Fall leaves and small waterfall, Uvas Canyon, Morgan Hill, CA, USA
- In overcast conditions, look for colorful subjects (flowers, foliage etc) to make intimate landscapes. Given the time of the year (mid-Nov), photographing fall leaves was a no-brainer for me.
- If possible, emphasize something in the foreground, against the background subject. In this case, I found this colorful leaf for the foreground to anchor the shot of a background waterfall and more leaves.
- Photograph extensive depth images with a wide angle lens. I used my 17-35mm f2.8.
- Use f22, if there is a foreground object very close to the lens, along with background that is far away. This ensured front to back sharpness due to extensive depth of field. My lens was about 9 inches away from the foreground leaf.
- Use your camera’s native ISO to keep the noise to the minimum. I used ISO 200, native to my Nikon D300.
- Use a tripod. The shutter speed for this shot was 30 s. I could not have done it hand-held. I used my light GK1580TQR5 tripod, coupled with my Kirk BH-1 Ball head. This tripod is light enough and small enough to actually fit inside my camera backpack. At the same time, I was not impressed by the ball-head that came standard with this tripod. I therefore took it out and fitted my Kirk BH-1 ball-head to it. I now have a fine light tripod, with an extraordinary ball-head. This tripod provides the stability to shoot long exposures. This ball-head provides ability to quickly and easily fine-tune my composition, once the tripod is setup.
- Do not trigger with your finger. Use an electronic cable release. I used one for this shot, to eliminate any camera shake, resulting in a sharp image.