USPhotography tips for Capturing Amazing Autumn Colours and learn more on our Online Photography Course
Autumn is one of the most beautiful seasons, as the leaves turn to wonderful shades of red, yellow and orange and the dusk draws in earlier giving the evenings a soft glow. Trying to capture this beauty on camera can be tricky, with many budding photographers finding themselves with dull and muddy images instead of bright and vibrant Autumn colours.
An Online Photography Course is a great way to learn how to make stunning Autumn colours pop. However, if you can’t wait to get out and start shooting, here are some of our top tips on how to capture the wonderful landscapes of the golden trees, lush green grass and beautiful blue skies.
Why Autumn Is Great For Photography
This time of year is not only great for shooting bright landscapes and warm colours as the weather begins to cool. Autumn is also the perfect time for capturing wildlife and nature as it prepares for the winter months ahead. Animals are quite active during this time of year, making it a great opportunity to photograph squirrels making their winter stash, or birds gathering for their migration to the south.
Capturing nature in action is an excellent way of learning new camera skills. In fact, our Nature Photography Course is a fantastic opportunity for photography courses for teens as you can explore how to shoot the various delights of nature.
How To Capture Amazing Autumn
Make Autumn Colours Pop On Camera
Trying to get Autumn colours to really stand out in a photo can be difficult. If your camera settings aren’t correct, you can end up with dull and uninspiring images that just don’t do the beautiful autumnal colours justice.
Get To Know Your Camera
Getting to know your camera settings is essential. An online photography course to learn how to best capture the stunning golden colours can be really worthwhile for young photographers looking to improve their skills.
Time It Right
The best times of day to photograph outdoors in autumn is either early morning or in the evening just before sunset. Shooting in these golden hours will accentuate the reds and golds in the scene even more and create a beautiful dusky haze for your images. Taking photos at midday can create harsh lighting, especially if it is a very sunny day, so if you are shooting during the day, be aware of the lighting conditions.
Lillie’s Top Tips: Find and use the ‘Vivid’ setting on your camera to really make the autumn colours pop in your images. It will make the saturation of the colours slightly more intense without being overpowering. Some cameras (such as Canon models) may not have a vivid setting but instead a colour setting so you can accentuate specific reds, blues or greens depending on what you are shooting.
Think About Composition
Autumn is great for shooting beautiful landscapes and capturing them in the best way is all about properlyconsidering your composition. There are loads of great photography workshops and photography courses for teens that teach how to create amazing landscape shots. Sharp Shots London Landscapes course is one of our favourites to run and help people take beautiful photos in the perfect setting of Archbishops Park.
Trying to get composition right can be tricky, it is really a skill that comes with experience. Spend some time walking around the scene before shooting so you can see it from every perspective and angle; youcan then choose the best point of view for your composition.
The Rule Of Thirds
If you are photographing a landscape, remember to use the rule of thirds for the horizon. Consider your angles and where the horizon line will be placed in your image. Photograph from both high and low angles to change up the perspective and create some unique scenes. Beginner photographers will often putthe horizon in the centre of the image which can mean it is difficult to find the focus of the photograph. It often makes the photograph feel like its split in half.
Think About The Subject
An online photography course can teach you various other tips and trick for composition. When shooting in autumn try to look for other subjects for your images other than just landscapes with trees and colourful leaves. Finding a lake or river can make your images really stand out, as it gives you something different to shoot, and autumn colours make awesome reflections in the water.
Lillie’s Top Tips: Try holding your camera vertically instead of horizontally to change up your traditional landscape photos. Take a range of picturesof the same scene but in various ways to get photographs that are all slightly different and find the perfect angles that provide you with a unique view.
Play Around With Camera Settings
Our photography workshops and photography courses for teens focus a lot on getting out and about and exploring the various settings on your camera and how they can be used to capture different scenes and subjects.
Get Ready For The Close Up
When shooting autumn colours, try out various settings to see what works and what doesn’t. If you are capturing close-ups, then use the close up (flower symbol) setting or a small aperture like f/4. Thiswill help you get sharp focus on your subject, such as the autumn leaves, while the background will remain out of focus and slightly blurred.
Perfect the White Balance
Play with your white balance settings to find the most vibrant results for your chosen subject. Auto white balance does not always give you the best finish when it comes to bright colours.
Another good trick for properly capturing Autumn colours in your images is to under expose your shots just slightly. Pulling back a bit on exposure will give the bright colours a slightly deeper saturation. Explore these different settings and see what works best for you and your camera.
Action Ready
It is possible to get some amazing Autumn shots of falling leaves by using the action setting or choosing a fast shutter speed. Experiment with taking photos of friends, family or even pets playing in the leaves to see the kind of action effects you can create with your camera.
Learning to capture movement and action in your photos is an excellent skill that can help you capturea range of different subjects, you can learn more about how to shoot action shots with the Photographing Action photography workshops.
Go Candid
Autumn is the perfect time of year to capture some wonderful candid shots of loved ones enjoying the great outdoors together. Capturing the movement in the colourful leaves and nature will offer a unique finish that will stand out much more than a flat photograph.
Lillie’s Top Tips: If you want to capture beautiful autumn landscapes, use the landscape setting or a wide aperture like f/11. Thiswill keep everything in focus and leave you with a stunning landscape photo.