Hi friends, my name is Andy Austin, and for over a decade I’ve traveled the world chasing stories and good light. As we come upon my favorite season, fall, I wanted to drop some quick and easy tips to keep in mind while you venture into the world.

Change Your Altitude

When shooting fall, changing your perspective can completely transform a scene. Getting up high, whether with a drone or by climbing a mountain, can show the scale of the fall color while providing context to the landscape.

On the other hand, getting low with a wide-angle lens, like this church shot in Ireland, can bring fallen leaves into the foreground and add depth to an image. It’s also a great trick when you’re a little late to the party and the leaves have already started to drop.

The Power of Backlighting

It can seem counterintuitive to shoot toward the sun, but backlighting is one of my favorite ways to photograph fall color (left). When sunlight passes through the leaves, they almost glow, bringing out individual colors and details.

Compare that with shooting sunset light directly onto a hillside of trees (right). While beautiful to the eye, all those colors can sometimes blend together into one big “hunk” of trees. Backlighting helps create separation and depth.

Overcast vs. Direct Sun

Sunny days can create a beautiful contrast between blue skies and fall colors (left, image by Harleigh Gastman), but don’t put the camera away when the clouds roll in. Overcast light (right, image by Avery Lehman) is softer and more even, often allowing the deeper reds, oranges, and yellows to really stand out.

Bonus tip: throw a circular polarizing filter on your lens. It helps cut glare and reflections off leaves, especially when they’re wet, which can make fall colors look noticeably richer.

Add the Human Element

Adding a person, dog, bike, or vehicle to a landscape gives the viewer something to connect with. It also provides a sense of scale and can turn a beautiful scene into more of a story.

Look Up

Some of the best fall color might be directly above you. When you’re walking beneath a colorful canopy, stop and point the camera straight up. A wide-angle lens can turn overlapping branches and leaves into a natural pattern while eliminating distracting buildings, cars, signs, and everything else happening at ground level.

Portland is especially good for this. Between the tree-lined neighborhoods, historic architecture, nearby coastline, and easy access to Maine’s fall landscapes, you don’t have to travel far to find completely different compositions. Whether you’re shooting the Old Port on a crisp sunny morning or colorful leaves on a gray, drizzly afternoon, embrace whatever conditions Maine gives you. They’re all part of fall in New England.

Happy shooting, and have a lobster roll for me while in Portland.

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