7 tips for taking beautiful photos with smartphones in the fall

Fall can be a wonderful time of year. Not too warm, not too cold, and the colours change from week to week, making it a great time to capture photos. But how do you make sure you get the best fall photos?

There's no magic formula for taking great fall photos. You just have to make the colors and patterns that make the season special work for you. Here's how to take the best fall photos with your smartphone.

1. Shoot at dawn or dusk to complement the fall colors

When it comes to fall, not all times of day are created equal. While you can take great photos in any lighting condition, shooting at dawn or dusk will help the natural colors of the season stand out in your photos. This is due to the effect that light and angle have on fall colors.

The first photo above, with the sunlight filtering through the trees, was taken at dawn. The park was deserted, and the scene had a serenity that wouldn't have been possible in the middle of the day. The second was taken at dusk, just as the streetlights came on, illuminating the fallen leaves.

2. Look for rich color contrasts in fall

Fall is all about the rich colors of nature. Trees are slowing down, getting ready to survive winter and make their way to spring. And if you can find contrast with the fall colors, you'll have a great photo on your hands. Water, buildings, man-made objects, and even gray roads can all work.

In the photo above, the trees are in varying degrees of wilting, adding interest before anything else comes into the scene. Add the lake behind to bring green into the scene, and then the colors of the boathouse just behind.

3. Take close-ups of seasonal objects

With the beauty of nature at this time of year, it's easy to capture scenes from afar. However, it's worth getting up close and personal with some of the autumnal objects. This allows the colours and textures to really pop, filling the screen with the shades of autumn.

You can choose any of a myriad of seasonal objects to shoot close-up. Think pumpkins, pine cones, a fireplace, or even someone holding a steaming cup of hot chocolate.

4. Use natural frames to add interest to your fall photos

Since fall photography often takes place outside to capture the beautiful colors, you should try to use natural framing as much as possible. This will allow you to add structure to a photo that has a lot going on and no obvious place for the viewer's eyes to focus. Use grid lines to help you find your frame (among other things).

As you can see above, this shot of a local park could have been a chaotic mix of colours and shapes, with nothing holding them in place or providing context. However, shooting through these two trees creates a natural frame for what's behind them, and the whole scene suddenly makes more sense.

5. Shoot in wet or foggy weather to add atmosphere

The beauty of autumn, in terms of its richness of color and the opportunities it offers for textured photos, is that it signals a change in weather. However, novice smartphone photographers should see it as an opportunity to capture more interesting images.

Humid or foggy weather can create an atmosphere that hot weather doesn't, so use changing weather conditions to your advantage. A foggy night with leaves on the ground can create an instant mood. Rain, whether it's still falling or has stopped, can have a similar effect.

6. Bend down to take pictures of fallen leaves on the ground.

With fallen leaves everywhere, you might as well make them a feature in your fall photos. Get low to the ground to let them fill the foreground of your photos.

Don't think of fallen leaves as just adding texture and color; they can be the main subject of your photo. To demonstrate, the photo above doesn't really have a subject, as it's just a vacant lot with a few trees and a streetlight. But by filling half the frame with fallen leaves, it suddenly becomes an interesting photo.

7. Edit to enhance natural colors, but don't overdo it

Everyone edits their smartphone photos in some way. It's addictive to crop, adjust, and add filters until you're happy with them. But it's easy to over-edit. This is especially true when taking photos in the fall.

The image above is a classic example of over-editing. It's a close-up of a holly tree, with fallen leaves all around it and the trees reaching up towards the sky in the background. If over-edited, the results would be a bit disappointing. The holly itself ends up out of focus, and everything in the background looks so saturated that you can't tell one thing from another.

Smartphone cameras are really capable these days and you don't need expensive equipment to take some great photos. By using the tips above, you can capture the natural beauty of autumn with just the camera in your pocket.

Hope you get the photos you want!

Micah Soto

Update 09 December 2024