First day

I tried. Unsuccessfully. To get a first day of school picture each year. No dice. The kids were too nervous. Try and get a smile … coax a smile… out of a nervous child.

Related

Well, Colleen is certainly happy. That’s what caught my eye. Her smile is infectious; I’m smiling too, looking back on it now. And fall? Unmistakable color! Side by side? The images were side by side in my catalog. Ah! My editing placed them thus because of the ratings I assigned. Both make me smile. So, yes, related.

Fall color, it’s bright reds, orange, yellows made more so by the brilliant shining sun and blue skies. This would be quintessential fall color in my book. Selfies. The camera does it all automatically. You gotta settle for the focus point the camera chooses. Imperfect. But it carries the point of the shot. Happiness.

Imperfect

Intentionally. I shot this on the fly through the car window as we sped along some highway. Does it matter? Ha ha. Relevant? It’s not a good shot. It’s not bad. Reasoning: I wanted a pic, a representative pic of the fall foliage. I was not willing to stop every 100 feet. So, shoot, get what you can, and sort the rest later. Reason: Otherwise you would not have shot nothing.

Technique: I keep the camera on the dash board. Wide angle? Too wide. So I use something like – aha! – 60mm on my trusty zoom. I let everything else go automatic. A shutter speed too slow will give you motion blur.

It works. Shot after shot. Some good. Some bad. But there is something to show the fall foliage. Fine photography it ain’t and you may roundly criticize. But it works for me. I stay married and we get somewhere to where we were headed.

Shhh! One mustn’t be late to Thanksgiving….

Late afternoon

Later afternoon light comes earlier as daylight savings time fades. Suddenly it gets dark soon after 5PM. I hate it. Out with the cats on the deck for an afternoon stroll… there were a few last images in the fast receding summer garden. The light is now a rosy glow as contrasted to harsh midday sun. Great!

Focus – I coulda done better. it’s soft. There are details. Sure, something is always gonna be in focus. Composition – ok, Subject – what’s my point? I am drawn to the stamens more than the petals. But the real point was the late afternoon light giving that glow only seen around sunset. I have SAD. The light at this time of day makes me wistful.

(Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that comes and goes in a seasonal pattern. SAD is sometimes known as “winter depression” because the symptoms are usually more apparent and more severe during the winter.)

Goofing

We were waiting for museum to open. I took advantage and was shooting fall color. Spectacular! A girl wandered by trying to take pictures of her dog? She was aiming in the wrong direction. Maybe not?! I assume the obvious but am often mistaken.

An overcast day – it would rain shortly – has different light. It’s soft, not harsh, tending toward blue tones. Take it. Street photography, yes, this was. Just do it. Puzzle over it later. I hope she got her shot. I got mine.

Luck

Same scene, different post processing. I am in the wrong light at this time of day or past prime for leaf color change. ??? Who knows?! I simply cheated and amped up the saturation and vibrance in Lightroom. The colors pop! Natural. Same scene different color. Some places have not changed – leaves. Other spots are prime peak. And others….

Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed! I have a plethora of good shots! At least they are good by my standards. Much of it is all about being in the right place at that moment. Luck? Well, you do make some of your own opportunities. I was wandering the backroads of Maine… kind of lonesome, compensating for some itch. Fog! It’s hard to shoot. You never quite know what you will get. Luck! Skill!? Who knows? You might not even think much of this shot?! I do. I think it was a good almost great shot. It calls to me, as Colleen would say. Ethereal! Great! Fall. Fall color. Good exposure. Good detail. Good composition. Yes, a fine shot indeed.

So. I got the shot. Done? Do I need another fall shot. Are there others and can any top this one? I guess I will never stop shooting fall color. You never know what you will get. And the same shot will not come around again. Keep shooting. It’s almost fall, again.