While there are plenty of things to photograph all year round, autumn is by far my preferred
time for landscape photography. The mornings are crisp, colors are changing all around us
and there’s plenty of activity in nature, which makes it a very enjoyable time to be outside.
One of the most interesting regions in general in Belgium is the High Fens, a plateau tucked
away in the most southeastern corner of the country. It has the highest point of the country,
nature is still wild and boasts some of the most iconic mammals of the country (think wolf,
beaver, red deer,…) and conditions can be quite harsh during the cold winter months. Plenty
of small streams originate in this fascinating spot and wind their way down through the
forests on the edges of the plateau. Combine this with autumnal conditions and you’ll
understand why this is such a good place for landscape photography.
This year I spent some time along the borders of ‘La Statte’ and ‘La Sawe’, two small
streams located close to Solwaster. My timing was pretty good, colors were great and there
were still a lot of leaves on the trees. Sunny conditions made it a bit tricky to photograph but
nevertheless I had fun times trying to find some good compositions and interesting angles!
Below you can find some results:
Another fun little project that I had in mind for a long time is to photograph tree leaves up close.
Nothing too original, it has been done many times before… But one way or another I never
managed to try it, so this year I didn’t want to let autumn pass without giving it at least a shot.
So, during one of my random walks in the forest I collected a bunch of leaves with lovely
colors or special patterns and took them back home with me.
To get the most out of the autumn colors and clearly see the leif veins, it’s important to use
some kind of backlighting when you take the pictures. At the same time you have to get close
to your subject which makes depth of field very shallow and creates some challenges to get
everything perfectly sharp.
You can see my setup above. Backlight is created by positioning the leaf on a lightsource. My
camera was on a tripod with macro sliding plate which allows for very precise focusing. I
ensured that the camera was facing down perfectly and with my fingers I kept the leaf as flat
as possible when taking the pictures. Below you can see some of the results:
This is a first try and some things in my setup could definitely be perfected, but it was fun
trying and a great way to play with autumn colors in a different way.
Any questions about the process or setup? Feel free to contact me!