CAPTURE THE MOOD OF AUTUMN

Ten great techniques to convey the atmosphere of the year's most photogenic season with Jon Adams and Andrew James

- Jon Adams and Andrew James

1 PACK THE FRAME WITH COLOUR

Set a wide aperture and create artistic photos packed with autumnal colours

For vibrant, high-impact shots of autumn colours, overcast or even damp days F of cloud provides low-contrast lighting and avoids extreme light and shade on autumn trees that sunny days bring.

Low-contrast conditions enable you to concentrate on two vital elements: how you arrange the shapes in the scene to create your composition, and how much of the scene you hold in sharp focus. By carefully are perfect. Although it seems counter-intuitive, a blanket adjusting your camera position, you can shoot through leaves close to the lens and create a natural frame that not only acts as a boundary to hem in the scene, but also subtly leads the viewer's eye into your shot.

Use a short-to-medium telephoto lens (around 70 to 200mm). In Aperture Priority mode (Av on the mode dial), set a wide aperture value, such as f/2.8 or f/4. This gives a shallow depth of field; by focusing on the more distant leaves in the centre, you can diffuse your natural frame into a blurry wash of colour.

2 EARLY-MORNING STARBURSTS 

Shoot into the sun for a dramatic landscape image full of contrast, rich colours and an eye-catching burst of light

Bright, crisp autumn mornings are perfect for contre-jour shooting. Contre-jour is French; a literal translation means shooting against the day, but it's easier to think of it as shooting into the light. Rather than having the sun behind the camera, position it so it's pointing directly at the sun. To do this successfully, it's best to pick the first (or last) hour of the day, when the sun is low in the sky. Metering with the sun in the shot is always tricky, but not impossible. Select your camera's multi-pattern metering mode (Evaluative or Centre-weighted Average) and set up your composition.