Fall Photo Ideas: Capture the Season

The arrival of fall weather signals photography time. The lighting is warm and subdued, the kids are everywhere, and you can't seem to turn around without spotting another frame-worthy shot of a flaming red maple leaf dangling from a branch, a wagon full of orange pumpkins or a towering scarecrow standing in a field of corn stalks after harvest. But before you fill your hard drive with thousands of pics of leafy vistas, consider these fresh fall photography ideas.

Farmers’ Market

Farmers’ markets and roadside stands are excellent places to get into the harvest spirit. They're also a prime setting for stunning fall photos. As with any good photo, farmers’ market pics need a focal point. While it's nice to step back and take the occasional wide shot of a towering pumpkin display, it's usually more visually effective to focus on a specific subject, including the rest of the scene as colorful background. Just be mindful of what you want to capture when you're framing your shot. Otherwise, the beauty of the real-life bounty will be lost in a lot of visual noise.

Portraits

With all of the natural beauty that competes for our attention during the fall, it's easy to forget that this is the ideal time of year for portrait photography. Golden fall light is flattering, especially at dawn or dusk, when colors are muted and shadows are long. One of the challenges of portrait photography can be filling the rest of the frame. Fall makes that a lot easier. With the subject of the portrait in sharp focus, you can let the background remain a blurred collage of fall foliage. Fall is also a great time to capture candid portraits  with your DSLR from Beachcamera.com. Think of all of the fun family events that we celebrate in the fall. Use these naturally joyous and colorful opportunities to catch your family and friends smiling in beautiful settings.

Time Lapse Foliage

Document the drama of the changing leaves with a series of photos that captures a single tree at different stages. The simplest form of time-lapse is to take three or four photos of the same tree at the same time of day in similar lighting and frame the photos in a series. To make this work, position yourself on a spot that's easy to find again. Such as a tree stump or a large rock. For a true time-lapse effect, you’ll need to take hundreds of pictures from the same exact spot and string them together in a short digital movie. This will require a tripod and a digital camera with an interval setting that can automatically snap a picture every few hours like the Canon Camera from Beachcamera.com.

Pumpkin Patch

Few photographic opportunities are as rich as a trip to the pumpkin patch. Some of these working farms are full-blown fall festivals. Completed with 10-acre corn mazes, hayrides, pumpkin picking, apple-picking, huge slides, pony rides, carnival games, food vendors and more. With so many hallmarks of fall, there are almost too many great opportunities to take terrific photos. Most fall farm festivals run for the whole month leading up to Halloween. Get out there on a crisp, sunny day and don't forget the camera at home!

While a shot of a tree has its place, these are some other ways you can capture the magnificent colors in photos.