Home Forums Gear Photography Time for Fall Colors

It is that time of year again�fall colors. I don�t know many photographers that don�t enjoy photographing fall colors. I don�t enjoy the crowds of leave lookers but the colors can be worth it. Just a few tips to make your fall color photography a little more successful possibly.

I find the most saturation in the colors happens when you have an overcast sky or even a slight mist falling from the sky. In these cases, I recommend using a circular polarizer to reduce glare on the foliage. When shooting out west and the sky is included on a clear day, I take off the polarizer or minimize the effect of it. It is too easy to darken one side too much. Early morning and late evening can offer the best light but midday can offer some great ops too.
Try to use a variety of focal lengths and experiment with wide angle and telephoto to isolate or expand the landscape. I am really enjoying the new Tamron 16-300mm Di-II VC PZD Macro lens for a lot of my work because it is a great all-in-one lens. My other favorite lenses for shooting fall colors are the Tamron SP 24-70mm f2.8 Di VC lens, and the Tamron SP 70-200mm f2.8 Di VC lens.

I use a tripod for the low light situations when even the VC feature can�t steady my hands. I shoot in RAW with a JPEG copy, but set the camera to Cloudy White Balance. This allows me to see how the extra warmth will look before I work on the photo in Lightroom. If you are just shooting JPEG, you might try Auto WB and Cloudy to see which will look better in your finished picture.

Now is the time to make sure you have everything you need, whether it be camera, lenses, filters, tripods�anything. Give Joel a call up at Camera Land to get any of the items that need to be checked off the list. Make sure you let him know you are a member of the Campfire for the best pricing!

Post some images and share the great colors in your area!

All the photos below were made using Tamron lenses.

The lighting on the trees in #3 is quite nice.
Just one week until the San Juans in southwest Colorado will be the backyard office.