Welcome to fall color. We timed the color about as well as you could for our DLWS Michigan trip to Traverse City. There wasn’t a lot of reds, but a whole lot of yellow maples were there. You couldn’t point a camera without taking a picture of one. There was the challenge. How do yo get a picture of fall color? You need more than just color in the picture to make it interesting.

I thought my winding path shot above was pretty good. After looking at it, I am wishing that I had zoomed in a bit more, and had it vertical. I tried a vertical shot, but it didn’t work with the focal length. Oh well. Some time I will get it in my head that I need to try things more before I move on.

That leaf shot is pretty standard for me. I try to get it every year. I like this years the best. Just the right mix of leaf, color, road, and focus. I entered this image in a contest before, but the leaf wasn’t as sharp as this time around.

This shot was sort of a happy accident. Actually, this one was planned, but just a little earlier, I hit the shutter by accident as my camera was swinging with a tripod underneath it. Holding the camera carefully, it pivots almost around the lens, allowing the center of the image to be mostly in focus. It’s a fun effect.

I had to get a looking up shot. Maybe not the best colors in this one, but I liked the pattern of leaves and trunks. As Joe McNally said when he saw this shot “So you had a wide angle lens in the forest and looked up. Congratulations. Now shoot something interesting.” At least I have it checked of my shot list.

Here is one more shot from the woods.