Double Exposure Challenge: Great Autumn Images

From Photoworkshop.com

Double Exposure Challenge
Double Exposure Challenge: Great Autumn Images
By DE Staff
Nov 1, 2007

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF PHOTOS BY THE RUNNERS-UP

Autmnal Walk © Ed Konczal

Our readers submitted some gorgeous autumn images for our current "Challenge." Congratulations to the three winners, whose images are in this story, as well as to the runners-up in the accompanying gallery.

Fall is a season of change, accompanied by colorful foliage, pumpkin patches and costumed kids (and adults) decked out for Halloween. Days are getting shorter and the sun is a little lower in the southern sky, creating warmer light than during the summer months. The air is often crisp, providing a nice respite from the summer heat.

To help ensure success in photographing fall colors, find out when the peak time will be in the area you want to visit. If you’re planning on going to Colorado, New England or another popular fall color spot, check with ranger stations, tourist offices, the Internet or the local chamber of commerce in advance to inquire about “leaf-peeper” updates. It’s a good idea to give yourself a spread of several days to shoot optimum fall colors, and to find the best compositions. Be aware that fall colors don’t last as long in higher altitudes, so you have a shorter window of time to capture autumn majesty in high peaks.

Drops From the Heavens © Third Eye Photo

Autumn’s color palette is so beautiful it can make nearly anyone’s photos look good. But don’t forget about composition—it’s just as important when photographing fall colors as it is with any other subject. After shooting a broad expanse of trees on a hillside that look like a sea of red, orange and yellow, get closer. Move in on a few (or just one) colorful leaves. A macro lens will come in handy here, if you have one. Most zoom lenses offer a close-up setting, and even compact cameras have a close-up mode, which is indicated by a flower symbol in your camera’s shooting modes. Check your manual to see how close you can focus on an object. Mixing wide overviews with more intimate close-ups of fall will give your pictures a lot of visual variety. Don’t overlook reflections! Fall colors are striking when mirrored in a smooth lake or river surface. You can also capture some interesting abstracts of reflections in water that’s moving. Get off the beaten path, even if you’re usually a sedentary person. You may find some of the best scenes by driving off the main highway. Take a side road in a scenic area and see where it leads you, or get out of your car and hike on a trail for a short distance.

Fall colors photograph well in a variety of lighting conditions. On sunny days, it’s best to shoot early and late in the day for dramatic light. Besides photographing autumn colors straight-on, shoot leaves that are backlit by a low-angled sun. Because leaves are semi-translucent, backlighting will make them seem to glow from within. Try to avoid lens flare, which can occur when you’re shooting towards the sun. The best way to do this is to use a lens shade to shade the lens (your hand or a hat will also do). Just make sure these objects are out of your frame’s view. Overcast days can also be wonderful for photographing fall foliage because you can capture a more muted, even color palette. Cloudy days work well for shooting close-ups or other details, as you’ll want to exclude the gray sky from your photos.

In addition to photographing trees that are changing colors, there are many subjects that say “fall.” Pumpkins at a roadside stand, a squirrel preparing for winter, or a weathered old barn framed with fall foliage can make for great images. Also, autumn color changes aren’t only limited to aspen, maple and oak trees—fall colors can be found in other trees and bushes. Look for brush that may appear nondescript the rest of the year, but takes on glorious color in autumn.

Using a slow ISO setting like 100 will give you saturated colors and finer grain (film) or less noise (digital). To further accentuate brilliant colors, use a polarizing filter on a sunny day. This filter must be used at a 90-degree angle to the sun to polarize its rays and give you bluer skies and more brilliant fall colors. Polarizing filters remove reflections from water and other reflective objects, and will remove surface reflections from wet leaves for richer color. You don’t always need to rotate the filter to its fullest extent to get great results. It’s easy to overdo the polarizer effect. By rotating the outer element of this filter just partially, you can get more natural—yet enhanced—colors.

Although many colorful photo opportunities await you, consider experimenting with black-and-white. Your images can be easily converted in Photoshop and other image-editing programs, or you can make a simple adjustment on your digital camera to create black-and-white images. Ansel Adams shot many fall masterpieces in black-and-white. Also, take a look at “Waiting for the Light” in this issue of Double Exposure to see how Craig Varjabedian rendered an apricot tree in both black-and-white and color at different times of the year.

If you’re out taking pictures and the weather turns fowl, protect your camera inside your jacket, camera bag or another dry place until you’re ready to use it. A plastic bag will usually keep your camera dry, but if it does get wet in spite of your best intentions, dry it off immediately. You might consider getting a splashproof compact camera or underwater housing if you plan to do a lot of shooting around water.

Take our next Double Exposure Challenge! See our Call for Entries for "Weather Phenomena" in this issue.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF PHOTOS BY THE RUNNERS-UP