Photo Op

fall colors | dlacord | Thursday, October 21st, 2010 at 8:33 am

This hasn’t been the best fall for leaf-peepers, but there were still some stunning views in the land of aspens. And if you haven’t ventured out with your camera yet, there’s still time.

Todd Caudle, noted Colorado scenic photographer who produces the Colorado Mountain Club calendars and whose work is featured in his own books (check out www.skylinepress.com) offers these tips for the best aspen shots

Avoid shooting in the harsh light of midday, but..
…if you must shoot in midday, try to shoot fall colors with side lighting (with the sunlight coming from the side rather than straight onto the foliage).
As an alternative, shoot with fall colors backlit by the sun. With the sun out of the image frame, you can use your hand or a hat to try to block the sun’s rays from striking the front of the lens to avoid lens flare. Backlit foliage absolutely glows in any season, more so in fall.
Bad weather makes good photographs. If it’s cloudy and rainy, or better yet, foggy, this is a great opportunity to catch fall scenes at their most transitory.
Look down! Some of the prettiest scenes are those intimate little wonders on the forest floor, where a single red plant is poking through a carpet of gold aspen leaves, or when fallen leaves are accented with dew drops.
Look up! There’s nothing quite as vibrant as a ceiling of gold aspen leaves against a blue Colorado sky. Add some puffy white clouds and you’ve got the makings of a real beauty.
Trees and shrubs don’t have to be completely covered in perfectly colored leaves to make for striking images. Sometimes the tail end of the color season, perhaps a lone aspen holding onto its last leaves amidst a forest of bare trees yields a stark, but no less beautiful scene.
Change lenses from time to time, or even frequently. Whether you’re shooting a digital SLR camera with interchangeable lenses or a point-and-shoot camera with a good zoom range, experiment with different lens focal lengths, from wide-angle to telephoto, for the utmost in variety in your photos.

– Deb Acord

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