When the Hills are on Fire with Color

by Paul W. Faust

That time of year is here again and photographers love it. The time when the northern parts of the world turn a blazing red, orange, and yellow as the fall season sets the trees on fire with autumn colors. I have never known a single person who grew up in a northern area and moved away, who did not say that the change of the seasons, and the colors of fall were not one of the two things that they missed the most. I have also never met a person who saw the colors of fall for the first time, and did not say that it was one of the most beautiful things they have ever seen. It is then little wonder why this season of color is so close to the hearts of nature, landscape, and outdoor photographers.

This image could not have been framed without a good zoom range to work within. It was taken across a country road in the Cumberland Mountains of Kentucky/Tennessee from just the right spot on a high bank on the opposite side of the road. Any change of position would have changed the angle and elevation of the subject leaves.

It has certainly always been one of my favorite times of the year, and ever since I started taking pictures I would drive out into the countryside just to find the brightest and most colorful trees. It did not take me long to realize that was no easy task. There are many factors that enter into play when it comes to having a season with the best fall colors. They include; the part of the country, and world, that they are in, the type of trees involved, the elevation those trees are found at, and even the kind of weather that area had during the end of summer. Bright sunny days and cool nights, without too low of a temperature, starts the process of trapping the sugar in the leaves, which give us the best reds and most vibrant colors through the months of October and into November, depending on where you live. Leaves change colors when trees stop producing chlorophyll, the food that keeps the leaves green all summer, and as the chlorophyll goes, the colors emerge.

Finding good fall colors really starts out with finding the areas that are expected to have them. This is now easily done by just going online and checking out the local tourist bureaus for that state and county. Most of these will have weekly updates on how the colors are doing, and at what elevations they are currently at, or soon will be. The National Park Service, and many state parks in the US also have fall color reports. Check out and bookmark this one for this year and next; http://www.fs.fed.us/news/fallcolors/ You can also do a Google search for “Fall+Colors” to find a lot more color reports. Getting your information online has other advantages as well. Since fall colors usually only last about three weeks under the best circumstances, with the peak colors no more than one week or so, every day you can plan ahead can mean the difference between great images, or just wasting your time and gas.

Most Halloween decorations are pretty run-of-the-mill, but sometimes you find one of those extra special ones like this display outside of a pet store for cats.

What you take along is just as important as knowing the right time to get there. For fall colors, that can be a short list of gear starting with the type of film you use. My personal choice is Fuji film because of its added saturation. When you have bright colors nothing makes them stand out as much as increasing their saturation, but the film type is not the only way to achieve that result. Adobe Photoshop users can pump up the looks of fall colors, which just using film could never do. Saturation, contrast, and levels are the main tools to use for that. Some photographers will also use the sharpening tools, but that must be done with care or the image will start to look more like a special effect has been added to it, and that usually turns out making it look worse. Use a good tripod and the image should be sharp enough to begin with, and with the use of the other three tools, they will add their own appearance of sharpness also.

Your second must-have item is the right filters. I say “filters” because you want to have more than one type. I actually stick with just two. A good quality polarizer to get a nice blue sky, cut reflections on closer leaves, and to also add a bit of its own saturation as well, and a warming filter to add even more warmth when you want it. I actually use both filters, stacked, at the same time. If you don’t believe how much better that makes you’re images just run a few test frames with and without them used together. There are many shades of warming filters, but the best all around one I always have in my bag is the #812. It warms the image, but doesn’t make it start turning red. An added bonus of this specific filter is that it is also about the cheapest of all filters, and outdoors I always use it as my main lens protection filter no matter what I am shooting.

For lenses I usually only take along my two Nikon zoom lenses that have a range span from 24mm up to 210mm. You will want the wide-angle ability for subjects that are close, but large in area, and the longer lens focal length for pulling in distant groups of trees where you don’t want a whole mountainside showing. With these two lenses I will almost never have a subject that I cannot properly compose. You can also take along a tele-extender to really zoom in on those special subjects farther away.

A lot of people only think of “trees” when you say fall colors, but that is only one of the many great fall subjects you can find with not a single tree in sight. Halloween displays are everywhere, and this time of the year also brings fields of corn stalks, orange pumpkins, and baskets full of red apples. You can also go to areas that are rich in history, such as early settlement villages, which fix up their buildings, grounds, and maybe an old wagon with Halloween decorations. Your best fall color images will come by having the right gear and planning ahead for the right places to go to at the right time.

GOOD (fall-color) SHOOTING!

About the Author

Paul W. Faust is a self-taught Photographer, Writer, Digital Imaging, Photo Restoration, and Photo Stock Service professional.

His work has been published in American Photographer, Camera 35, Camera and Darkroom, Popular Photography, Photographic, Photographers Forum, www.apogeephoto.com and here at TPN. Past assignments have included many cover images, full-page spreads, and also shooting stills for both Hollywood movie sets, and for star hopefuls including Bo Derick, Heather Locklear, and Pricilla Barns, among others. Paul's images have also been used by; NikonNet, Bogen Photo Imaging, East Tennessee Film Commission, and The Knoxville Zoo, to name a few, including their web sites.

Paul can be reached at pwf_iol@yahoo.com

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