Filled with reds, golds, and oranges, autumn is a spectacular time to photograph. Leaves turn and drop from trees, berries ripen, and morning dew clings to everything as summer’s heat wanes. To tell the story of the changing seasons, get creative with color, motion, and perspective—and don’t forget to look for details.

Find Your View To truly capture the beauty of autumn, try shifting your perspective. For instance, if you’re deep in a forest, turn your camera straight up with a wide-angle lens for a dizzying view. This works best on a sunny day, when the sun is high overhead and the translucent leaves seem to glow from within when backlit. The stronger the light, the better the effect. Keep them from becoming overexposed by checking your histogram. To create an eye-catching point of interest try including the sun in your composition and add a starburst effect. Use a wide-angle lens set to a small aperture such as f/11 or f/16; the smaller the aperture, the more pronounced the effect. To reduce lens flare when shooting directly at the sun, block part of it with a tree trunk or branch. Don’t block the sun completely, though; you need just enough to create a strong burst.
Telephoto zoom lenses, such as a 70–200mm, are perfect for fall scenes. They allow you to home in on important details and take advantage of telephoto compression, which is an optical illusion that appears to flatten perspective in a distant scene. Use telephoto zooms to isolate a particularly colorful section of scenery or to photograph a distant hillside alive with color. Use one for still life and detail shots, too, such as photos of dew or frost-covered leaves carpeting the forest floor. When shooting leaves on the ground, align your camera plane parallel to the subject plane to minimize the depth of field you need to ensure sharp focus. Stop down and use a small aperture, such as f/16, to get corner-to-corner sharpness. For colorful leaves still hanging from the branches, zoom in tight to isolate the leaves from the background. On a still day when no breeze stirs the leaves, juxtapose them against water rushing over rocks in a stream and use a long exposure to blur the motion of the water.

Get Reflections Don’t just look for color in the trees—look for reflected color. Still water is great for capturing reflections of foliage; you can even include rocks, logs, or other elements to break up the reflection and make the composition more interesting. Use a telephoto zoom to get in tight on the most colorful reflections you find. For more impressionistic results, shoot moving water. Images using reflections work best when the foliage is brightly sunlit and the water is in shadow. This also creates an interesting color contrast between the warmth of sunlit foliage and the cool of anything in the shade, which mirrors the blue sky above. Just make sure to select a white balance that preserves the blue tones in shaded areas; typically, the daylight setting or slightly cooler will give you a good balance between the cool and warm tones. If you are shooting RAW, you can make your white balance selection when processing the file later at your computer.

Work That Polarizer A polarizing filter, affixed to your lens, can be an essential tool for capturing fall foliage—if you use it properly. Your instinct may be to use one to darken blue skies or increase the contrast of clouds, but on a sunny day, especially with a wide-angle lens, the polarizing effect will often be uneven, making one side of the sky look darker than the other. Check your LCD: If you get uneven polarization of the sky, take the polarizer off and darken the sky and add contrast in postproduction. The best time to use a polarizer? In overcast light, especially after a soaking rain. Leaves have waxy coatings that are prone to glare, and wetness intensifies that. But a polarizer cuts through glare, revealing stunning color beneath. Turn the polarizer until you see the colors darken and strengthen. A polarizer is also essential for photographing streams and waterfalls to darken wet rocks and enhance the overall color and contrast in your images. When using a polarizer, just remember that you can lose up to two stops of light. Watch for motion in the trees—even a slight breeze can blur the moving leaves during a long exposure. To freeze motion, set a higher ISO and, if maximum depth of field is not critical, use a larger aperture to let in more light so you can set a faster shutter speed.

Capture Peak Color It’s easy to be in the right place at the right time for peak fall foliage: Do a web search for “foliage reports” to find national, regional, and even local resources to help you to monitor the changing leaves. Fall color rarely happens all at once in any given location. Different species change color at different times, and higher elevations change faster than lower ones. Focus your efforts on areas where foliage is at its most intense and diverse. Remember that plenty of plants other than trees take on autumn hues, such as ferns, blueberry bushes, and ground plants. A diverse mix of tree and plant species will help you create interesting color profiles. A few evergreens mixed in with some maple trees can create a pleasing mix of greens and reds. With a little exploring, you should be able to find a partial spectrum of colors including reds, oranges, yellows, browns, and even purples. After peak color fades and most of the leaves have dropped, there’s still time to make great autumn images. I enjoy making photos when the trees are bare and the forest floor (or stream and waterfall scenes) is carpeted with leaves. They retain their color for some time after falling, allowing you to extend your autumn photography even as the chill of winter begins to set in.

About the Author/photographer: Ian Plant is a Pop Photo contributing editor and author of the photography how-to eBook Essential, free from ianplant.com.

The post How To Make The Most Of Your Fall Photography appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Lead the eye in

One of the most effective ways to create a powerful composition is to use visual elements to lead the viewer’s eye into the scene. Leading elements can be just about anything—lines, curves, or a progression of shapes. Leading lines that stretch from foreground to background are especially powerful, propelling the viewer into the scene. In the image at left, I used an outgoing wave to act as a leading line. Other shapes placed in the foreground can do the same: a curving river can compel the eye to meander throughout the frame, whereas a triangle-shaped rock can point into the composition. Multiple elements can more subtly encourage the viewer to explore the photograph—a near-to-far, bottom-to-top visual progression is often particularly effective.

ENTER THIS MONTH’S NATURE SHOT PHOTO CHALLENGE

Find a good foreground

Foregrounds add depth, and the best add punch, too. Providing a point of reference, they can simplify chaotic scenes. At this placid pool of water during a fiery sunrise, I backed up to incorporate the curving shoreline. Its shape frames the reflection of the mountains, enhancing the composition and adding depth to the image.

Engage the eye with repeating patterns.

People are naturally attracted to patterns, part of our ability and biological need to organize our chaotic world. When the eye explores one, it tends to want to visit each and every repeated element; accordingly, the savvy photographer can use repeating shapes and colors to encourage the viewer to visit multiple parts of the composition. Visual repetition gets the viewer’s eye moving, engaging interest and creating compositional energy.

On the flip side, repetition can also help create harmony and balance, adding structure to a composition, as well as to create order in an otherwise chaotic scene.

You can also create effective images by making the pattern itself the entire focus of the composition, as I did with the quirky shapes and patches of color in the little pond seen here. The less dynamic shapes of the lily pads floating in the water fade to the background, providing general structure and order for an otherwise energetic, chaotic collection of visual elements.

Emphasize your subject.

Use visual elements to direct your viewer’s attention to what’s important. Framing is one effective tool for simplifying and focusing interest. Examples include arcing tree branches, barn windows, and natural arches, but frames can also be made by arranging multiple visual elements around a subject. Sometimes it works best if there is an element of contrast between the frame and the subject—silhouetted trees around a sunlit mountain peak, for example.

