Photographing Fall Colours

When it comes to photographing landscapes, fall colours are my favourite. For the past two years, I’ve been fortunate to be in Algonquin Provincial Park for the entire colour change process including the peak. I’m not well-traveled by any means but think one would be hard-pressed to find more magnificent fall colours anywhere else.  

The Highway 60 corridor is a great place to see these incredible fall colours. Looking across Tea Lake and Lake of Two Rivers at the rolling hills of deciduous trees reveals a kaleidoscope of colour. Finding a safe spot to pull off this busy highway can be a challenge but there are several spots where doing so can be done. Just east of Source Lake there is a large pull-off overlooking a creek and beaver dam which is one of my favourite places to stop. Booth’s Rock and the Lookout Trail offer some amazing views if you are looking to incorporate a hike into your colour-seeking adventure. 

Getting off the beaten path and enjoying these amazing vistas in more secluded locations is what I prefer. Therefore, paddling and portaging into many of the smaller lakes is where I focus my attention. Words can’t describe my feelings when experiencing these incredible sights in solitude while hearing only the sounds of nature. The calming effects of this practice have a lasting impact and combined with paddling and portaging the benefits to my physical and mental health are immeasurable.         

When it comes to equipment for photographing fall colours, I like to keep it simple. I use my backup camera which is an old Canon Rebel T3i. The reason for this is so I can keep my main camera body, a Canon 7D at the ready with my Tamron 100-400mm lens attached in case I come across a loon, moose, or any other wildlife. I used to only carry one camera and switch between my landscape and wildlife lenses but missed too many shots while fumbling to swap lenses, hence the two cameras. 

As far as lenses go, this too is simple and inexpensive. Most of my images are taken with an 18-55mm kit lens, but I also carry a 55-250mm for more distant scenes and a 10-18mm to cover a wider spectrum. To carry this gear I use a Lowepro Flipside 200 backpack. This keeps my lenses at the ready and the flipside feature makes changing lenses effortless without having to take the pack off. This compact backpack has plenty of room for accessories like spare memory cards, batteries, lens cleaning equipment, maps, a water bottle, and even a tripod. 

Camera settings for photographing fall colours are pretty straightforward. Since I am not dealing with a moving subject I can get away with a much slower shutter speed than when I am photographing wildlife. I follow the reciprocal rule for choosing shutter speed. What this means is I want my shutter speed to be 1/focal length. Following this rule virtually eliminates shake when handholding a camera. So for my kit lens shooting at say 50mm, I want my shutter speed to be at least 1/50. Keep in mind that on windy days you may encounter a moving subject as the leaves and branches dance in the wind. If this is the case a faster shutter speed will be required to eliminate motion blur. 

I keep my ISO as low as possible and find most days I shoot at ISO 100. On windy days or in low light I will increase this to 200 or 400 but rarely higher.  

Shooting at a narrower aperture (a larger number) adds more depth to an image and keeps more of the frame in focus; therefore, I usually shoot at f/8 or narrower and often find I am most happy with the results I get at f/11. 

To keep things simple, I use aperture priority mode as the camera calculates part of the exposure. With me selecting ISO 100 and f/11 the camera then determines the corresponding shutter speed and on most days this falls within the parameters of the previously mentioned reciprocal rule. I can then use exposure compensation to fine-tune my exposure by watching my histogram and exposing for the whites or highlights which in most cases are the clouds. By doing this I capture all the detail within the clouds in-camera. 

After exposure composition is the second most important element to an image. This is where the rule of thirds comes in. Imagine your scene has a set of horizontal and vertical lines running across it like a Tic-Tac-Toe board. These lines divide the landscape into thirds both horizontally and vertically. When framing your image you want to line up your subject on one of these imaginary lines preferably where they intersect. This could be a tree, rock, the sun, or any other object in the picture. Adding a foreground element at these intersecting lines will add depth to the image. If you shoot in live view looking at your scene on your camera’s LCD you can turn on the grid which will give you the lines as a reference. Keep in mind shooting in live view uses more battery power, so carrying a spare is a good idea.

Personally, my preferred conditions for photographing fall colours are sunny days with a mix of fluffy white clouds. The colours really pop against the blue sky while the clouds add detail to the sky. I like mid-morning the best as I find the colours are true not like during the golden hour or sunrise and sunset. Cloudy, rainy days can be good too as the colours against dark gray clouds convey a completely different mood. 

Knowing when the leaves are changing in a given area is key to getting the best images. For this, I use the website Fall Colours at Ontario Parks. By looking at the information from the provincial park nearest my area, I can get a pretty good idea of how the colour change is progressing and plan my outings accordingly. Now that I am back in London I look at the information for Pinery Provincial Park and Port Burwell Provincial Park and see that we are only at 20% to 40% leaf change down here. This tells me it will be another week or two before the fall colours peak in Southwestern Ontario. In the meantime, I’ll keep an eye out for potential landscapes that might look good when the leaves change while I’m out and about photographing other subjects and return once the leaves are more colourful. 

The fall colours may have already peaked to our north, but for us in Southwestern Ontario, the best is yet to come. Fall is such a great time to be outdoors and hopefully, this post helps you in your quest to capture the incredibly colourful leaves Mother Nature gives us. 

Good birding,
Paul 

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