A DAZZLING DISPLAY

Mike Harris shows you how to capture an autumn landscape and use colour grading techniques to enhance the russet tones

1 HOUR Every season of the year is a treasure trove of potential for landscape photographers, but autumn’s melting pot of orange, red and yellow hues is something truly special. However, if you’re going to capture this dazzling display at its very best, you’ve got your work cut out for you.

Peak autumn changes year upon year, and can depend on the trees you’re shooting and even your location. The best conditions don’t last long either, so if you’re not ready to pounce you can miss your chance. We’d recommend keeping a close eye on the foliage in your area between October and November; and, if you have a special location in mind, regular visits will improve your chances of hitting autumn’s golden jackpot.

While we wouldn’t recommend relying on post-production to transform the colour palette of your images, editing software is incredibly effective at enhancing what’s already there. Shooting raw is a must, so that you’re working with as much data as possible. It’s then simply a case of using the various colour-grading tools found in Adobe CC to warm up your image further and really bring out those red, yellow and orange tones.

We used the Luminance and Saturation sliders in Lightroom’s HSL/Color panel to selectively boost colours and add punch to our scene’s autumnal palette. Make sure you don’t overdo it though: a good tip is to leave your screen for a while and come back to an image later, which will make it easier to spot any overzealous editing.