Fish and Fall Colors, Abajo Peak

Aspen fall colors and Blue Spruce, Abajo Peak Road.

October, the perfect month. Warm days, chilly nights, fall foliage colors. Here I am still in southeast Utah, enjoying the scenery, clean air, small town atmosphere, wide open spaces.

Rainbow Trout, perfect pan frying size, too.

Not only that but I recently bought my fishing license, after being away from it for decades. Following a tip from a local, I was soon catching my limit of four trout from a local lake. They are in the 9 to 12 inch range, perfect for pan frying.

Aspen at peak fall colors, Abajo Peak area.

 So having once again caught my limit that morning, I drove up Abajo Peak Road to see how the aspen colors had progressed in the past week. Pretty magnificent, at peak colors.

Aspen fall foliage backlit by the midmorning sunlight.

From up near the summit of Abajo Peak, I noted how the uppermost aspen clones, the ones that had turned the earliest, were now done, their leaves dropped. Now it was time for the lower elevation forest groups to show off their peak colors.

Looking southeast from Abajo Peak.

Photo location: Abajo Mountains, near Monticello, Utah.

Prints and photo products are available on my Fine Art America sales website:
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© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Southwest Colorado Fall Colors

Colorado Blue Spruce trees in aspen stand, September 24.

I stopped in at the Sunshine Campground not far south of Telluride, Colorado on the Uncompahgre National Forest. I wasn't camping, I was looking for new views of aspen fall colors.

Quaking Aspen leaves at peak color, southwest Colorado.

Aspen leaves against a dark green background of spruce trees makes them look like they are shimmering.

There had been a dusting of early snow on the highest peaks.

 Photo location: San Juan Mountain Range, southwest Colorado.


© Copyright 2016 Stephen J. Krieg

Photographing Fall Foliage Close Up

[Photo: Gambel Oak fall foliage colors, Arizona]

Gambel Oak Leaf, Coconino National Forest, Arizona

To make an outstanding photo of tree leaves, especially in the fall, you don't need a really expensive camera and lens, or special filters or techniques. All you really need is your eyes, your brain, and your feet. 

Granted, this photograph was made with a fairly expensive DSLR camera, but all it did was to give me more control. I would have gone about this shot the same with with a point-and-shoot camera. 

This photo is engaging primarily because of its rainbow like range of colors. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue. But it also gives the feeling of depth,  of being there, even though you're looking at it on a flat screen. 

Why? Contrast. The leaf is in focus, while the background is blurry. Feeling of depth. The colors in the background contrast with the colors in the leaf. Also, I walked around until the sun lit up the leaf from behind. But in a position that it was not only backlit, but had the dark green of the conifer trees and the deep blue of the clear Arizona sky as the background.

I was close enough to the leaf, and the pine trees were far enough away, for them to be blurry no matter what lens aperture was used. All I needed was a lens aperture deep enough to have the entire leaf in focus. Or nearly all of it. 

You might also be interested in my Grand Canyon Photography blog.

See more of my photography at www.naturalmoment.com.