A Look at Fall in Kentucky

Every year plays out a different yet familiar dialog where the summer seems to linger and hang on well past the time most of us are ready to let go of it. September rolls around and we begin to see hints of what is to come. The evenings begin a progressive change from sultry to a welcoming coolness, wayward breezes search for the tops of trees, and the aroma of fall begins to prevail. Some of those trees develop a promising change of color, very subtle at first but as each day progresses, more and more yellow, a splash of red, a touch of orange infiltrates the landscape. The autumn harvest is in full swing as farmers tend to their fields stirring dust into the cleaner air as the combines do their work. Then October is upon us before we know it, yet the grasp of summer lingers seemingly never to let go until one day, near the end of the month, virtually over night the landscape explodes into a senses engulfing kaleidoscope of color. Fall in Kentucky has arrived and with it begins the photographers delight.

I actually enjoy all four seasons and especially those transitional times between seasons, but perhaps fall is my favorite, for with it comes probably the most dramatic change of the year where the prevailing green of summer explodes into the reds, oranges, and yellows of cooler weather. These color contrasts become a haven for photographers and capturing them becomes an obsession. Photographers become almost neurotic because they know the season is short and within a few days most of the color will be gone. So, we photograph in haste, searching here and far for that special moment of season defining light.

We develop a sixth sense where at a glance we spy unique blend of sky, color, and light across a field or hovering over a small back road stream. We travel the back roads with shifting eyes catching for an instant that one shot...then drive too far only to turn around to find it again.

We look closely into the trees and discover single leaves that speak to us about their last days of glory filled with a final vibrant message of color.

We zoom in close and isolate those moments, and then the next moment we turn around and recognize the contrasts of color against a cobalt blue sky.

We listen, we hear, we see, we sense what is happening around us. We are always concerned about the what if's. What if I had been hear earlier, or what if I was at that other location, or what if rains tonight and knocks down all the leaves before I can capture everything I aspire to capture.

Fall creates a neurosis in photographers like no other time of year. And yes, it is perhaps, or maybe certainly is my favorite time of year. I am a photographer and I live for such moments.

Adding Pop to Flat Lighting

Window lighting can be some of the best natural light a photographer can use. It offers such a wide range of effects I am amazed more people don't use it. I will from time to time use window light, but sometimes window light can fall flat. Under certain conditions it just falls off so much there simply is not enough light available to effectively light the situation. It may need a little extra pop to push it into the realm of beautiful light.

One way to do this is to use an off camera speed light and a bed sheet. Combining these two things you can take the natural softness of window light and add a level of photographic refinement. Let's look at one image and see how this was done.

On the day this first image was taken, it was a dark and overcast day...rather dreary outside. The family shoot we did was all done inside, mostly using natural window light in a room surrounded by windows on all sides. There was just enough volume of light in that room so we could shoot, but I also added a bounced flash or two along the way to help out. The photo above was taken in another room that had a single large window. As dark as it was outside, the room was even more so with very little outside light filtering through the window. Now, I could have used a higher ISO or slowed the shutter down to use the available lighting, but by doing so the background in the room would also have been brighter. I really did not want that...I wanted the room to remain subdued, but the mother and child be lit.

What I did was actually rather basic. I took an ordinary white bed sheet and taped it to the outside of the window, fully covering the window. I then placed a single speed light on a stand and stood it about 2 maybe 3 feet from the window. The speed light was zoomed out to a wide area focused lighting and powered to at least 1/2 power and could have been at full power, I'm not sure exactly, but it was set to a higher output setting.

I then simply set my exposure for the background lighting insuring it would be subdued and fired the flash remotely at the camera from inside the room. What happened was this. There was still some light filtering in from the window, but the speed light shot against the bed sheet created a large diffused source of light, giving what was already there just enough pop to light my subjects without altering the look of the darkened room.

Adding a little pop to your natural lighting can enhance the image. The trick is to not overwhelm your image with too much light. Using speed lights requires a bit of imagination and a soft touch. The light provided by them should be used to enhance what is already there and your image should never look like you used an old fashioned flash cube.

Story Telling Inside a Photograph

I walked somewhat sleepy-eyed along the gravel road, a road whose path wound its way toward an old country home tucked inside a gaggle of trees. It was late fall and the once dormant chill excited by a stiff wind engulfed the air surrounding me. The first light of the day was held in muted bondage by low hanging overcast that dipped close to the ground floating along pushed by the invisible hand of an approaching winter. The morning looked and felt gray. In the field to my left the rustic looking remnant of corn stubble stood as a testament to a successful harvest. On either side of the road an old fence row stood lined up like historic monuments to a time from the past.

About half way down the road a beam of the first light of the morning broke beneath the clouds and cast a cheerful glow across the home, the trees, and the tops of the the corn stubble setting the grass alight within the realm of the prevailing grayness. I positioned my tripod and camera composing the scene through the view finder, and released the shutter. A moment later the beam of light retreated back into the clouds and I was again alone standing on a country gravel road.

Photography is as much about telling a visual story as it is about capturing a moment in time. To capture a story one must first not only see what is there, but be able to feel the emotion of what surrounds you. It is the emotion of the moment that tells the photographer when to release the shutter and when you finally do, you instinctively know something unique and even amazing happened.

The visual story of a photograph may possibly be the most difficult element for a photographer to capture for it does not always willingly reveal itself. It is something you must seek out and to allow what is there to speak to your senses. Sometimes, it just happens. Most times it takes work and a willingness to turn off your other senses and allow your heart to grab hold of the story. Everyone must discover within themselves the necessary elements of how the world reveals such stories to them. It is not something that can be taught, only reminded. It is a personal reward well received, well worth sharing.