Another way to draw attention to your primary subject is through the use of light: spotlighting, or a dose of brightness behind your subject, can focus the viewer. For this image, I selected a position that framed the monkey with a pattern of out-of-focus leaves lit by the setting sun. A hint of that light on the monkey also helps focus viewers’ attention.

Create visual energy.

Look for ways to convey a sense of energy. Use lines or shapes that tilt or point in opposite directions; think of a line of trees whose branches reach at differing angles into a cloud-filled sky. But be careful: Too much energy going one way and not enough going the other can look unbalanced—a classic example is an animal running out of the edge of the frame rather than into it. Long exposures of moving elements can also convey a sense of energy; motion blur creates compositional lines and shapes, adding further interest. Here, the streaking clouds form staggered, diagonal lines, which add energy to the frame.

You can find many more techniques like these in Contributing Editor Ian Plant’s new book, Visual Flow: Mastering the Art of Composition.For more info, and galleries of his images, visit ianplant.com.

The post 5 Composition Tips For Better Nature Photography appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

With Mexico to its north and Guatemala to its south, Belize lies on the Caribbean coast of Central America. The potent combination of its warm climate, lush scenery, and compelling wildlife will get your creative juices flowing. Just pack your swimsuit, a waterproof camera, and your sense of adventure for this photo trip of a lifetime. Here’s how.

Go Coastal

Highly popular among sun-worshipping tourists, Belize’s glittering sandy beaches are just as perfect for photo enthusiasts. Dangriga, Hopkins, and Placencia are wonderful tourist towns, and all three give you easy access to coastal scenery.

But to really experience the best that Belize has to offer, you will need to find a way out to the offshore barrier reef, the second largest in the world. Here you will find tiny deserted islands bedecked with only a few swaying palm trees. Underwater lies a beautiful reef teeming with life, including whale sharks (which peak in April and May), sea turtles, and plenty of other photogenic species.

Although a few islands have resorts on them, the best way to get to the barrier reef is by signing up for a snorkeling or diving tour, or by chartering a private boat (either can be easily arranged in one of the towns). The most photogenic islands are typically the ones farthest from the mainland, so talk in advance with your charter operator if you want to be on location for sunrise or sunset photography (you can also book an overnight camping excursion). A wide-angle zoom will come in handy for coastal scenery shots, especially for combining incoming waves with colorful sunset skies.

If you plan to do any snorkeling or diving, consider bringing along a waterproof camera or an underwater housing for your DSLR. Quality housings start at around $1,500; renting one is another possibility, although a rental for a two-week photo trip can cost almost as much as buying one. But don’t rule out waterproofing your compact camera; I opted for a Canon PowerShot S100 in a Fisheye FIX underwater housing, which gave me RAW shooting and other options.

While the results with this rig were certainly more than adequate for my occasional underwater forays, nothing beats a DSLR for flexibility and speed of use in underwater work.

Take a Jaunt in the Jungle

Great photo opportunities can also be found in the interior jungle, such as the one near the Monkey River, outside the town of Placencia.

Belize boasts dozens of parks with trails that wind through various jungle environments. Jungles are visually chaotic, making coherent photos difficult, so simplify compositions by zooming in on intimate details such as backlit jungle palms. Or focus on the wildlife, such as the howler monkeys pictured in our photo gallery.

Try a Cave Crawl

With hundreds of stunning cave com-plexes inside its porous limestone bedrock, Belize is a premier destination for spelunkers. But you don’t need to be a professional caver to explore the best of Belize’s underworld. Plenty of caves are easy to access on your own or on a guided tour.

Perhaps the most stunning example, and the easiest to get to, is Rio Frio Cave in the Mountain Pine Ridge Forest Reserve. This massive cathedral of stone is open at both ends, connected by a quarter mile of gurgling brook cleaving through the inky darkness. Be prepared for exposures of several minutes to capture the faintly lit interior; a sturdy tripod is absolutely necessary to ensure sharp images.

For your own safety, don’t forget to sign in at the military checkpoint near the cave; although rare, bandits from across the nearby Guatemalan border occasionally rob tourists in this area.

After photographing Rio Frio, stop at nearby Rio On Pools for some beautiful waterfall scenery. Other popular cave areas include Barton Creek and Caves Branch, which can be explored by canoe (note that you will have to do all your shooting from the boat), and Actun Tunichil Muknal cave, which is host to a number of Mayan artifacts and burial chambers.

Capture Animal Life

For wildlife viewing, Belize offers much more besides the barrier reef. One of the most popular places is Cockscomb Basin Jaguar Preserve in southern Belize, home to a number of wild cat species, including its namesake. Though Belize is home to five wild cat species, including jaguar, puma, ocelot, margay, and jaguarundi, sightings at the preserve are very rare. But you can expect to see a number of bird species.

If you are looking to stretch your legs, hike up to Tiger Fern Hill for waterfalls and beautiful mountain views of jagged Victoria Peak, the second-highest mountain in Belize. Also consider a trip to the nearby small town of Red Bank to photograph scarlet macaws. Ask anyone in town and they will point you to the caretaker of the macaw preserve; for a small fee you can hike up to a viewing area. Check ahead of time to find out if the macaws are present; they are typically active here only from January through March.

Crooked Tree Wildlife Sanctuary (about 30 miles north of Belize City) is another popular wildlife viewing destination. Every year, migrating birds flock to the sanctuary’s waterways by the thousands. The best months for photography are usually February to May: migrating birds are at their peak, and low dry-season water levels encourage birds into the open to seek food in the park’s shallow lagoons. Belize has the largest nesting population of jabiru storks in all of Central America; in April and May, the birds that nest in the northern and central parts of Belize gather at Crooked Tree in large numbers.

To view and photograph shy species such as the jaguar, consider a visit to the Belize Zoo, about 30 miles west of Belize City. The zoo is populated primarily with orphaned and rescued animals; those unable to return to the wild become permanent residents. The zoo does its best to keep the enclosures natural in appearance, thus enhancing your photographic experience.

For shooting wildlife, bring some long glass. Lenses in the 400mm to 500mm range will help close in on distant birds, and image stabilization is a must when handholding shots in Belize’s dark jungle environments. I found my 100–400mm zoom to be a good compromise between reach and portability.

Discover Ancient Artifacts

If you are looking for a short break from nature photography, visit Belize’s ancient Mayan ruins. Excellent sites can be found in Lamanai near Orange Walk (the river tour to Lamanai is also great for photographing wildlife); Caracol near San Ignacio; Xunantunich near the Guatemala border; and Altun Ha, 35 miles north of Belize City.

World famous Tikal is just across the border in Guatemala, and many Belize tours travel there.

