Photography Technique - 10 Tips For Capturing Autumn Landscapes

By Author: Adam Coupe
Total Articles: 18
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Photography Technique - 10 Tips For Capturing Autumn Landscapes

1 Just Add Water
Water in its many forms is a great ally when shooting landscapes. Still water in lakes and lochs is ideal for capturing reflection. If you get down to the water's edge you can create sublime, symmetrical compositions, with the landscape occupying the top half of the shot and it's reflection filling the foreground.

2 Get Down and Dirty
If you want to bag the best shots, you have to get down there in the thick of it all and not worry about muddy knees. So don't be afraid of to lie on your back in the middle of woodland to get a great view of the autumnal canopy, or scramble up a slippery bank to get a better view of the landscape.

3 Just Add Clouds
Clear, blue sky and overcast, grey sky tend to look empty and dull. But throw a few clouds into the equation and it all changes. Suddenly the sky has depth and interest. If the sun's shining, clouds passing over it cast moving shadows on the landscape below. Just before sunrise and just after sunset, clouds are underlit so they glow red, yellow, pink ...
... and purple.

4 The Sky's the Limit
When the sky looks interesting, let it take priority in your image. Reverse the usual 1/3rd sky, 2/3rds landscape so the sky occupies more of the composition than the foreground. Fit an ultra-wide lens, tilt your camera back and use the distortion of the lens to emphasise the cloud formations. A polarising filter enhances the sky in sunny weather, deepening the blue so that clouds stand out.

5 Use Your Telephoto
Wide angle lenses tend to be the most popular choice for landscape photography, but for the right kind of subject, telephoto and telezoom lenses are just as useful. They allow you to isolate interesting parts of a scene or fill the frame with smaller details such as backlit autumn leaves or abstract reflections in water. The big thing to remember with tele lenses is that they're big and heavy so if you're hand-holding make sure the shutter speed is fast enough to avoid camera shake - ideally no slower than 1/250sec unless you have image-stabilising lenses.

6 Maximise Depth of Field
If you want everything to record in sharp focus, you need to control depth of field. The easiest was is using a technique known as hyperfocal focusing. First, compose the scene and focus your lens on infinity. Next, check the depth of field scale on the lens to see what the nearest point of sharp focus will be at the aperture set. Finally, refocus the lens on the hyperfocal distance and depth of field will extend from half the hyperfocal distance to infinity. To use this technique your lens must have a distance scale and a depth of field scale.

7 Make Hay While The Sun Shines
Although you don't need sunny weather to shoot great landscapes - in fact, often the opposite holds true as stormy weather's more dramatic - there's no denying the magic of sunshine. It makes the world look bright and colourful, light levels are even, it's easy to take perfectly exposed pictures and we feel more inspired.

8 Blink and You'll Miss It
Although autumn lasts for several months, the period when foliage colour peaks and photo opportunities are at their best may only last for a few days - so make sure you're ready for it. The last week in October and the first week in November are often considered to be the most productive, especially the further north you are.

9 Capturing Mist and Fog
Mist and fog can add a further dimension to an autumn landscape. To capture the atmosphere, all you need is basic kit and a tripod. Wait for a relatively warm day and a cool night and if cloud cover creeps in after the fog has formed it will slow its dispersal in the morning. Fog and mist block the sunlight so exposure times are likely to be long, so a tripod's essential.

10 Keep Your Pictures Tidy
Although landscape photographers like to shoot things as they find them, there's nothing to stop you doing a little 'gardening' to tidy up a scene. For example you can scatter more interesting autumn leaves in the foreground if the ones you find are messy, and remove the unsightly leaves and twigs if they spoil the shot.
Adam Coupe is pro commercial photographer specialising in commercial photography and architectural photography for a wide range of organisations that need to project their products, people or brand in a vibrant way see for the full architectural photography and commercial photography portfolio : http://www.adamcoupe.com
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