Leaves weren’t the only subject that were lower down though, we also found many mushrooms 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.

All of this goes to show that you’re head needs to be on a swivel while out shooting in the woods. You never know what you may see when looking down and looking up.

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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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I don’t know who this lovely lady is, she was walking about all by herself when I asked if I could have a picture and she posed for me. If she happens to read this, thank you for the great picture.

Though the gown she is wearing was very colorful and the original photo is great, I knew right away that I wanted to work with this image in a brownish or sepia tone.

By tweaking one of the presets in Adobe Lightroom, I was able to begin the process of getting the color I wanted. I then exported the JPG and loaded it into Photoshop. Once in Photoshop I used Nik Software’s Color Efex Pro to soften the image and add some dramatic glow. It was when I added the glow that I knew I had what I was looking for. The only problem was that the filter softened her face a little more than I wanted, so I used a vector mask on that layer and painted back some of the sharpness from the layer underneath. I finish the image off by lightening her face a little.

One of the greatest things about modern digital photography is the ability to create images that look anything but modern. By using the different tools available, we’re able to create artistic images that are not only beautiful to look at, but also create a sense of an older time.

View More of My Photos From the Faire

Take this picture of the Wind Point Lighthouse along Lake Michigan in Racine, WI for example. Not to long ago I read a blog post by Greg Russell on his website Alpenglow Images. The post is titled House on Fire ruin – A Vertical Panorama and it’s about how he shot a vertical panorama by stitching together three horizontal pictures. The minute I finished the post I knew the subject I wanted to try this technique on, Wind Point Lighthouse.

Having shot the lighthouse many times, under many different and conditions, I knew in my mind the composition I wanted and the conditions that I wanted to take it in. Let the waiting game begin….

About a week later the conditions I wanted came to be. We had been out shooting an old mill in Illinois when, on the way home, I realized the conditions were perfect for my lighthouse shot. So we drove out there and I took my three horizontal pictures of the lighthouse. When I got home and stitched the pictures together, I was blown away by the result. There in front of me was not only the image I had envisioned, but something much nicer. This was the best picture I had ever taken of the light.

Then another vision came into my head, I saw this picture in black and white. I immediately began to work on the black and white version that I saw in my mind. Everything fell together nicely and within an hour I had this image.

I find that as I get older and more experienced in photography, I’m pre-visualizing photos much more. I still love going out, being spontaneous and taking what Mother Nature gives me, but there is a certain, wonderful feeling when you see an image in your mind, wait for the right conditions, and then make it a reality.

I try to always keep the possibility of a pano in mind when I’m out shooting. Many times I’m so caught up in the moment that I forget about panos, that’s what almost happened in this image. Other times, I’ll see the scene and know right away that I’m shooting a pano, (The header image for this site is an example) .

When I shoot a pano, I like to keep the picture count down. I try to make the pano with less than 5 pictures. I feel 3 or 4 are the perfect number. The main reason for this, I don’t care for long, skinny panos. I like my images to have some width to them. 3-4 pictures creates a nice width to the pano.

It’s important to remember to overlap each picture and try to keep the horizon as level as possible. I actually find it easier to keep the horizon level if I hand hold the camera while shooting panos. Of course if your shooting at slow shutter speeds, this is impossible, so make sure your tripod is very level.

I use the free program AutoStitch to stitch together my panos. It does an amazing job of aligning the images and matching the colors and contrast. Of all the pano programs I’ve used, and there have been many, AutoStitch is the simplest and best. Unfortunately it’s only for Windows, sorry Mac folks. There is a program for Macs called AutoPano Pro, and it uses the AutoStich engine

So, the next time your out shooting, remember the panoramic image. Some amazing images can be made by combining a few pictures together.

This is my third winter in Wisconsin and I now know how important good gloves are for winter photography. For my first winter here, I had a pair of Black Diamond fleece gloves that are wind proof and very warm, but working the camera with them was cumbersome so every time I touched the camera, I took them off. This led to some very cold hands. In fact, one time I was probably on the verge of frostbite since I couldn’t feel my fingers anymore.

Since I love those gloves and didn’t want to replace them, I decided last winter to see if I could adjust and shoot with them on. I found that I could do it, but I also found that my thumb would bump buttons on the back of the camera and change  settings without me knowing it. It became very distracting having to double check my camera settings all the time. I also discovered that if these gloves got wet, they were useless.

This year I decided it was time for a change. While we were on vacation in California I found a pair of gloves that I thought might work this winter.

The gloves I bought are made by Red Ledge. They are wind proof, water proof and very warm. They are actually fingerless mittens that have a fold back top. The top is secured in the open position by very strong Velcro. The thumb also folds back on these gloves.

The first test for these gloves was this fall. While shooting fall colors we had some temperatures at or near freezing. The gloves worked great, but I was concerned about my bare fingers sticking out. It wasn’t bad at 32 degrees, but once the temps dropped into the single digits and the windchill went below zero I wondered if these gloves would work.

