Last weekend was probably the last chance to make some images that tell the story about fall and its colors here in Eastern Iowa. Despite some night frost many Sugar Maples had still a few leaves left but they came down quickly as the wind blew quite a bit this weekend.
As I wrote a couple weeks ago, I try to isolate the leaves from the background to make the colors pop and draw the eye right to the subject. Exposure compensation by about one stop helps to suppress elements in the picture that would otherwise just take the attention away. There is no reason that every crack in the rocks or rotten leave on the ground needs to have detail. Yes, I know, high dynamic range is ubiquitous but I believe this type of image just needs the opposite. Even if you just use Lightroom or Adobe Camera RAW, leave the shadow slider in it’s parking position or maybe even darken the shadows. Here I applied in addition a dark vignette in Adobe Lightroom to keep the eye away from the edges of the photo.
Taking time and looking around while wandering along the edge of the timber leads to more interesting subjects that can be photographed only in fall in their particular state. This Common Milkweed had opened and exposed its many overlapping seeds, each with a tuft of silky hairs. I hope you enjoy.