Planning Your Trip

Belize’s tropical climate is relatively stable year-round, with little seasonal variation in temperature. The rainy season is from June through November, although you won’t necessarily get constant rain at these times. Early in the year is relatively dry and sunny, a perfect time for your visit (but remember that clouds can add color and dramatic skies in landscapes shot at sunrise and sunset).

Offshore winds can sometimes blow fairly steadily, which might make taking a boat tour to Belize’s islands and barrier reef a bit choppy, if not impossible. Choppy seas also reduce water clarity for underwater photography, so try to plan any snorkeling or diving for calm days.

International flights arrive at Philip S.W. Goldson International Airport, just outside Belize City. You don’t need to get a visa to enter Belize (your passport will do); you will be issued a tourist visa when you arrive. Options for local air travel and rental cars are available at the airport.

The Belize dollar is pegged to the U.S. dollar at a 2-to-1 ratio. Most retailers take U.S. currency, and credit cards are widely accepted. Lodging in major tourist areas ranges from inexpensive-but-clean to luxury, and will be more spartan in remote areas.

Although most of Belize is safe for tourists, the U. S. State Department recommends exercising caution in Belize City, as well as near some border areas. And although vaccinations are not required to enter Belize, you may want to consider consulting with your doctor prior to travel.

The coastal tourist towns can be reached by small plane, but a rental car will be useful if you wish to explore the interior. Most rental companies offer four-wheel-drive high-clearance vehicles as their standard because many of Belize’s roads are not paved and some are exceptionally bumpy. Belize’s bus system is also an option. Or you can join half-day or day-long tours, which originate from most tourist towns and allow you to visit the country’s top attractions.

Belize’s official language is English, although Kriol, Spanish, Garifuna, and various Mayan dialects are the first languages of a majority of Belize’s people. But with the possible exception of people living in remote areas, most Belizeans speak English very well.

Full-time professional nature photographer Ian Plant is the author of a number of e-books and digital-processing video tutorials. See more of his work at ianplant.com.

Sea turtle, Caribbean

Bamboo Grove, Monkey River Jungle

Iguana, Monkey River

Howler Monkeys, Monkey River

Middle Silk Caye, Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve

Big Rock Falls, Mountain Pine Ridge Forest

The post Traveling Photographer: Belize appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Want to make your camera system even more flexible? These magic rings can make many lenses fit on cameras they weren’t made for. Here’s how to put adapters to work. Also check out our lens adapting compatibility chart for even more info.

It was love at first sight. But as with the greatest love stories, this one seemed cursed by fate. I was a young photographer and she was beautiful: a little bulbous, sure, but incredibly sharp. Not unlike Romeo and Juliet, our problem was pedigree. She was from a rival house, but I vowed to make her mine. With the help of an adapter, I was able to do just that—and now my Canon EOS 5D Mark III is rarely parted from my beloved Nikon 14–24mm AFS f/2.8G ED lens.

Lens adapters allow you to use a variety of wonderful alternative lenses—including some truly exotic optics and some classics that are so exceptional that you may wonder why they aren’t still made. Although the lenses made for your camera may be great, having options is nice.

How Adapters Work

One end is designed to accept a specific lens brand and/or type; the other end is designed to fit the camera. Typically there is no communications bridge to allow the lens to send data to the camera (or vice versa), so electronically driven lens features—notably autofocus and auto aperture—won’t work when the lens is mounted on the adapter. You will need to focus manually and physically stop down the aperture before shooting. The lens also won’t be able to communicate EXIF data to the camera.

Some adapters include a focus- confirmation chip that allows the camera to signal when a subject is in focus, using an audible beep and/or icon displayed in the viewfinder.

Unfortunately, not every lens is adaptable to every camera system. Most adapters are made for use with older lenses that have manual aperture rings, which must be adjusted by the user. Many modern lenses, such as the Nikon 14–24mm, have electronic aperture control that won’t work on other cameras. Adapter manufacturers have worked around this problem by including a physical actuator for the lens aperture built into the adapter. You still have to manually set the aperture, only by adjusting the adapter, and not the lens.

Pros and Cons

Because adapted lenses cancel many of your camera’s auto features, they slow you down and therefore may not be suitable for certain applications, such as fast-action sports and wildlife photography. But landscapes, architecture, and other subjects that don’t rely heavily on autofocus are well-suited to adapted lenses.

Given the obvious difficulties involved with adapting alternative lenses, and the ready availability of high-quality lenses for current camera systems, you might rightfully ask: Why use alternative lenses with adapters?

The chief reasons:

Cost: Alternative lenses can be cheaper than their unadapted counterparts, sometimes significantly so. Many are out of production but nonetheless readily available on the used market for a reasonable price.

Quality: Don’t believe all the hype that your camera maker’s lenses are the best out there. In fact, there are plenty of alternative lenses that may be superior to unadapted optics. In my case, I was less than satisfied with Canon’s wide-angle zooms, so I dispensed with brand loyalty and choose an adapted best-in-class solution instead.

Gap-filling: Even though the lens lineups for camera systems are fairly extensive, sometimes they have gaps. Alternative lenses often fill these gaps, especially for specialty uses.

System switch: If you have changed camera systems, but hate to lose your inventory of lenses from your old system, you might be able to use an adapter and keep using them. This is true when switching between manufacturers (such as from Nikon to Canon) or between systems within the same brand (such as Leica screw-mount to Leica M). You might not want to give up some of your favorite “legacy” lenses; adapters make it possible to keep using them.

Adapter Options

These days, there seems to be no shortage of lens adapters available on the market—some good, some not so good. There are a number of reputable manufacturers making adapters, including Adaptimax, Bower, CameraQuest, Fotodiox, Novoflex, Vello, Voigtländer, and others. You can find cheap adapters on places such as eBay, many of which are quite good—but you can also find many adapters that will be inadequate for critical use.

Do your homework before buying an adapter to make sure you are getting the quality and features you need. Consult the websites of adapter makers to ensure you’re getting the functionality you expect. Most important, make sure your adapter will allow you to focus throughout the entire native focus range of the lens, especially infinity focus (good adapters won’t affect focus at all).

Adaptable Camera Systems

Although most camera systems are adaptable up to a point, not all systems are created equal when it comes to adapting alternative lenses for use. Nikon cameras are among the least adaptable. Among the ones I’ve used on my Canon bodies are several Zeiss lenses from the old Contax line of film cameras. Most other popular camera systems fall somewhere between the Nikon and Canon systems in terms of adaptability, and Sony, Fujifilm, Olympus, Panasonic, Pentax, and Leica users will find many adapter options available.

As is usually the case, though, most adapters do not support autofocus on ILC bodies.

Adaptation Across Format

You aren’t constrained to just adapting lenses to cameras of the same format. Many people cross between various formats including Four Thirds, APS-C, 35mm full- frame, medium-format, and even large-format systems.

