Tips for Fall Foliage Photography

I’m not saying that following these implicitly will get you in a major magazine but you should come home with better-quality photographs of New England’s fall foliage. Note: these tips work 365/24/7

Planning is paramount, as knowing where you want to go and what you want to shoot.
Allow twice as much time as the distance requires. Murphy’s law says you will always find something else along the way to photograph before you get there.
Use Delorme map books (also known as gazetteers) and a GPS in conjunction! Because the map books are good for planning but lousy at telling you where you are. GPS’s are great at telling you where you are but lousy for planning the big picture.
[Critical note ] Remember just because the GPS says there is a road there, it doesn’t mean there is. 🙂
Plan for the weather both for you and the camera
Shooting in the morning (before 9 AM and in the afternoon after 3 PM are usually the best times but don’t let that stop you. I shoot all day long and create memories if not pictures that will sell…
A break in the rain could mean a rainbow but it definitely means saturated colors
Know your gear. You have all winter, spring, and summer to know how your camera works so when fall arrives you’re prepared.
Have lots of memory cards and batteries. Because the one thing you don’t want to happen is to run out of these items before this day or trip is over.
Learn about post-processing and what works. Sometimes adding a little saturation to the color helps the image but too many times people will say to themselves if a little saturation is good a lot of saturation is better. “This is rarely the case“.
Are you going to be shooting for HDR? This can be a great technique when you have a great sky and a great scene on the ground but because the two are so far apart as far as light and dark you can’t capture them in a single shot and do them justice. Learn what your HDR software can and cannot do for you before you get to a mission-critical image that you want to capture.

Lastly, this is a partial list of some of my favorite places.

Beaver pond on Route 112 in NH
Sturbridge Village MA
NW Rhode Island, Route 100 out of Massachusetts and South into Glocester (as an example)
The Quiet corner of CT (Route 69)
Coos Canyon in Maine (route 17)
Basically, if there is a road to get there and a view of New England fall foliage then it is my favorite! (YES, I’m so picky) 🙂

I have a section on my website called Fall Foliage Locations by State. Here you can see scenic routes and locations broken down by the state you are interested in. This is not all-inclusive since it takes quite a while to put one together. So if you go to a page and you don’t see what you were hoping for then leave me a comment on the page and ask for it.
I may have already been to the scenic location that you have in mind but I just haven’t had time to create a page for it. Or! I will add it to my bucket list of places I want to get to and the next autumn, I will try to hit this spot.

So if you want more details on a specific location or just to check what is happening with everything New England fall foliage, you can also visit me and other fall foliage aficionados (read that as leaf peepers) on my New England fall foliage Facebook page. I hope to see you there!

Jeff Foliage Folger

Autumn is a state of mind more than a time of year – Jeff Foliage

Visit my Amazon affiliate store for items that Lisa and I have curated for you. These items are either New England-made or things we think will make your fall foliage trip more successful.