Take a look at the autumn photo below. Don’t you feel like you’ve seen it before? Most likely you have never seen it, but there must be millions of autumn photos like this, with trees, fallen leaves on the ground, a bench, a path and a road next to it. What is that on the left, a church maybe? The woman would go in to visit the temple and her husband, bored, would stay outside taking this photo.
An autumn photo.
One more picture.
The photo is beautiful. But we have seen so many similar autumn photos that it ends up being very popular even without having seen it.
Autumn is, however, a beautiful season, rich in photogenic elements, and with a point of light that is difficult to achieve at other times of the year. What happens to us that we all start photographing the same thing, always? In the fall we are presented with hundreds of images every day that we don’t pay attention to because we think that fall is a series of trees with leaves falling to the ground.
Here are 7 very creative ways to portray the beautiful things of autumn that happen every day in front of our eyes.
1) Photograph the morning fog, typical of autumn
The mist that accompanies autumn mornings is a composition resource difficult to find at other times of the year. Also, it’s almost random. You have to find the right time of day and the right place to be able to find a fog bank that will result in an interesting photograph.
If you have the means to go to a forest early in the day, please do not hesitate to take advantage of it because you can get some autumn portraits that you will rarely see. If you can not go to a forest, nothing happens, an urban photo with autumn morning fog will leave you with a very gratifying result.
2) Photograph everyday life, suffused with autumn light
No matter how beautiful a photo of leaves falling from a tree is, it is still a static image of autumn. Adding external and dynamic elements helps to break the monotony of the image and provides history and content. People, bikes, any “extra” is likely to enrich our autumn photography.
3) Look for living beings and photograph them in their autumn environment
Nature is full of life, and autumn is an ideal season to look for it and photograph it. If you are near a lake, or in the middle of a forest, surely you can find endless models that are willing to pose for you, yes, as long as you do not get too close. So get yourself a good telephoto lens before you head out.
4) Portray typical autumn fruits
Figs are as characteristic of autumn as dry leaves. Focus the photo on a characteristic autumn fruit, the list is long and covers all colors: figs, oranges, pears, kiwis, pomegranates, or berries are just a few examples.
To make your autumn fruit photo different, try to create a good composition. Here you have the example of the photo of the figs. Look for a good light source, preferably natural, and create contrast between the different elements of the composition.
It is always good to break the monotony in the composition by opening a few fruits beforehand and leaving them next to the pile of fruit, thus, again, we create a story and portray a photo of something that is somehow “in movement”. Look at this photo of autumn chestnuts. They make you want to put your hand to try one.
5) Autumn as a background for a portrait
Autumn photography and portrait photography are not contradictory. What if we turn the model into the main subject of the photo, relegating the autumn motif to a background to act as an “air freshener”? The contrast of colors and the movement of the leaves towards the ground can leave us with a more vivid and interesting portrait than if we were posing next to the fountain in the town square 😉
6) The fallen leaf as the sole protagonist
Lie on the ground and look for tiny symbols that refer to big things. Autumn leaves are usually photographed in a group, but if you get close to a particular leaf and make it, for a thousandth of a second, the protagonist of the photo, you can take an interesting photo, very suggestive and full of stories, shapes and colors.
7) Backlit autumn
The backlight does not know the seasons of the year, but in autumn the result of a backlight in nature is spectacular. The photo that illustrates this point must be from early autumn, since the tree still retains part of its leaves, but as you will see, the contrast created by having the sunlight in the background makes the photo worthy of all admiration.
So far with these tips to portray a different fall. I hope I have inspired you and made you want to grab your camera and go hiking in the next few days. I hope to see the results soon 🙂
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