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How To

How to Photograph Fall Foliage

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By eHow Contributing Writer
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Fall is a wonderful time to experiment with filters and different films to capture Mother Nature's beautiful colors.

Difficulty: Moderate
Instructions

Things You'll Need:

  1. Step 1

    Choose a film suited for the type of pictures or slides you wish to take. If you are trying to sell your work to a publisher, you may want to use a slide film. To make enlargements larger than 8 inches by 10 inches, use a fine-grained film such as ISO 25, 64 or 100.

  2. Step 2

    Try a variety of lenses to achieve different perspectives of the same shot. Use a telephoto lens to zoom in for a tighter shot and out for more of a scenic picture. A macro lens is fun to use to capture the texture of a leaf or the small creatures you encounter while walking through the timber. Wide-angle lenses allow you to capture your environment.

  3. Step 3

    Take along a variety of filters. Warming filters will add a little warm color to your scene and will add a bit more orange color to the leaves. Polarizing filters help remove the harsh glare of the sunlight and the washed-out look the sun gives your picture. When shooting water or reflections in water, the polarizer will eliminate the glare off the water. For a "snappy" look to your fall colors, add an enhancing filter to your lens to really make those red, orange, yellow or pink colored leaves stand out.

  4. Step 4

    Use a tripod to steady your camera. You will be able to slow the shutter speed down to allow more light in for deeper color to your photograph.

  5. Step 5

    Watch for shadows or hot spots such as the sunlight glaring off the water when metering your photograph.

Tips & Warnings
  • When looking for hot spots in your scene, squint your eyes and look at the scenery. The bright spots from the sunlight will be very noticeable.
  • Fall foliage photographs can be more than just a scene of trees with beautiful leaves. It can be an insect on a leaf, a tree frog, a single leaf or the reflections in a pond, so stand still and look all around for that perfect shot.
  • Use a notebook to take notes on location, film, and camera setting you used for each photo. Some contests require you to give a brief explanation of how you shot the winning photo.

Comments  

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 6/30/2006 Rather than welding, just buy a dual duty clampod with legs. They have a slide clamp and will hold onto anything up to 1.5 inch diameter, or the legs stored inside enable you to use them on a table, bollard, refuse bin - whatever.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 Use a vise grip pliers and weld a bolt onto the body that fits your camera. You can clamp it on a tree limb, a fence or anything else you can get a vice grip on. It's light and steady and easy to carry in a back pack.

Anonymous

Anonymous said

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on 11/22/2005 When your camera tripod is placed on grass, it is important that you push down on the tripod to remove the cushion during your exposure.

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