10 tips for photographing fall color

Fall Colors

In the Northern Hemisphere summer is basically over and we’re looking forward to the changing seasons. Fall is coming and we figured we’d talk about ideas for shooting fall colors today.

I love shooting fall colors when I get a chance to do it anyway, but in my area we don’t get a whole lot of fall colors. Do you get many fall colors in Utah, Jeff?

Tip 1: Use a polarizer. Using a polarizing filter will really enhance the color. Use it even if it’s completely foggy. There’s so much moisture on the leaves that’s scattering the light and using a polarizer will cut through that. What can be interesting or frustrating is that different objects in the scene may be affected differently than other objects, so you can see some items get all saturated with color while others wash out. Usually things all work the same, but I’ve seen that happen when shooting waterfalls with lots of foliage.

Tip 2: Watch the exposure. With rich colors I find it way too easy to overexpose my images, and maybe it’s only one color that gets overexposed. I may seem rational to place yellows and bright oranges at a certain spot on the histogram but you may be making them too bright, especially if one of the channels clips which can be easy to do with fully saturated colors. Experiment a bit and if you’re shooting in raw you should have no problem if you’re within a stop or so of where you need to be. The same goes for sunsets and sunrises, hold that exposure back a bit to maintain richness of color.

Tip 3: Zoom in. Too many photos lose their excitement for lack of a significant subject that is highlighted. Fill the frame with color, then back off a bit too. I like to try and really study a subject photographically. And zooming in can really make a difference in making that color pop. Whether it’s a cluster of trees, a few leaves or some berry bushes on the mountain side, making the subject prominent is what I’m talking about here.

Tip 4: Look for contrasts. This is a season like no other. Especially if you are shooting in an area that has a mixture of trees such as aspens and evergreens. The brilliant colors next to the deep greens can really make for a great contrast of color, texture and shapes. All these things can provide extra interest in the scene.

Tip 5: Think about the lighting. If the light is rather flat go for isolation and maximizing your saturation of the subject. Zoomed out scenes can also work wonderful especially if you have some fog or other weather happening. If you have a high contrast scene such as a bright sky above a ridge of color, consider using an exposure blend so detail can be held in both areas of the image. This can be very difficult to do with trees though since the wind will be blowing the leaves along the edge where it goes from a darker area to brighter, and that will create a very challenging environment to deal with in post-production. In this scenario I’ll try and balance the exposure as best I for both shadow areas and highlights and then I’ll double process the one file and exposure blend that in Photoshop.If the scene is harsher light, try moving to a spot that allows you to backlight the leaves. They will glow and radiate color. It can be very interesting to create leaf patterns that are backlit and they just look brilliant. The branches usually turn to a silhouette so they are a strong graphic element.

Tip 6: Water. There’s so many ways to incorporate water into your fall shots. Rivers, lakes, ponds and streams all have the ability to greatly enhance the mood of your scene. Reflections are probably the most popular way to compose with water. Whether you’re getting a wider shot of many trees along the water’s edge or zooming in on rocks or branches that are in the water and you’re gettin...