The first lesson is really the most important as you will see in this next one that it still plays a role. The second lesson when working with Fall color is to not be distracted by the overall scenario, remember to work the smaller details. What do I mean by smaller details? Well lets start with the grove of tress themselves. This is a group of Aspens in California just past Conway Summit. It’s a great grove that tends to have a narrow window of color before the leaves are blown away. Well the skies sucked that day but the grove didn’t, so don’t include the skies. Work the leaves.
Jay Maisel said it best with Color, Light and Gesture. Well the color is obvious, the light is flat but what’s the gesture? The gesture is the naturally lines that form between one tree and another. Those tree tops change color at different times giving rows of different color. All those patterns or gestures amongst the grove can tell a story by themselves. A great way to capture this isn’t with a 24-70 but a 70-200 to isolate those little pockets.
Remember the first lesson? Well when you have a bright color, like yellow, if you have a brighter color, like white, your eye will go to that instead even though the entire frame is filled, in this case with orange. It’s important to keep in mind where the tree trunks are in your frame when composing because those white lines can either be helpful or hurtful.