Steven Bourelle Digital Arts

With the autumnal equinox knocking on our door and photographers across  the country beginning  to head out and capture the beautiful fall colors, I thought it might be a good time to offer some tips to help you create more memorable fall photos. These are things that I do and think about while photographing fall colors. Over the years these ideas have helped me create some great images.

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

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