The leaves are changing colors, the football uniforms have fresh grass stains, and the pumpkins are ripening on the withered vines. My favorite time of year is in full swing, and my camera is getting a workout!
Here's some tips to get you out and about with your camera to capture the beautiful sights and scenes of fall!
1. Go big!!
The wonders of nature during fall are plenty...beautiful trees, big skies reflecting in still lakes and ponds, golden fields, gorgeous light streaming into forests as the leaves fall. Soak it all up with a wide-angle lens and narrow aperture to keep all parts of your frame in sharp focus.
2. Go small!!
Don't forget the details of autumn. A fresh harvest of vine-ripened tomatoes, some goldenrod flowers in the field, a freshly fallen leaf, a creepy spiderweb. Cue up your prime lens and use a wide aperture to shorten the depth of field and really draw focus to your subject.
3. Go Colorful!!
Fall colors are glorious...trees of ambers, reds, golds, and greens. Pops of color with mums and other fall flowers. Worn wooded paths with browns and tans. Use your camera to snap the beautifully saturated or comfortable muted colors of the changing season.
4. Go early!!!
Fall just wouldn't be complete without a beautiful sunrise over a fresh-cut field. As they say...."Make hay while the sun shines"!! Get out with your camera in the early morning and catch those first golden rays breaking over the trees. Use your exposure lock button to expose for your sky, and your subject will become a silhouette. Or expose for your subject and you will get some beautiful edge lighting around your subject if you're shooting toward the sun.
5. Go late!!!
A beautiful harvest moon, a football game under stadium lights, a bonfire in the crisp autumn air, a moonlit trick-or-treat night....there are plenty of opportunities during and after sunset to use your camera. Use the light of the setting sun to create a beautiful silhouette by exposing for a bright sky, but focusing on a darker subject. Low light situations call for wider aperture and slower shutter speeds. Don't be afraid to use a tripod to minimize camera shake!
6. Just GO!!!
The best advice of all! Just go....go for a nature walk, go to the pumpkin patch, go to the football game- just pack up that camera and set off on an adventure! There are lots of harvest festivals, pumpkin patches, and natural beauty around every corner! The next amazing photo is waiting for someone to capture it!