Fall colors 2013 - last call

 

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.

How does it look in the Green Island Wetlands...?

 

Usually you see photos of birds, amphibians, or the occasional mammal here in my blog when I talk about my favorite shooting location, the Green Island Wetlands. This area of lakes, marshes, and swampy forest right beside the Mississippi River is about 30 miles south from where we live and most of the time I go there during the day. Of course, I'm always looking for great natural light for my wildlife photography, and sometimes I can find it and other times a flash light is the  light source of choice. Friends have asked me, why don't we see the landscape itself more often and how does it look in the Green Island Wetlands? Well, most of the time I'm there during day time and that may work for a wildlife photo but is quite often useless for good landscape photography. Remember, I don't do photography for a living and have to use the time frame around my professional work, which means mostly during weekends.

This weekend was a little different. Joan and I opened our personal camping and kayaking season (We know, it's late!). We took the dog, some food, the boats, and the tent and went camping to Bellevue State Park, which is only six miles away from the Green Island Wetlands. When the light for wildlife is not sufficient anymore I usually drive home but last Friday night we were able to stay and watched the play of the clouds and the sun breaking through them in a dramatic manner. All what it takes is to put the camera on a tripod, set the white balance to cloudy, and dial in some negative exposure compensation. The question here is, what is the subject? It is not the grass in the foreground, nor is it the lake itself or the woods in the background. All settings are made for the opening in the sky, the sun rays that break through, and their reflection on the water. This is what I went for when I made the photo and even if none of the landscape elements is the subject of this image, it still answers the question, how does it look in the Green Island Wetlands...?

I go on a business trip again tomorrow but have a few more images from the wetlands to show here. So please stay tuned. I always enjoy your comments, messages, and emails about my posts and I'm very thankful for any of them! Have a wonderful week!