around the same time of year every year.
Best Time to Photograph
The following are some examples of the best time to capture images of the fall in different places around the world:
Arctic Tundra: Alaska, Northern Canada, Greenland, Iceland, etc., are some of the first places you can take fall photography in the Northern Hemisphere. The season typically runs from late August through mid-September in these regions.
High mountains: The Canadian Rockies, the Colorado mountains, Glacier National Park, etc. Mid-September to early October is the common time for the fall in the Rocky Mountains.
Northeastern US: Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire are probably the best places to photograph foliage in the United States. The fall foliage season starts around late September and continues through early October.
US East Coast: You can photograph fall colors and fallen leaves in Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland from mid to late October.
There are certain places where you may also find official foliage reports, like this one for the state of Maine. You can make full use of these reports to plan your trip during the most favorable time of year.
Photograph When The Light Is Best
It is also recommended that when photographing fall colors, one should aim to take photos at the optimum times of day, primarily during the golden hours.
In the event that the sun is too high in the sky, you won’t only have more contrast in your images, but you’ll also discover that the fall colors will be subdued by the sun as well.
If you’re photographing forests in autumn, you’ll find the most pleasing light at twilight. However, you may still find interesting lighting, even when the sun is over the trees, in forests with abundant vegetation as well.
In the fall, overcast and rainy days are perfect for shooting waterfalls and autumn forests; the soft light usually brings out the fall colors, and the water usually sets them off.
Get Closer to the Ground
When you do autumn leaf photography, try to include not just the colors of the trees, but also the colors on the ground.
Getting close to the most colorful leaves will allow you to take full advantage of the vibrant colors. Getting close to the leaves will allow you to create the perfect foreground in your fall pictures.
Use A Telephoto Lens
Fall is one of the prettiest times of the year to capture picturesque scenes from a distance, especially when the colors of the fall trees are at their most vibrant.
Make sure to take advantage of your telephoto lens for detailed shots. You can use your telephoto lens to take photographs of the colorful fall foliage or to isolate trees or other objects in your photo shoot.
Also, using a telephoto lens to compress an image is a good way to get a great autumn photography shot with the main subject placed in front of a fall photography background with a different color or contrast.
Use a Polarizer Filter
Polarizing filters are the most suitable filters to use during the fall, especially if you want to photograph waterfalls or forests.
When your fall photographs are shot using a polarizing filter, you will eliminate undesirable reflections while adding some contrast and natural saturation to the fall colors.
On top of that, the polarizer will also reduce some light. Therefore, if you want to capture some motion in specific places, for example, rivers or streams, you can decrease the shutter speed that you use.
Post-Processing
With a touch of basic editing, you can ensure your image is balanced in terms of exposure, adjust your composition according to your preferred style, and enhance the fall colors in your image.
The HSL panel in the Lightroom application is a favorite tool for processing and editing autumn photos.
It is possible to adjust the hue, saturation, and light of each particular color by using this adjuster, which can change the yellow color to a more orange hue or increase the saturation of red colors only.
The aim is to enhance the vibrancy and saturation only in the fall colors of the image and not in the whole image as a whole.