I thought about this a lot during the fall and decided to look into some thin glove liners to wear under the mittens. While at the Bass Pro Shops store one day I found some liners made by GameGuard. They’re made for hunters, but they work great for photography too. They’re thin, cotton gloves with very small rubber beads on the palm. Because they’re thin and fit snugly, you can feel your camera controls perfectly, and the small rubber beads help you keep a hold of the camera.

Last Sunday this glove combination got put to it’s first real test. We were out photographing the ice shelf along Lake Michigan (See photo above or the rest here.). The temp was 18 degrees with a windchill of 3. How did the gloves do? Awesome! My hands never got cold. The couple of times my fingertips started to get cold I just flipped the mitten top down and they warmed right back up. I had no problem working the camera controls or changing lenses and because the thumb top flips up, I didn’t have to worry about accidentally changing settings.

I don’t know if this combination would work for everyone, but it seems to work well for me. So if you’re going to be shooting out in frigid temperatures this winter, you might want to consider a glove setup similar to this.

Obviously there are times when you want to shoot fall colors and have their brilliance as the subject of the picture. We need to remember that composition is still important though. I try to find elements within the colors to help enhance the image, like tree trunks, a branch or even a single tree trunk. A curving tree trunk works great as a compositional element to help draw the eye through the scene. It also adds contrast to the image, making the colors of the leaves look nicer than they would by themselves.

Sometimes the sky can be an interesting element too. Some nice clouds in a deep blue sky will make the colors pop. Be careful with the sky; too much sky will take away from the colors. You want to make sure that most of the frame is filled with color and only a little bit is sky is showing. Another thing to think about when adding some sky to the picture is the tree line. Try to compose the image so the tree line works together with the sky and any clouds that might be there.

One more technique is to use the colors themselves as compositional elements. If there are multiple colors such as yellows, greens, oranges and reds, try composing in such a way that the colors work together. Use the colors like you’d use a boulder or a tree in a landscape image. Use them to help move the eye through the scene.

Now for a couple lighting tips. Personally, I prefer to shoot fall colors on cloudy days. The colors tend to pop more and you don’t have to deal with the contrast caused by bright leaves and shadows. Cloudy days are great for shooting within a grove of trees. You can really capture the beauty of the whole grove.

One thing to remember when shooting on cloudy days is to keep the sky out of the picture. On a cloudy day the sky is most likely going to show up as a washed out white in the image. Not only does that dull the colors, but it just doesn’t look good. So keep the scene below the horizon. If you feel the sky needs to be in the shot, then keep it as small as you can. Another thing to watch out for is your shutter speed. It’s going to be a lot slower on a cloudy day. If there’s a breeze blowing, and most fall days there is, then you need to adjust your shutter speed accordingly. To me there’s nothing more annoying than having a couple of blurred leaves in an otherwise sharp picture.

Fall colors on sunny days can be amazing, but capturing them can be a challenge. Some trees, like the cottonwood, really pop in the bright sun, others can actually look dull. The aspen looks amazing when back lit, but looks flat and colorless when the sun is in front of it. On the other hand the same aspen is beautiful when the sun hits it at an angle. You really need to walk around the tree to find the best colors. 

I love shooting back lit fall colors. The contrast between the bright leaves and the dark shadows can make some very dramatic images. Standing under a tree and shooting up through the branches is an awesome way of showing fall colors at their brightest. When doing this make the tree your partner. Use it’s branches and it’s trunk to hide the sun behind. Remember your composition and use those dark branches as elements in it. Also watch out for sun flare. Even with the sun behind a branch sun flare can still sneak through.

If you’re trying for back lit landscapes, it can be quite a challenge. One thing to remember, have something besides a lens hood to shade your lens. I always have a hat on, so most of the time I use it to shade my lens.  I also carry with me a very high tech piece of black poster board. I cut the poster board into an 8×10 piece and then folded it into quarters. It fits nicely in my bag and works great to shade your lens. Believe it or not, I’ve used this same piece for about 10 years now. Though as I look at it right now, it might need replaced this year.

Fall is the greatest time of year to me. I’m at my most creative in the fall and I feel that some of my greatest images have been made then. The techniques I’ve gone over in this two part series are techniques that I use all the time in my photography. I’ve learned them over many years and through lots of trial and error. Hopefully I’ve shared them with you in such a way that you can take them into the field and use them to create more memorable fall images.

Read Part 1 of This Article

Also see More Tips to Improve Your Fall Photography

My first tip is a simple one: Slow down and think ahead. One of the things that I’ve  noticed in a lot of fall images is a lack of composition. It seems that many photographers are so intent on capturing the beauty of the leaves that they forget about composing a nice image. I’ve been guilty of this many times in the past. We get to the scene, we’re blown away by the colors and right away begin running around blasting photos of every yellow, orange and red tree around. Never even thinking that though we’re showing how brilliant the colors are, we’re creating pretty boring pictures.

