5 tips for photographing Autumn landscapes

Perhaps more than any other, Autumn is a season for visual metaphor in landscape photography. The sight of leaves turning colour and falling evokes advancing age, maturity, wisdom and looking back wistfully on years gone by and, in particular, the happier times among them.

Tip 1: Make shades of copper and gold the dominant colours in your composition, as in this view of livestock grazing in a field on the Mottisfont Estate in Hampshire, owned by the National Trust:

Tip 2: To amplify the nostalgic metaphor, introduce water: the river of life. This is a view of the stream that runs through the estate:

Tip 3: For additional interest, add another focal point, such as a lone figure or, as here, water rushing over a weir:

This is the start of a culvert that ensures the estate stream does not flood the grounds of the main house; it provided the ideal opportunity for a long-exposure shot. It could be said to represent the turbulence of life-changing events, although that it probably taking symbolism too far!

Tip 4: In taking all of these long-exposure photos in fading, late afternoon sunlight, a tripod is essential to avoid camera shake and permit the use of ISO1OO to minimise noise.

Tip 5: Key to bathing the landscape in a golden autumnal glow is shadow detail and rich saturation. Whilst you can use neutral density filters and gels to achieve these effects in-camera, it is often easier to do so via post-processing in Lightroom or Photohsop.

Each of the photos above trended Popular on 500px.com shortly after upload.