Fall Colour

[jb7]

I'll be in New England in a couple of weeks, never been in the US for Autumn before.

How is my timing?

I have a small stock of colour film, some Portra 160, Portra 400, and some Provia, which unfortunately, is a little past its best...

Given that I might not get through it all, and I'll use it sequentially, in what order should I shoot it?

I don't often shoot colour film now, so I could use a little advice...

Thanks in advance, for any help-

[ROL]

http://www.weather.com/maps/activity/fallfoliage/uscurrentfallfoliage_large.html

Should be dead on. I'm sure the East Coast boys will have much better and specific faves for you. Out west it looks as though peaks may be a little earlier than normal, depending on elevation and early snowfall/frost (like today!).

My self–absorbed, opinionated advice would be not to forget the B/W (...and yellow/orange filters) and do some real visualization. Color is just so easy – paint by numbers :D.

[Nathan Potter]

Here's my take from 50 years of memory.

Northern Vt., NH., ME.: Sept. 25 to Oct. 5
ME coast: Oct. 1 to 15
Central VT., NH., ME: Oct. 1 to Oct. 12
Southern Vt., NH., ME. Oct. 5 to Oct. 15
Western MA.: Oct. 5 to 15
Eastern MA, RI.: Oct. 10 to 20
CT.: Oct. 8 (westrern mts.) to Oct. 25

Peak season may vary by 3 to 6 days depending on weather and rainfall.
Quality is quite fickle from year to year.

Nate Potter, Austin TX, Holliston MA.

[AtlantaTerry]

You really should not use postal abbreviations. How is Joseph who is from Ireland supposed to know what you mean?

[Greg Miller]

Here's a good web site for seeing where the color is happening: http://www.foliagenetwork.com/index.php/foliage-reports/foliage-reports-northeast-us/current-season-northeast-us

[Greg Miller]

I should also add the the color varies significantly from year to year. Fall color for the past 10 years has been 2 weeks later than historical averages with fall color continuing well into November. This year seems to be very different with color happening much earlier.

[SergeiR]

Wish there was something like that foliage network for southern states :(

[jb7]

Thank you all, great information.

Nathan, Western Connecticut on the 16th of October, how's that for a sweet spot...

ROL, not forgetting my TMX and filters, but I don't get many chances like this, and sometimes even cliches have value-
TMX, that isn't a state, is it?

Greg, thanks for that site, will check it out- I was in NY last November, but the hurricane had taken a lot of the late foliage away, as well as a few other things-

Sergei, was around Austin last year, was very impressed with your live oaks- surprised I don't see more of them here-
though I didn't have a big camera with me then-

Thanks again-

[john_6267]

I've lived here in New England all my life but have been frustrated with Fall photography even though I have tried 35mm, 6X7 and 4X5.

I have gone to northern New Hampshire the White Mountains National Park area, including Franconia Notch, the Kancamangus Highway and other areas, many times. The best Fall foliage pictures I have taken may have been in black and white! Still trying to figure what is going on. My guess is I relied too much on Velvia 50 with the resulting problems:

First, shutter speed too slow to stop the leaves that always seem to be blowing around in a 10 mile per hour breeze. I don't like blurry leaves but that's just me.

Secondly, contrast that was too high for an already contrasty subject, particularly with contrasty film and contrasty lenses.

There is a temptation to get as much color in the this type of photo as possible but sometimes less is better. Also there is a temptation to try to get too close to the subject with the result of not enough depth of field, unless you are willing to go to the highest fstops (as movements will not always be possible) but with the potential result of too long a shutter speed.

I also think a mistake for me was not staying up there for a week, like the last days of September through the first week of October, and instead have wasted years just commuting there for one day a season. Sometimes you hike in the middle of a forest to surround yourself with color, and maybe get away from all the other people there, but this can lead to all kinds of technical problems and with compositions. The foreground being very close and the image being too three dimensional for much help with movements are examples. Stray branches that are too close and later show up around the periphery of the image are tricky, I have asked passers-by to hold a branch for me at times.

You are almost better off staying by the road and looking for clearings, like a pond, river, lake or even a highway. A nice image which you can find by the side of the road,maybe cliche, is finding two individual or stands of tree trunks one trunk or group of trunks could be light like birch trees and then a dark single trunk or group of tree trunks and then some colorful leaves, no wind and a wet misty quality can help also with that kind of image. Also some really bright foliage comes from the leaves of young underbrush trees. If you find dark and light tree trunks together you can frame the image to include those leaves.

Of course, one of the problems with short trips is that some areas will look better with dawn light as they will be too shaded during later in the day and for other places the opposite will be true, so move on if you got there at the wrong time of day. My experience has been that foliage needs just the right amount of light hitting it to record well on film. Some people like polarizers but I don't like loosing over a stop of light and sometimes even in the right light you can over do it and end up with foliage that looks saturated but dull because the sparkle is gone.

Why is black and white film an alternative, Well you can use 400 speed film like HP5+, it's lower in contrast than slide film, and the fall leaves will record differently on film in the Fall because of the colors of the leaves. Green, yellow, orange and red are also the colors of black and white filters, so you can experiment a little by bracketing the same image with different filters.

Lastly, for anyone going to the White Mountains, this is a pretty rugged area, storms pop up quickly, it can also get cold fast. I was out in a fast moving snow storm in October in this area, quite beautiful when things settled though my photos weren't. Also, things like GPS and cell phones don't always work there. And yes I hope to get a chance to go up there this Fall. All the best, John

[Nathan Potter]

Thank you all, great information.

