Weather and light have a huge role to play in the kind of fall photography images you create. But what special techniques can you use with your camera for autumn photography to photograph fall foliage in a unique and powerful way?
Panoramic
Sprawling mountain vistas of color is one of the most sought-after fall foliage photos to capture. If you’re photographing in a rural area with hills and mountains, you’ll want to photograph layers of fall foliage as a panoramic stitch. When shooting a panoramic, there’s a certain set of rules you need to follow to make sure your images can be stitched together correctly – this includes using your manual settings, locking your focus, etc.
Polarizer Filters
Many know that a polarizer filter is a wonderful tool that reduces exposure and also deepens the saturation of colors, a huge benefit for autumn photography. However, what works particularly well for autumn photography is that a polarizer filter’s glare-reducing ability also applies to sun and light reflecting off of leaves. This means that those colorful leaves that were originally washed out from reflections now have color that is deep and vibrant.
Slowing Down Your Shutter
The colors of fall provide a wonderful opportunity to get creative with your camera from Buydig.com. By using a slow shutter speed, you can capture movement in a surreal and powerful way. Falling leaves or branches of color swaying in the wind are both excellent opportunities to use a slow shutter speed to get a bit artistic with fall photography. During the daylight hours, you’ll need to slow down your shutter tremendously in order to capture movement like this. Using a small aperture generally won’t cut it. Instead, you’ll need to use ND filters of varying strength depending on how slow you want your shutter to be. Don’t be afraid to stack your filters either for those very long exposures. Just watch out for any unwanted vignetting.
Fall Foliage Bokeh
If you have a fast lens, fall is the perfect time to use that wide aperture and create some outstanding bokeh images. You can photograph bokeh in practically any situation, but fall is unique. The colorful leaves can create a mosaic of shapes and tones, and they also make a fantastic backdrop for an outdoor fall family photo session.
Focus on Simplicity
Minimalism can be equally as powerful as a fall vista. Isolated trees, leaves, and macro shots are often ignored in the quest to capture a more complex autumn photograph. You can also isolate using a wide aperture rather than with your composition. Make sure to bring along a fast lens, such as a 50mm f/1.8 prime lens. This will give you some incredibly sharp isolation, allowing you to find a scene to capture even in the most unlikely areas.
Hijack Some Foliage
One of the great aspects of fall photography is that you can take the foliage wherever you go, or at least a small part of it. By positioning a leaf or two in a unique way, you can completely transform an otherwise bland composition by offering a strong focal point. This works especially well with wide angle lenses.
Bird’s-Eye View
Using a DJI Mavic Air Drone from Buydig.com for autumn photography lets you tap into even more perspectives. Head through the woods and slalom between tree trunks for some dramatic reveals. Or go for true bird’s-eye shots, looking straight down from above to capture the canopies in context and at scale.
Capturing the color of fall foliage is a unique window of opportunity for any photographer. Vibrant colors can transform an otherwise mundane scene into a blanket of red, yellow, and orange hues. These tips will improve your fall photography techniques this coming season.
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