Capturing the best fall colors in your photos

Fall season is almost here and as we approach one of the best times of the year for photography, it’s a great idea to prepare yourself and ready your gear to capture the breathtaking beauty and earthly colors of fall.

Autumn photography can be very dreamy and heartwarming. Autumn season provides amazing photoshoot opportunities from stunningly immersive landscape photography scenes of smoky mountains on an overcast day that perfectly captures the depth and grandiose of nature, to the warm and fuzzy home fall foliage photos of the kids playing in piles of colorful leaves. Autumn colors have a way into our hearts.

In recognition for one of the most beautiful and soulful photography seasons filled with fun fall activities and adorable autumn outfits, we’re going to discuss some of the best photoshoot ideas and tips for photographing fall colors.

Color Stories for Fall

The colors that represent fall represent nature, earth, beauty, and life. Fall allows you to create a journey supported by warm and rich tones like gold, crimson scarlet, browns and oranges, complimented by either neutral or bold colors depending on the personality and character of your photoshoots profile, and of course the preference of the photographer and subject. Fall is also a major season for fashion which usually delivers warm and rustic colors with bold undertones. These trends can also be included in your fall color stories that may include fun events surrounding fashion week and holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving.

Fall Photoshoot Ideas & Photography Tips

There are countless amazing ways to capture the essence of autumn.

1. Fall Foliage Photography - This beautiful concept can be complimentary and flattering to your subject demonstrating love and passion. The scene itself can be the subject or for a sign aesthetic. Colors can be monochromatic or contrasting, but just be sure not to clutter your frame with too many colors which can clash. Keep a clean look by balancing deeper shades and neutrals with pops of color, or vice versa.

2. Pumpkin Patches & Apple Orchards - The time of year to get dressed up in your flannels enjoy outdoor activities with the family is right around the corner. Going apple picking or visiting a pumpkin patch during October has become an American tradition. Between all the earthy tones matched with red and orange, plus the awesome props, apple orchards and pumpkin patches are a ideal photoshoots for fall. Just make sure you bring everything you would need to support your family, kids, and of course your camera gear.

3. Leaf Photography - Photographing leaves during fall is a great way to capture the beautifully warm and rich tones of Autumn. From fun photoshoots of your kids (and dogs) playing in leaf piles, to stunning macro lens bokeh shots showing a leaf up close in detail, to shooting a landscape of tree trunks in the woods surrounded by fallen leaves during the early morning when the sun glistens its magnificent rays through the trees offering a dreamy and captivating image of Autumn colors within nature.

4. Reflective Waters - With all the gorgeous colors that surrounds nature during the fall season you can get really creative and artistic by capturing images using reflections in water. Whether it’s rain drops pelting a pond, the prism from a raindrop on a leaf, a reflective woodsy landscape over horizon, or even combo reflective captures such as the way waterfalls gush down with the force of gravity creating ripples in the water and reflective light shimmering of the chaotic waters. You may even get lucky enough to capture a rainbow too. These shots are excellent for long exposures which can capture the action and movements within your shot. Shooting long exposure shots can be tricky and is a crafted skill. Experiment with your exposure compensation with fast and slow shutter speeds to become a master.

5. Golden Hour - Golden hour is a landscape photographers favorite time of day. This is because of the golden glow that radiates from your scene and subject during this time. Golden hour is the first hour after sunrise and the last hour before sunset, when the suns rays gleam from the horizon offering breathtaking rays that can greatly enhance the aesthetics of all your golden hour shots. Using a wide angle lens will help capture the entire scene and great for landscapes and silhouette shots. These are also great shots for adjusting your aperture to create photos with an alternative depth of field that will blur or focus your background and foreground around your subject accordingly. A good telephoto lens can also really help you capture your subject in amazing angles or close up from different elevations and vantage points.

6. Contrasting Fall Colors - Photo shooting the warm rustic woodsy colors of fall over a neutral background is a great way to capture the elements of nature and highlight the seasons tones. Achieving the right intensity of color saturation to pull this type of shot off can be challenging. You may need to adjust the ISO and or white balance in your cameras settings to get the color temperature just right. Sunny days may require to underexpose or use a neutral density filter to reduce the amount of light that reaches your cameras sensors or a circular polarizer or polarizing filter to darken the blue sky and create a muted background behind the vibrancy of fall colors in your photo.

7. Lazy Days & Vacations - Whether you’re going somewhere fun or relaxing in your backyard enjoying the cool autumn air, you’re in the perfect situation for some amazing image captures. Many folks travel to New England to see the fall trees and visit Salem on Halloween or plan a trip to places like Aspen Colorado which is absolutely breathtaking during fall. Make sure to take photos of all natures beauty and how it compliments the places you visit. Taking some lazy day photos in the process will give you awesome photos too. Think about hammocks in an earthy woodsy environment with sunrays beaming through the tree branches and colorful golden and red leaves spread across the ground.
   
   

Camera Gear, & More Tips

If you’re using a great DSLR or mirrorless camera such as Sony’s Sony a6400 Mirrorless APS-C Interchangeable-Lens Camera with 18-135mm Lens ILCE-6400M or any camera by a top brand like canon or Nikon, don’t be afraid of using your camera to its fullest potential. the best tutorials are practice and experience. The autonomous tracking, focusing, and exposure features make these cameras great for beginners, but can also be used to transition your photographing skills to fully manual which is the preferred method by most pros. These cameras also can shoot in RAW which is ideal for postprocessing. Fall colors can be captures naturally, but it’s ok to use editing tools like photoshop and lightroom. Always ensure you have the right equipment to support your photoshoot. Owning the right lenses and filters can make the biggest difference in the results of your image captured. You may even find using a drone like the DJI Mini 3 Pro the perfect tool for soaring to the skies and recording immersive imagery that represents fall colors in all it’s truest form. Drones can achieve angles and shots a photographer would otherwise only be able to dream about.