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Digital Fall Color
Photography Tips:
courtesy
Carl Raymond
Photography
Photographing the fall colors of Plumas County can
reward the photographer with a variety of shooting
opportunities. Whether shooting aspen groves near the rocky
cliffs going to Frenchman Lake, or the cottonwood trees of
the Feather River Canyon near Belden, there are several tips
that can make your efforts more productive.
1.) Use a tripod whenever possible –
as steady as we may think we are, a tripod is steadier. It will also
force you to slow down, giving greater thought to your compositions.
2.) Shoot RAW – if you’re shooting
with a Digital SLR camera, take advantage of the RAW file format. It
allows for greater flexibility for error and recovery. It also
allows for a wider color gamut to record accurately – very important
when shooting the many colors that fall provides.
3.) Use a polarizer sparingly – A
polarizing filter is a great tool, but all too often is used at its
maximum strength, over saturating an image and darkening the skies
to an unreal blue/black. Keep it real, and use it to minimize the
glare in an image, and besides, if extra color is what you’re after,
you always have Photoshop.
4.) Take your laptop – there is
nothing better than sitting in the shade of a tree after a morning’s
shoot, and reviewing your work! It will give you the opportunity to
edit your keepers and throwaways, and see if you are getting the
images you came for…and even better, if something is not going well
– it gives you the chance to correct it.
5.) And finally, I once heard a
world famous photographer say “If it looks good – shoot it, if it
looks better – shoot it again.” In the digital age you no longer
have to concern yourself over the costs of film and processing, take
advantage of this and burn as many images as your heart desires -
experiment! Try and find the shot within the shot. Try the
same thing from another angle. Try not to rush your time.
Plumas County offers great scenes,
some obvious, some not so obvious. Either way, be sure to get out
there and explore not only the sweeping back county roads, but also
the trails near streams and rivers. Often they hold gems of
photographic possibilities. It’s up to you to mine them out.
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