It is easier to adapt down—to use a larger-format lens on a smaller-format body—than to adapt up. Smaller-format lenses are built with enough coverage only for the film or sensor they were designed for. So, if you use a smaller-format lens on a larger format body, you could end up with severe vignetting, or even a circular image.

On the other hand, when adapting a larger-format lens to your camera, you’ll have a generous image circle, but a narrower angle of view. Larger formats have larger image areas, and require lenses with longer focal lengths. So, while a wide-angle lens on a full frame DSLR might be 21mm, the equivalent field of view on a medium-format camera requires a 50mm lens, and on a 4×5 format, 90mm. But when you put the 50mm wide-angle medium-format lens on your DSLR, it stays a 50mm lens and offers a normal perspective. In effect, the widest medium-format lenses become normal lenses on a full-frame DSLR, whereas the widest lenses for large-format camera systems become short teles. On APS-C and Four Thirds cameras, these lenses have still longer focal length equivalents.

While the quality of many medium- and large-format lenses can be high, they tend to be heavier and more expensive than DSLR lenses. Furthermore, large-format lenses cannot be adapted to a DSLR unless attached to a special bellows adapter—although in doing so you gain access to a number of useful perspective and plane-of-focus camera movements such as tilt and shift. (You can also take advantage of the larger image circle of medium-format lenses and use them with bellows adapters on a DSLR for the same purpose.)

But for anything other than very precise critical work, you’re probably better off buying a dedicated tilt-shift lens to gain these large-format camera movements on your DSLR, without the technical hassles of adapting.

Permanent Adaptation

Conurus in Vancouver, BC, Canada (conurus.com) is a leader in modifying alternative lenses for certain cameras. Modified lenses retain autofocus, auto aperture, and EXIF communication. Current options include Contax N lenses to Canon EOS cameras, Canon EF lenses to Sony NEX cameras, and Contax N lenses to Sigma SD14 cameras. Expect to pay anywhere between $300 and $1,000 for modification, depending on the lens.

Glitches and Gremlins

When using a lens adapter don’t expect everything to work as usual. Besides losing autofocus and auto aperture, your lens won’t communicate EXIF data to the camera. And if that weren’t enough, you might even experience firmware conflicts. For example, I’ve used my Nikon 14–24mm lens on my Canon EOS 5D Mark II with no problems, but when I upgraded to the 5D Mark III, working in live view was rendered impossible. The problem? The new firmware for the Mark III didn’t like the data coming from the adapter’s focus-confirmation chip. So I pried off the chip. Problem solved!

Adapted Lenses Hall of Fame

If you’re looking for some lenses that are good candidates for adaptation, here’s a list of five to get you started. All are known performers when it comes to playing nice with other camera bodies.

1. Zeiss Distagon 21mm f/2.8: Zeiss lenses for Contax/Yashica are of exceptional quality; this one is tops. (Note that Zeiss now makes it in Canon and Nikon mounts.)
2. Olympus Zuiko 21mm f/2: This tiny gem of a lens is a less-expensive, high-performance alternative to the Distagon 21mm. And it’s fast, too, at f/2.
3. Nikon 14–24mm AFS f/2.8G ED: With corner-to-corner sharpness (even wide open), it trounces other lenses in its focal range—even primes.
4. Contax N Vario-sonnar T* 17–35mm f/2.8: Many convert this legendary Zeiss lens permanently to a Canon EOS mount.
5. Leica Vario-Elmar-R 21–35mm f/3.5–4: Made for the discontinued Leica R SLRs, fans say it’s one of the sharpest wide-angle zooms available.

Contributing Editor Ian Plant is a photographer, writer, and adventurer. His work has appeared in books and calendars, and he is the author of ebooks and digital-processing video tutorials. See his images at www.ianplant.com.

The post Lens adapters: An introductory guide appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Now is a Great time to visit the desert. When much of the country is still gripped in snow and ice, temperatures in the desert start to reach that justright point in late winter and early spring, and clear skies mean brilliant light at sunrise and sunset. As a bonus, desert flowers bloom in March, adding a rare splash of color to an otherwise barren landscape.

So pack your gear, some sunscreen, and lots of water, and head on out. Here are a few of the extraordinary things that the desert offers to nature photographers, and the best places to find them.

Killer Dunes

Many desert areas have significant dune fields. For the best shots, wait for heavy winds to blow them clean of footprints and create ripples and other formations in the sand. Try using this heavily rippled sand as a foreground element when shooting grand landscapes.

The colorful, low-angled light of sunrise and sunset works best to show the landscape in clearest relief. The crests of dunes often make the best subjects, as you can juxtapose sunlit and shadow areas of the dune for dramatic effect. Be careful when exploring dunes; you don’t want to ruin that perfect shot by tracking up the sand before you realize its full potential. When working in blowing sand, avoid changing lenses to keep sand from getting inside your camera. Typically, a wide-to-short telephoto zoom lens (like a 24–105mm on a full-framer, 16–70mm for APS-C sensors) will give you more than adequate coverage.

Where to find the country’s best desert dunes: Death Valley National Park (CA) has one of the most accessible dune fields—Mesquite Flat Dunes—and one of the tallest, Eureka Dunes, although you might need four-wheel drive to get to those. Great Sand Dunes National Park (CO) has a huge field, its 800-foot high dunes dwarfed only by a backdrop of the massive Sangre de Cristo Mountains.

The dunes of White Sands National Monument (NM), although much smaller in size, are unique for their white color, which reflects the hues of sunrise and sunset.

Sculpted Sandstone

Where there is sand, there’s likely to be sandstone. This soft rock is typically colorful and easily eroded by water and wind into fantastic shapes. Natural arches, rock sculptures, and flowing rock striations make excellent photographic subjects. Be careful when photographing delicate sandstone features: You don’t want to break anything and ruin the fun for others.

The warm light of sunrise and sunset can really bring out the brilliant colors in sandstone. Also, sandstone in the shade appears to glow when it is illuminated by light bouncing off of other sandstone in direct light. Usually, overcast light is not ideal when photographing sandstone.

Try Valley of Fire State Park (NV) for some of the most colorful sandstone you’ll ever see, with a rainbow of pastel colors including reds, pinks, yellows, oranges, and blues— all just one hour outside of Las Vegas. Bonus features include abundant natural arches and Native American petroglyphs.

Arches National Park (UT) lives up to its name—with more than 2,000 sandstone arches, this must-see park should be near the top of every shooter’s life list.

Last but certainly not least, the Bisti Wilderness (NM) contains bizarre, sculpted rock features that carry intriguing names such as The Egg Factory and Angel Wings.

Mysterious Slot Canyons

When water and sandstone collide, slot canyons form. These narrow canyons, some barely big enough to squeeze though, make great photographic subjects—if you don’t mind a little claustrophobia and perhaps scraped elbows.

