Colors in Autumn Photography

Photo by Christopher O’Donnell

There is no doubt that the golden and red leaves on a background of lush green grass and beautiful blue skies are wonderful things. So how do you capture it? Darren from digital photography school offers us a few starting points to boost the colors in your autumn photography.

Use a Polarizing Filter

The saturation of colors that you get with one of these is fantastic. It is particularly useful in getting lovely blue skies but you’ll find that it decreases some of the haze that you often get at this time of year also.

Shoot in the Golden hours

While you can get great results at any time of the day – shoot autumn colors at the end of the day just before sunset when the light is golden. This accentuates the reds and golds even more than normal.

Photo by Christopher O’Donnell

Don’t ignore the Overcast days

Some people keep their cameras in their bags on days where the sun isn’t shining – but they can actually be the best days, for they help create a mood that you can’t get on a sunny day.

Look for contrasts

One way to accentuate the colors in your shots is to think about framing your shots in such a way that the different colors contrast with one another.

Photo by Zitona

Avoid shooting into the Sun

Shooting into the sun will result in shadows, lower saturation of colors and lens flare (which further reduces the impact of colors. If you do have to shoot into the sun use a lens hood or shield your lens with something to avoid lens flare.

Play with White Balance

Sometimes Auto mode with White Balance won’t give you the most vibrant results. Warm up your colors by increasing the color temperature a touch (not too much).

Underexpose your shots

Pull back the exposure on your shots a touch and you’ll find that it gives your colors a slightly deeper saturation.