More HWY 88 Fall Colors

These are a couple more shots from a few weeks ago up on highway 88.

Leaves

One thing I like to do when I am taking fall color pictures is to find other ways to photograph things besides the overall view of the trees (which I also like). I will end up taking a lot of different photos from the leaves close up to a shot that shows a lot of leaves scattered about. I will usually just see something with in a setting that catches my eye and take anywhere from a few shots to several shots, recomposing and looking for the best angle or way to frame the shot, much like I do for any landscape shots. In the end I will usually get several photographs like these that I really like. These are just a few of the ones I took in this way last week up on HWY 88.

Back Lit Fall Leaf

After photographing some solo leafs the other day on a solid black back ground I though this also might make a good opportunity to photograph them back lit so the light filters through the leaf and really lights up the colors in the leaf. To do this I put a piece of Plexiglas spanning across the back of two chairs, then I put the leaf on top the Plexiglas and the flash on the seat below pointing up at the leaf. Then from above I took the picture and this is what I got.

Fall Leaf

I had wanted to try to do more of a close up picture of a solo leaf with a totally black background, so yesterday when were were out I grabbed a few leaves to start working with on this. The leaf was held by a clothes line pin that was attached to a stand, then I framed the shot so you would not see the clothes pin. I had my flash about 3 feet off to the right with a snoot on it, something like this but for mine I used cardboard. Basically the snoot allowed me to have the light mainly hitting the leaf and nothing else, so between that and a dark towel I had further in the background I was sure to get the solid black background I wanted. The other thing I did was to place a piece of vellum drawing paper in front of the flash to filter the light and give it a softer look.
I have seen this type of photo done in the past with flowers and I would like to do more and put together a series of a few images together.