Before heading in, however, check the weather forecast. If it rains in the area while you are exploring a slot, you might get trapped in a sudden, dangerous flash flood. Even rainstorms hundreds of miles away can send a flash flood your way, so only go if sunny skies generally prevail in the region.

The sunny days that minimize your risk of a flash flood also offer the best light for photographing slots. Strong light striking the rocks at the top of the slot will reflect down into the interior, creating a beautiful, soft glow. Direct beams of light striking the canyon floor can add drama to your images—try throwing a handful of sand into the light to accentuate the beam.

If possible, plan to spend several hours in a slot canyon during the middle of the day, to watch the light change and to ensure you catch the peak glow.

While some slots require technical canyoneering skills to reach, there are many easily accessible—and extremely photogenic—slot canyons in the southwestern desert.

Try Grand Staircaseescalante National Monument (UT), with several beautiful slots including Zebra, Spooky, and Peek-A-Boo Canyons.

Perhaps the most famous slot canyon in the world is Antelope Canyon (AZ), on Navajo Nation tribal land. For a fee, you can explore its many twists and turns, and shoot its famous glowing sandstone features and arches.

Water Features

Ironically enough, water defines many desert areas, sculpting the landscape and bringing life to what would otherwise be barren. Some desert areas have an abundance of water, making for unique photography opportunities.

For the ultimate desert water experience, Great Salt lake (UT), the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere, doesn’t disappoint—head to Antelope Island State Park for a chance to photograph landscapes and wildlife, including bison, pronghorn, and bighorn sheep.

Big Bend National Park (TX), which preserves a magnificent portion of the Chihuahuan Desert, is defined by the looping Rio Grande River. Many photogenic wonders await you there, including eroded rocks, volcanoes, fossils, hot springs, and old mines.

Finally, the world-renowned Virgin River Narrows of Zion National Park (UT) offers a fantastic desert pairing: a flowing river at the bottom of a deep sandstone canyon. Just bring a pair of chest waders and a sturdy stick for keeping your balance, as you will spend much of your time in waist-deep water.

Flora and Fauna Desert photography isn’t just about sand and stone. Many desert areas boast unique plant and animal life.

Joshua Tree National Park (CA) is famous for its stunning collection of twisted Joshua trees, growing as high as 30 or 40 feet.

Organ Pipe National Monument and Saguaro National Park (AZ) are known for their respective namesake cacti, as well as beautiful highdesert scenery.

Plants aren’t the only things that thrive in the desert: Thousands of sandhill cranes come to the Alamosa and Monte Vista National Wildlife Refuges (CO) in March before migrating elsewhere; bring a long telephoto lens to capture the action.

For the ultimate living-desert experience, travel to an area with good spring blooms. This isn’t always a safe bet: Some areas flower every year, whereas other areas bloom only every few years—or decades—dependent on sufficient moisture from rains or mountain snowmelt.

Areas that consistently bloom in profusion in March include Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and the Antelope Valley California Poppy Reserve, both located in southern California.

A wide-angle lens is useful for capturing grand landscapes of fields filled with flowers, whereas a macro lens or a short telephoto will come in handy when shooting close-ups or isolating a portion of the landscape.

Ian Plant is the author/photographer of eight books, including Chesapeake: Bay of Light (Mountain Trail Press, 2007), and a lead author and executive editor of The Ultimate Guide to Digital Nature Photography (Mountain Trail Press, 2009). See more of his work at www.ianplant.com.

The post The Best Desert Photography Spots appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

The post How To: Create Composite Moon Images in Photoshop appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Patgonia spans a vast area, comprising most of the southern portions of Argentina and Chile. So rather than giving you a broad overview, I’m focusing on one of its best photo destinations, Los Glaciares National Park in Argentina—the famous Monte Fitz Roy area. Here you can photograph mighty granite spires capped with hanging glaciers, lakes as blue as the sky, and one of the greatest wilderness areas on the planet.

Los Glaciares is not for the faint-hearted. Although there are plenty of opportunities for roadside shooting, many of the most beautiful photo destinations require hiking—and even backcountry trekking—to reach.

Your base for Los Glaciares exploration will be El Chaltén, the self-proclaimed trekking capital of Patagonia. Surrounded on all sides by the national park, you can walk along just about any street in town, and keep going until it turns into a trail heading into the mountains. Chaltén has recently become a hot spot for trekkers and travelers the world over, and it is quickly transforming from a dusty border outpost to a comfortable tourist destination.

When you arrive in Chaltén, a trip to the National Park Visitor Center is essential. There, you can purchase maps and guidebooks to the area, and learn other useful information.

Photogenic Places:
Relatively short hikes from the visitor center in Chaltén lead to Mirador de los Cóndores and Mirador de las Águilas, two steep hills with panoramic views of the Andes Mountains. By car (or just over two miles on foot), you can easily reach Chorrillo del Salto, a scenic waterfall that plunges 70 feet over a rocky cliff. For one of the best views in Patagonia, hike up to Laguna Capri by headlamp for sunrise (plan on at least 90 minutes of hiking time) and thrill to the sight of first light on Fitz Roy.

Some of the best photo ops are deeper in the backcountry. Consider staying overnight at Laguna Torre, with great views of 10,262-foot-high Cerro Torre. A glacier empties into the far side of the lake, spilling icebergs into the frigid waters. Another can’t-miss overnight option is a trek to Camp Poincenot. From there, you can hike to Laguna Sucia for sunset, at the bottom of a steep and beautiful glacier-carved valley. For sunrise, join dozens of other hikers to make the relentlessly steep climb in the dark to Laguna de Los Tres in order to photograph one of the most stunning alpine lakes in the world. Just hold onto your jaw to keep it from hitting the ground when you see the lake’s sapphire blue waters reflecting mighty Fitz Roy bathed in dawn light.

Consider hiring transportation in town to take you to some of the more remote destinations. Lago del Desierto, a little less than 25 miles outside of Chaltén and reached by a dirt road, offers great views of Fitz Roy and the Andes. A trail follows the entire east side of the lake, so go as far or as little as you please. Halfway between Lago del Desierto and Chaltén is Laguna Azul, a brilliant blue lake reached by a short hike.

For a different view of Los Glaciares, Patagonia Aventura leads boat trips daily onto Lago Viedma (just south of town), including a close encounter with the massive Viedma Glacier. Consider the optional “ice trek” package, which includes a three-hour hike over the glacier using crampons. Along the way, you’ll get a chance to photograph crevasses and ice caves. Compressed glacial ice is deep blue in color, and looks most brilliant on a bright, sunny day.

Although Los Glaciares has a great, easy-to-follow trail system, you might consider hiring a local guide and outfitter, especially ifyou want to get into some of the gnarlier backcountry locations. I’ve used, and highly recommend, Mountaineering Patagonia (www.mountaineeringpatagonia.com), located in Chaltén. There are a number of other guides and outfitters available.

