How to Photograph Fall Foliage

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

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Camera Filters
• Light Meter
• Wide-angle Lens
• telephoto or "long lens"
• Camera Lenses
• SLR Camera
• Camera Flashes
• Camera Tripod
• Camera Batteries
• Camera Polarizer Filters
• Camera Macro Lenses

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. 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. 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. 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. 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.