Photo Techniques Landscapes : Fall Foliage

Introduction

The first you have to do when shooting foliage is to find some attractive leaves. Next you have to search for the best angle from which to view them. If you change the orientation of the light and the angle of view, you will notice different ways of looking at even leaves from the same tree.

Instructor : Tatsuo Iizuka

Instructor : Tatsuo Iizuka

The instructor was born in Osaka in 1968 and after graduating from Shizuoka University spent five years working at a company job until deciding to set out on his own to devote himself to taking pictures, which he had been fond of from a young age, and in 1996 he moved to Hokkaido, where he has made his living at photography ever since. He continues to shoot the sky in Hokkaido as one of his major themes while running a photo studio in Asahikawa City.

http://tatsuoiizuka.com

1 Learn how to make the most of the light

Try to think about the orientation of the light (front light, back light, side light) Make use of white balance
Front lightBack lightSide light

Try to think about the orientation of the light ( front light, back light, side light )

When taking pictures of foliage, try to be aware of the orientation of the light. You may notice that, although leaves look beautiful when seen within a wide landscape, when you actually take them out of that scene by taking a picture, the front lighting makes the shadows complicated and the leaves do not appear as beautifully as they were when you first saw them. Light passing through the leaves from behind, on the other hand, makes them look great. And when the light comes in from the side, the way the shadows appear makes a powerful impression.

* Please see the URL below for explanations of
"front light" and "back light."
https://www.ricoh.com/r_dc/photostyle/take/landscape/
Front lightBack lightSide lightDisplay side by side
Set toward green / blueSet toward underexposure / magenta

Make use of white balance

By changing the camera's white balance (color temperature), you can take shots that create an impression closer to what you actually saw. Increasing the color temperature and setting the white balance for warm colors is an approach well suited to shooting foliage, but conversely, lowering it can enable you to take pictures that make a quite different impression. It's best not to leave these things up to the Auto mode, but rather to shoot while making your own adjustments.

Set toward green / blueSet toward underexposure / magenta Display side by side
Try to think about the orientation of the light (front light, back light, side light) Make use of white balance
Adjust the brightness to match what you have in mind
Photo Techniques Top
PAGE TOP