How to Shoot:
The mountains face east, so sunrise will be your best chance for getting light on the peaks. Don’t rule out sunset, however, especially when high clouds appear: When the sun sets behind the mountains, you can often get great light in the sky and clouds above.

Even on crystal-clear days, you’ll often have some attractive clouds clinging to the high Andes. This weather can lend moodiness to images, even at times other than the magic hours of sunrise, sunset, and twilight. Consider converting images taken at less colorful times of day to black-and-white.

Because you’re far from any major cities, on clear, moonless nights you’ll be treated with a magnificent view of the stars. Set your tripod-mounted camera to Bulb, open your aperture to f/4 or f/5.6, and use a remote electronic shutter release with a locking mechanism to trigger long exposures of 15 minutes or more. That way you can record star trails as the Earth spins on its axis. Just make sure your battery is fully charged.

You’ll definitely want a wide-angle zoom (such as a 16–35mm for a full-frame camera, or a 12–24mm for an APS-C model) when photographing Los Glaciares. The park’s many scenic lakes and glacier-fed streams make attractive foreground elements for wide scenic views. A moderate telezoom (such as a 70–200mm) will come in handy for homing in on distant peaks.

Filters? A polarizer will be useful to cut down glare when photographing streams and waterfalls, and to darken blue skies (but beware of uneven polarization in the sky when using a wide-angle lens). Split neutral-density filters will help when balancing the exposure of the sky with that of the land at sunrise and sunset.

And consider using overall neutral-density filters to lengthen exposure times to blur the movement of fast-moving clouds over the mountains for an impressionistic look.

Pack light when hiking in the mountains. Although most of the trails aren’t unduly strenuous, you’ll appreciate lighter equipment when roaming the backcountry. A sturdy carbon-fiber tripod and a good photo backpack will make your experience much more enjoyable.

When to Go:
Our winter is Argentina’s summer. Spring arrives in Patagonia in November. From January through March, high summer temperatures are very comfortably in the 70s F. Early April is the time for peak fall color and the approach of winter.

Be aware that the Andes make their own weather. Although summer temperatures are often comfortable, cold weather can strike at any moment—I’ve experienced 75-degree weather one day and snow the next. Be prepared and bring some winter clothing along, just in case. A down parka packs light and will keep you toasty warm if you need it. Wet weather is not uncommon, so bring some rain gear, including protection for your equipment, as well.

Finally, Patagonia is infamous for its winds, which can make even warm days seem like cold ones. A windproof layer will definitely come in handy.

Travel Tips:
International flights arrive in Buenos Aires at Ministro Pistarini Airport (airport code EZE), also called Ezeiza Airport. To get to the town of El Chaltén, you need to transfer by cab or bus from Ezeiza to Jorge Newbery Airport (AEP) to catch a flight to El Calafate (FTE). From Calafate, there is regular bus service to Chaltén, or you can rent a car. The drive from Calafate to Chaltén is about three hours over a newly paved highway.

U.S. citizens need only a passport when traveling to Argentina, although you will have to pay a visa fee ($140) when arriving at Ezeiza airport, plus an exit fee of $28 when you leave. Most businesses in Argentina take either Argentine pesos or U.S. dollars, and many take credit cards.

Lodging is typically inexpensive, but nonetheless clean and comfortable. Make sure you have an appropriate international calling plan to use your cell phone—when you can. Although Chaltén doesn’t currently have cellular service, you’ll find many phone/internet shops in town where you can make calls and log onto the web for a relatively low price.

You won’t find a camera store in Chaltén, so bring backup gear. Argentina uses 220–240-volt electrical outlets, which require an adapter for North American plugs (U.S. outlets are 110–120 volts). Most laptops and camera-battery chargers are compatible with 220 volts and won’t need a voltage converter, but check to be sure before plugging anything in!

Professional nature photographer Ian Plant lives in Virginia. He leads several workshops a year, including one in Patagonia this March. For more images, workshops, and instructional e-books, visit ianplant.com__.

The post How To: Plan the Perfect Trek to Patagonia appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

While rewarding, working with limited light presents many challenges, especially for digital photographers. Low-angled directional light can easily fool camera meters, and low light and long exposures can push the limits of batteries and camera sensors. Here are some field procedures and artistic techniques I’ve learned to rely on during my years photographing “on the edge of light.”

Juxtaposition of Shadow and Light
For subjects that are only partially lit, this method can be very powerful when handled correctly. A subject standing in direct light against a background that’s in shadow, for example, will appear in sharp relief to its surroundings. Alternating areas of shadow and light create texture and depth, helping preserve a three-dimensional look in your photographs.

You can simplify your composition by placing potentially distracting elements in shadow, making them essentially invisible and focusing attention on your subject. Borders between shadow and light can also create interesting patterns and shapes.

Although juxtapositions often work best at sunrise and sunset (when the light is warm and colorful), you can make powerful images using this technique at any time of day.

Backlight
Backlighting creates deep shadows, providing texture to an image that might otherwise appear flat in standard light. When they’re backlit, the edges of translucent subjects such as wildflowers or feathers appear to glow. This light is particularly effective at sunrise and sunset, when it takes on a strong golden or reddish color. Look to juxtapose your backlit subject against a dark, shadowed background to maximize contrast in the image and to create dramatic lighting.

In many ways, backlighting is the hardest to work with. Flare presents a significant challenge, especially when you include the sun in the frame. This can cause a general loss of contrast, as well as unsightly hexagons and blobs. To mitigate flare, shade your lens to prevent direct sunlight from falling on the front element— block it with a lens hood; in a pinch, use your hand.

Of course, when you want to include the sun in your image, it will be impossible to keep light from striking your lens. here, the best you can do is to partially block the sun using the edge of a tree, mountain, cloud, or some other natural feature. Even partially blocking the sun can help reduce flare to a manageable amount. And remember that a number of digital darkroom techniques, such as Content Aware Fill in Adobe Photoshop CS5, can help eliminate flare when you process your images.

Another technical challenge of backlight is that the extreme contrast between highlight and shadow can fool your camera’s meter, resulting in over- or underexposure. Critically check exposure by reviewing each image on your camera’s LCD and consulting the histogram. Alternatively, if your camera supports live view with exposure simulation, you can check your exposure before triggering the shutter.

If your camera has the highlight overexposure warning sometimes called “the blinkies,” use it to ensure you don’t have any significant overexposed highlights.

Occasionally, the contrast range of your scene will exceed the dynamic range of your camera’s sensor. You may be unable to avoid overexposure of the fringe areas of a backlit subject (such as the feathers on on a bird), which may be acceptable as long as the overexposed areas are not unduly large or crucial parts of the image. If you cannot manage to retain detail in the shadow areas of the scene, consider rendering your subject in silhouette instead.

Indirect Light
Light that reflects off of an object (like canyon walls or even clouds) or that is diffused through something translucent is called indirect light.

