As fall comes to a close here in Ohio I can’t
help but reflect on how fast this year has gone by. Hard to believe that winter is right around
the corner. It has been a fascinating
fall season for me this year. Never
thought I would have spent as much time as I did this fall photographing fall
landscapes, waterfalls and such. Suppose
it is just myself trying to be a better-rounded photographer. It is nice to know that when wildlife that I
commonly photography isn’t active that I have another interest in photography
to fall back on. I think the light switch
flipped with my appreciation and interest in landscapes last fall.
My friend had come up from Florida to
photograph the Wood Ducks, the Wood Ducks that were largely void last
year. So I was forced to show him around
some of the more scenic areas of Ohio so he didn’t go home completely empty
handed. Normally, this time of year I
would spend the majority of my time photographing the Wood Ducks up at North
Chagrin Reservation. So with the
presence of Duck largely not present, I took him around various places in
Cuyahoga Valley National Park, Bedford Reservation, and South Chagrin for
autumn landscape opportunities. As we
went around the various locations listed I found myself really getting into the
challenge of photographing landscapes.
More of a challenge mainly because you have usually create an
interesting focal point in a vast scene, sometimes that is more easier said
then done. Definitely makes you think
more and while I won’t get as excited over a landscape scene compared to a
wildlife scene, I do enjoy the change of pace and challenge of it.
This time last year, the only tool I really
had for landscapes was a Hoya polarizer.
I mainly used this to create more saturation in my colors as well as
decreasing about a stop of light when capturing waterfalls. When I photograph waterfalls, I like to
create a silky look of the water. Not
everyone is a big fan of this, but I like to think that it helps create a more
dream like feel to the overall image.
When my friend was up here last year I noticed he had some strange
looking square filters. Not anything
that would screw onto the front of a lens.
He had/has the LEE filter set.
Until then I had never heard of LEE filters before. At the time, the only filter I really knew of
was a polarizer. It was around earlier
this year that I found myself purchasing the startup kit for the LEE filters,
the foundation kit. Slowly adding to my
collection of expensive but indispensable filters from them I know use a .6 and
.9 ND filter. Also a .6 and .9 ND Soft
Grad filter. I have to say for the purchase of those filters, I have used all
of them, and use them frequently when photographing waterfalls. So
with that I wanted to share some of my more favorite autumn landscape images
from this past fall.
