Steven September 21st, 2010
Last year I wrote a two part article about tips to improve your fall photography. It was so well received, that I’ve decided to write more on the subject this year.
In Part 1 of Tips to Improve Your Fall Photography I talked about the importance of slowing yourself down and not rushing your photos. I also went over not getting overwhelmed with the beauty of autumn colors and to remember the importance of composition. In Part 2 of Tips to Improve Your Fall Photography I went over composing images where the brilliant colors are the subject of the image and I also went over some lighting tips to help make the colors pop more.
In this year’s article I will go over some ideas for subjects that are very much a part of the autumn landscape
, but aren’t trees.
I’ll start with one of the simplest, but often overlooked parts of the fall landscape, the forest floor. Many great shots can be found down by your feet. These include piles of leaves, colorful leaves scattered about and leaves laying amongst other objects such as rocks, pine cones, acorns, sticks and much more. Many 
times these things will take on an abstract, cluttered look, so it’s good to look for patterns or something that stands out above the clutter. Personally, I’m not above moving things around a little, but I prefer to shoot the scene how it lays naturally. Another idea is to look for elements such as tree trunks or maybe part of a rushing stream to add to the leaves on the ground. This can create a very intimate shot of the forest floor.
Speaking of water, reflections can be amazing in the fall. I’m always on the lookout for nice reflections in 
water, but in the fall I pay even closer attention to them. Colorful, abstract images can be created by zooming in on the reflection of a bright tree. If there’s a ripple on the water’s surface it’s even better. A slow shutter speed on a rippled reflection can create a very soft image full of color.
Reflections on a smooth surface along with the actual trees can be pretty cool for abstract images too. I like to compose the image in such a way that it’s hard to tell where the land and trees end and the water begins. This makes for a very intense, colorful scene.
Abstract images aren’t only found in the water. By zooming in on the trees themselves, you can create some interesting abstract images with very bright colors. Remember your composition though and 
try to find something to pull all of that color together. Something as simple as a branch or even bright light shinning through the leaves can make a big difference in how an image looks.
There’s one more subject I want to talk about. It’s something that I would never have talked about before the last couple of years, adding human elements into the fall landscape. Buildings, bridges, benches, roads, these 
things add to the image by helping to tell the story of fall. They contrast nicely with the colors and add interest to the image. Having a person walking down a road bathed in fall color is a great way to tell the story of a peaceful autumn day.
I hope that these tips are helpful to you and that they give you a few other subject ideas as you’re out shooting fall colors. As I’ve said before, fall is my favorite time of year. Not only do I love photographing it, but I love just being out in the cool, autumn air with the wonderful sights, sounds and smells all around me.
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In my post More Tips to Improve Your Fall Photography, I talked about looking down at the forest floor to find interesting subjects to photograph during the fall. On our recent trip to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula I was able to put my advice to work and came up with some colorful images of leaves on the forest floor.
growing on dead trees all over the forest. These mushrooms took many shapes and sizes, ranging from little classic mushrooms like you’d buy in the store, to very large pancake like ones growing up the sides of standing trees. One dead tree we came across was covered from it base up to six feet high in these fungi. It was a pretty impressive site.
While in another area of the woods, I used the exact opposite of my advice. Instead of looking down, I looked up, and found an awesome looking hornet hive high in the branches of a tree. Luckily it was a vacant hive and I was able to stand underneath it and photograph it with my telephoto lens. Interestingly, this hive was over a very busy trail, but no one seemed to notice it, even as I was taking pictures of it.