The magical glow found in photos of slot canyons results from bounce light: Direct sunlight strikes the rocks at the top of the canyon, and the rocks act as reflectors, bouncing the light deeper into the interior of the canyon, bathing the lower walls in a warm, reddish light. Bounce can also occur around sunrise and sunset, when clouds crackle with colorful reds and yellows. If it is intense enough, this color is reflected onto the landscape, burnishing the whole scene with soft, warm tones.

Surfaces of high reflectivity, such as water, ice, snow, and wet rocks, also bounce light. I like to juxtapose reflections of sunlit elements with objects that are in shadow, such as sunlit fall foliage reflected in a shaded brook. This way, I can capture a complementary color scheme of warm tones (sunlit reflections) and cool tones (objects in shadow). When selecting your white balance, remember that a relatively cool setting (typically daylight or cooler) will preserve blue tones in shadow areas, whereas a warmer white balance will eliminate blue tones and reduce the complementary nature of the colors.

Diffused light is most commonly associated with cloudy days, which are often perfect for waterfalls and streams. Other natural elements, such as heavy tree cover in a lush rain forest or jungle environment, can heavily diffuse light. Photographs made in these settings often appear to have a green glow that adds an ethereal mood.

Because bounce and diffused light are indirect, they are often fairly weak, so you may need long exposures. With slot canyons, for instance, exposure times at base ISO settings may be 30 seconds or longer. You can reduce exposure times by increasing your ISO, but don’t go so far as to degrade your images with digital noise.

Twilight and Night
While most nature photographers prefer the “magic hours” of sunrise and sunset sunset when the light is golden-red, don’t overlook the faint gleam of twilight. The gloaming hours can be perfect for rendering scenes in a dreamy, impressionistic manner.

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, WA

Sol Duc Valley, Olympic NatioNal park, WA

Chesapeake Bay, MD

The Narrows, Zion National Park, UT

Loowit Overlook, Mt. Saint Helens National Monument, WA

Split Rock, Rialto Beach, Olympic National Park, WA

The post Tips From a Pro: Creating a Powerful Low-Light Landscape appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Finding the right focusing point and the right tilt with a tilt/shift lens largely depends on your subject. Let’s take the easiest possible example: patterned floor tiles. Such a subject has a single, flat plane of focus, extending from near to far horizontally from the photographer. Start by focusing on the subject, then use the lens’s tilt feature to tilt the lens forward to align it with the subject plane of focus (per the Scheimpflug principle). When you tilt the lens, you alter the focus point, so you may have to make some additional adjustments to focus and tilt until you find the optimal tilt angle and focus point. Once the proper focal plane is achieved, then everything from near to far should snap into focus, even at wide-open apertures with minimal depth of field.

Things get more complicated when your subject has vertical planes of focus as well as horizontal. Let’s take the woodland wildflower image used to illustrate “Tilt/Shift to the Rescue” in the May ’11 Pop Photo, which has both vertical and horizontal elements, making it about as difficult as it gets when working with a tilt/shift lens. For such a scene, one needs to find a Scheimpflug relationship that takes into account not only the subject’s horizontal near-far elements (the wildflowers), but also the subject’s vertical low-high elements (the trees). I used a small amount of forward tilt to help control depth-of-field, tilting the lens less than in the floor tile example and relying on depth of field more, establishing a compromise plane of focus that cuts diagonally through the scene from near to far. Once I found the optimal tilt angle and focus point, I stopped down to get the depth of field needed to bring both horizontal elements (the receding flowers, near to far) and vertical elements (the trees, from bottom to top) into sharp focus.

A good way to find a starting focusing point is to zero the tilt, then focus about one-third of the way into the subject plane, and then begin tilt trials. This could work well with a fairly simple scene, but with a very complex scene, the initial focus point would be a somewhat arbitrary starting point, and will almost certainly change as you hone in on the proper tilt angle and work out all of the variables.

With some scenes, it’s advantageous to combine shift with tilt. I did this in the wildflower photograph discussed above. I wanted to keep the trees in the image perfectly vertical, but if I tilted the camera down to include the nearest flowers in the frame, the trees would appear to splay away from each other at the top of the frame. So instead, I shifted the lens downward (called “fall” in view-camera parlance) and kept the camera parallel to the trees.

The opposite of fall, called “rise,” would be used in situations where the camera would typically be pointed up, such as shooting tall building or trees. By using rise instead of pointing the camera up, the photographer can avoid convergence of the tops of the buildings or trees caused by apparent perspective distortion. Tilt might be simultaneously applied to achieve near-far focus in situations that have a foreground element that is relatively close to the photographer—for example, a courtyard sculpture beneath a towering skyscraper, or a tall flowering bush set against a forest scene.

Sideways tilt, known as swing, is useful whenever you have a vertical element that starts near and travels perpendicular or diagonally away from the camera plane. For example, imagine that you are standing at the base of a rock face or cliff, which is your subject. Tilt won’t help much, as tilting the lens forward or back will leave part of the cliff face (either top or bottom) out of focus. By swinging the lens left or right, however, you can align the lens with the subject plane to ensure near-to-far focus.

Lateral shift might be used to avoid lateral wide-angle perspective distortion that can cause convergence or divergence of lines, although typically lateral distortion is less of a concern in nature photography than vertical distortion. Lateral shift is more useful for architectural photography, to ensure that parallel lines stay parallel.

Ian Plant, a regular contributor to Pop Photo, is an author and editor of numerous books and articles on nature photography. See lots of his pictures at www.ianplant.com.

The post Mini-Tutorial: Focusing, Tilting and Shifting Your Way to Better Photos appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.

Tip 1: Make a Mirror Reflection

Round Pond, Adirondack State Park, New York
Tripod-mounted K.B. Canham DLC45 view camera with 150mm f/5.6 Rodenstock Apo-Sironar- N lens; 2 sec at f/22 on Fujichrome Velvia 50.

Windless conditions are critical for achieving mirror-like reflections of autumn color in water. But an uninterrupted mirror can create too static a picture. Instead, look for rocks or logs in the water to break up the reflection and to provide a visual anchor to help strengthen your composition.

Another key factor: the angle of the light. I made this photo at sunrise, when first light started to strike the peak autumn color. Plan to be on location for sunrise and sunset to capture moody autumn shots—midday sunny weather won’t provide nearly as much drama.

Don’t worry, though, if you don’t have ideal weather every day. Fall often brings cool and moist conditions— a magical recipe for fog, morning dew, and striking sunsets and sunrises. I love it when so-called bad weather moves in, as unstable weather can often result in the most photogenic conditions.

And don’t stop shooting when peak color fades. Sometimes you can make the best fall photography when the trees stand bare and fallen leaves carpet the forest floor. You’ll find poignant images in a mostly bare tree with just a few lone leaves still clinging to the branches.