One of the first things I do when I get to an area is get out of the truck and take it all in. I stand there for a minute or two and let that “Oh my god this is so beautiful” feeling go crazy inside of me.  I like to take some deep breaths and let that wonderful autumn air fill my lungs and then I’ll walk around a little, leaving my camera in the truck, and let all of the beauty settle in. This helps to calm me down and relaxes that initial rush of adrenalin that hit when I first arrived.

As I’m walking around I start scanning the area for possible compositions. All the while I’m calming down inside and getting a good feel for the area. Once I’ve calmed down a little I begin to see “the forest through the trees”, or should I say “the compositions through the colors”, that’s when I’ll go get my gear and start shooting.

The next tip has to do with composition.  It’s real easy to loose yourself in the beauty of fall colors. Their brilliance can be breathtaking and it’s only natural to want to capture that brilliance. But as photographers we need to remember that composition is the most important element in creating great photos. Without a decent composition, a photo becomes boring to look at very fast.

One of the techniques I use when shooting fall colors is to try and ignore the colors, (Notice I said try.) Instead of seeing only yellows and reds, I look for interesting compositional elements. I try to see the scene as if the colors weren’t even there. I often ask myself, “Would this be a nice image if there weren’t any colorful leaves?”. If I can say yes to that question, then I know I have a great shot on the way.

Here’s another way to look at it, instead of the colors being the subject of the image, make them a part of the larger scene. Show the colors in their natural environment and let them work to make the image more beautiful. I’ve found that this technique works best with large landscapes and with tighter scenic shots. The three images in this post are good examples of that.

Here’s something else to try, use the colors as compositional elements themselves. Notice in the Lake Sabrina picture above, there are three distinct elements in the picture, the lake, the peaks and the golden aspens. I use the line between the water and trees as the main line to draw your eye into the scene.

I hope that these few tips will help you take better fall images. They’ve worked for me for a long time now.  In the next post I’ll cover a composition tip for those times when the colors are the subject of the photo. I’ll also go over some lighting tips.

Read Part 2 of This Article

Also see More Tips to Improve Your Fall Photography

Here’s how I did it.
Since I shoot everything in RAW I have quite a bit of flexibility with my images. So instead of taking 5 exposures of the bighorn, I only took one. Then I exported 5 different exposures of that image from Lightroom using the Exposure setting under the Develop tab. The first image was exported at -2, the second at -1, then neutral, +1 and +2. All of these exports were done to the straight RAW image. No other post processing was done.

I then imported those 5 images into Dynamic Photo HDR and made the HDR image. Amazingly I didn’t have to make that many adjustments from the default tone map. Just a few adjustments to the brightness and gamma and then I adjusted the light radius, light strength and surface smoothing until I got the results I was looking for.

Here are the five images I exported from Lightroom, beginning with the -2 exposure.

Here’s a comparison of the original image with some post processing and the HDR with some post processing. Click to enlarge the image.

Notice how the sheep in the HDR image looks so much more alive than the other one. It’s all in the eyes. The eyes in the HDR image have a more natural, lively look to them. In the normal image the eyes are kind of muddy and dull. In the HDR there’s also much more detail in the shadowed part of the face and more contrast overall to the horns and fur. I also feel that the HDR image has more of a three dimensional feel to it. The sheep seems to pop out from the background. All in all I feel the HDR image is a huge improvement over the normal one.

So far this is the only wildlife image I’ve tried this technique on, I don’t know why it wouldn’t work in most situations though. I’ve also used this technique on landscape images. Sometimes it works great, other times it just makes a mess. It all depends on the image.

One other note, I used Dynamic Photo HDR in this example, I’m not sure how this would work in other HDR programs. I own Dynamic Photo HDR and Photomatrix. I’ve found that they give very different results with the same images so I use whichever one gives me the results I’m looking for with the image I’m working on.

Give this technique a try. It’s interesting to see how it can improve your images.

For those who don’t know, HDR (High Dynamic Range) is a modern photo technique where multiple exposures of the same image are blended together with software to create an image with a higher dynamic range of luminances between the light and dark areas of the image. When used like it was used in this image, HDR creates a scene that more closely resembles what we actually see with our own eyes.

Many people use HDR differently than how I use it. They use HDR to create over saturated, surreal looking images that are extremely unrealistic. Personally, I don’t care for images that have that “HDR look” to them. But if that’s how they want their images to look, then that’s their business,  not mine.

The sad thing is, these fantasy pictures have given HDR a reputation that it doesn’t deserve. HDR can be a great tool for photographers when used correctly. The image above is a good example. I contains 5 images blended together. Each image has a full stop difference in them. The sequence is -2, -1, n, +1, +2. Without HDR the shadowed areas of the mountain have very little detail in them. But with HDR the detail comes out giving the image a more natural look.

I don’t use HDR a lot. But every now and then I come across a situation where I need some shadow details or I need to keep the sky from getting blown out and I’ve found that HDR become a great tool then.