Nathan, Western Connecticut on the 16th of October, how's that for a sweet spot

Thanks again-

That's seems to be a decent bet considering the variables mentioned by me and others.

I tend to think there is no such thing really as peak color. Different trees peak at different times. Altitude is a factor with higher elevations peaking first along with the valley areas that receive earlier frosts. Any kind of a storm with winds can rip foliage off within hours. All in all a tricky endeavor on a one shot trip.

Usually you can find some color within the dates I mentioned by being selective and imaginative.

*Red maples (Acer rubrum) in wetlands can be a spectacular red and tend to peak earlier in the lowlands.
*Sugar Maples on damp hillsides can have a range of peaking times depending on the site and show yellows and orange colors.
*Silver Maples along streams can be later and show brilliant yellows (look along the Conneticut river valley for instance).
*A few scattered aspens can be found here and there in waste areas and may be a very bright yellow.
*Later look for various Vacciniums sp. like huckleberries or blueberries which yield a nice wine color.
*One of my favorites are ferns (low to ground of course) which turn an amazing gold color with proper frost. Sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilus) is a great example.

Nate Potter, Austin TX, Holliston MA.

[jb7]

John, thank you very much for your contribution- much to think about there-

I don't expect to be able to do much more than get lucky, as a best case scenario. Although I'll be visiting Connecticut for only a couple of days, I'm in the general area for quite a bit longer, and with a little more luck, I might get to see the complete cycle. I'm in New York now, and there is a lot of tinged green around.

I take your point about the magnification- if I were to be serious about making a lot of pictures of the Fall, I might have travelled with a more sensible, smaller camera. My camera is larger than normal, and it doesn't even get unpacked unless there's some obvious inspiration. I'm not really set up for hiking with it at the moment, so I have an idea about what types of shot might be possible or achievable, and none of them will be far from the road.

Large format, particularly the larger of the large formats, imposes restrictions on the type of shot it's possible to make easily, and I suppose that finding a longish view would be playing to its strengths, especially taking your point about wind into consideration. I too am not so big a fan of movement in leaves, unless, I suppose, you can figure out how to make that the picture...

I don't expect to be doing anything more than playing a tourist with an unfeasibly large camera, and I wouldn't expect to do better than those who have a far more intimate and local knowledge of an area. In addition, as I've mentioned elsewhere, I'm not a landscaper...

You have come closest to addressing the choice of film question, and I suppose I can infer that of the three colour films I mentioned, that you might recommend the faster one?

Nathan, thanks again for your detailed knowledge- I'll be better equipped to know what to look out for now-

As I said, I'm hoping to get lucky, but luck favours the prepared, and I'm feeling a bit more lucky now...

[jp]

If you'll be in western CT in a couple of weeks, that's good timing. I was there yesterday and things are just starting to change.

I like intimate landscape more than the side of the road postcard stuff, but there is plenty of opportunity for either. Farmland can be nice in the fall too; corn fields surrounded by lines of trees, etc.. For color new england stuff, I like Eliot Porter. For B&W new england landscape, Paul Caponigro's "New England Days" is pretty nice. I generally shoot digital for color and B&W for LF/MF, so aside from a little bit of color fuji instant, I have little color LF experiece.

[jb7]

Thanks jp-

I'm traveling without preconceptions, apart from those associated with the experience of shooting LF, and the restrictions they impose. I seldom take the camera out unless inspired, but I suppose I'm a bit of a sucker for Americana, even if that is somewhat of a cliche in itself.

It's impossible to do justice to anything, photographically, without an intimate knowledge of what you're doing, (or the freedom associated with the unlimited opportunities of smaller formats) and I don't expect to get very much on a first visit. However, like an angler, a day spent without a catch is not entirely wasted

I'll be doing the best I can, which is never good enough...

I just hope the parks will be open-

[EdSawyer]

I live in Seacoast NH area. Right now we are at about 15% peak I'd say, with wetlands and lowlands at probably 50-60%, they seem to be showing color earlier. Anectodally it seems like the color will be a lot better than last year. I'd guess that the white mountains are probably not bad right now, and will be perfect in a week or two, depending on where you are talking about. Generally the color timeline flows north to south, with northern areas peaking earlier. Yankee magazine usually has good fall foliage reports and links, even a list of webcams too.

bring all the color film you can, I'd say. There are always good subjects to be found, just a matter of looking for them. Even small vignettes of leaves and water can look great, without a big sweeping vista.

Backroads and small towns will be worth exploring, as most often the best stuff is off the beaten path. If you go to the well known routes (kanc highway) be prepared for large crowds and traffic.

-Ed

[jb7]

Thanks Ed-

I was in Southern CT yesterday, along with coastal NY, still not much change apart from isolated species.

I put this topic into 'Style and Technique' in order to try to elicit opinions regarding the three types of film available to me. It really isn't about locations and travel, more about how to deal with a seasonal colour issue anywhere...

[David Schaller]

I was in northern NH this weekend, and it is already past peak. I would say that southern Vermont is at peak. Route 9 across Vermont is very nice right now. By next weekend it will be past peak. The Berkshires are getting close to peak.
Dave

[gregmo]

I was in Shenandoah Nat Pk in Virginia on Saturday (northern 1/3 of the park). The leaves are peaking now. The crowd was very low due to the gov re-opening a few days earlier.