Post-peak also offers a great time for you to look for scenes of streams and waterfalls with rocks covered with leaves.

If an early snow or frost comes your way, you can also show the transition between autumn and winter.

Tip 2: Capture Color Combinations

Aspens, Acadia National Park, Maine
Handheld Canon EOS 5D Mark II with 17– 40mm f/4L Canon EF lens; 1/160 sec at f/16, ISO 400.

Everyone loves bold autumn color juxtaposed with a brilliant blue sky. Frame the most vibrant sunlit reds and yellows against the sky to create the strongest color scheme; including a few puffy, white clouds can’t hurt, either.

For the photo above, I pointed my wide-angle lens up for this dizzying view of aspen trees. The sun was included for compositional interest, and a small aperture was used to create a sun star.

You can use a polarizing filter to darken skies and increase contrast with clouds. (I did not use a polarizer here, as the camera was at the wrong angle to the sun and, with this wide a lens, the sky would’ve been darkened unevenly.)

Blue sky, though, is not the ideal lighting for other types of scenes. Overcast light often works best for streams and waterfalls, as in the shot below, and a little bit of drizzle can really help to saturate autumn colors. In situations like this, a polarizer, by reducing reflections and cutting through glare, strongly enhances color.

Polarizers also act as neutral-density filters, reducing light without shifting color, which allows me to use a longer shutter speeds.

It’s never been easier to ID the right place and time for peak autumn color. The Weather Channel (www.weather.com/activities/driving/ fallfoliage), Foliage Network (foliage network.com), and other websites let you monitor fall color progression. A number of sites are dedicated to specific areas of the country—do a search for yours. Watch out: Color peaks earlier at higher elevations, and this may not always be reflected in online reports.

Tip 3: Scatter Leaves

Second Falls of Cedar Run, Shenandoah National Park, VA
Tripod-mounted K.B. Canham DLC45 view camera with 90mm f/4.5 Nikon Nikkor SW lens and polarizer; 8 sec at f/32 on Kodak Ektachrome 100VS film.

Autumn is one of my favorite times to shoot because it’s one of the few times I’m not completely at the mercy of the landscape and the light. As I hike along a trail, I like to gather fallen leaves, looking for the most colorful. When I arrive at my shooting location, I strategically scatter them in order to enhance the scene.

This works particularly well for waterfalls and streams (sprinkle rocks with color), and intimate still lifes (add a splash of leaves to a shot of bracken ferns). Just make sure that your scattering looks natural—too many leaves facing color-side up are a dead giveaway that the scene has been arranged.

Tip 4: Isolate Colors and Detail

Ausable River, Adirondack State Park
Tripod-mounted K.B. Canham DLC45 view camera with 450mm f/9 Nikon Nikkor-M lens; 4 sec at f/45 on Kodak Ektachrome 100VS film.

create compelling images by photographing autumn color­—but not the trees—reflected in water. In the photo above, the foliage of the trees on the opposite bank was sunlit; the water, was in shadow, so I was able to create color contrast between the warm tones and the rocks lit by cooler light from the blue sky.

For an even more impressionistic effect, photograph reflections in blurred moving water, such as a fast-flowing brook or mountain stream, or rippled lake water on a breezy day. Experiment with exposures of 1/2 sec or longer to capture a pleasing amount of motion blur. Don’t go too long, though, to avoid smoothing out the water and reflections too much. Zoom in with a telephoto lens to exclude all but the most colorful reflections in the water; rapids and boulders can help enhance the scene.

When photographing reflections, a polarizing filter can help to bring out the colors if you dial it up only slightly—a little bit of polarization can enhance the scene, but too much can reduce or eliminate reflections.

While you’re zooming, look for intimate still-life images. A 70–200mm lens (for full frame) is perfect for such scenes. I like to capture the details that help tell the story of the changing of the seasons. Look to zero in on a distant autumn hillside, dew-covered leaves carpeting the forest floor, or just a dash of fall color reflected in a still lake.

Don’t focus all your efforts on trees—plenty of other flora, such as ferns, blueberry bushes, and other ground plants, take on autumn hues. Pattern photos of bracken ferns are an autumn classic; ripening berries are also another cue that fall is in the air.

Tip 5: Create Fall Abstracts

Tree trunks, Adirondack State Park
Handheld Canon EOS 5D with Sigma 50–500mm f/4.5–6.3 DG OS lens and polarizer; 1/2 sec at f/32, ISO 50.

This season is a great time for making impressionistic motion-blurred images. Although wind often creates problems when photographing autumn foliage, you can use it to your advantage. So if it starts to blow too hard for sharp shots, switch gears and go for motion blur.

Look to take fall photography of wind-blown foliage using long exposures of 1/2 sec or more. Such images usually work best if some portion of the scene remains stationary, such as a solid tree trunk surrounded by wind-blown autumn foliage. Use a tripod to ensure that stationary objects are rendered sharp in your photo during the long exposure.

No wind? Try creating your own motion blur by moving the camera during a long exposure to create interesting abstract blurs, as I did in the image above, where I swiped my camera vertically. This technique works well when photographing forest scenes with lots of color. About 1/2 sec to 2 sec of exposure time usually works best with this technique.

Great Places to Shoot

Green Mountains, VT: This pleasant mix of quaint rolling farmland and hillsides covered with brilliant red maples always makes the top of everyone’s fall color list.
White Mountains, NH: Don’t miss the Kancamagus Scenic Byway, which cuts
through some of the most dramatic autumn scenery in the mountains. Adirondack Mountains, NY: The Lake Placid region has stunning mountain scenery, and countless alpine lakes and brooks make for perfect reflection photos.
Acadia National Park, ME: Famous for its rocky coast, this is leaf-peeping paradise, with red blueberry heath atop Cadillac Mountain and maple forests below.
Lake Superior, MN: The north shore has thundering waterfalls and towering cliffs. The fall color under Superior’s stormy weather often yields dramatic images.
West Virginia: Blueberry bushes on the Dolly Sods plateau blaze red in early Oct. Canaan Valley peaks a week or two later. Blackwater Canyon’s mix can’t miss.
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, NC and TN: Some of the finest fall color in the southern U.S., with a dramatic range of elevations for a variety of tree species and peak foliage times.
Blue Ridge Parkway, NC and VA: With 469 miles of mountains, waterfalls, and rolling hills, there’s no end to the photographic possibilities.
Shenandoah National Park, VA: D.C.-area residents are just two hours away from sweeping mountain vistas and bold autumn foliage.
Upper Peninsula, MI: Hot spots include the Porcupine Mountains, Tahquamenon Falls, and south shore of Lake Superior at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore.

The post 5 Tips for Better Fall Foliage Photos appeared first on Popular Photography.

Articles may contain affiliate links which enable us to share in the revenue of any purchases made.