Fall Frolic?

What's your favorite time of year?

For myself I believe that the fall or autumn as some would prefer is one with the most color. Of course the main shortfall with this beautiful time of year is that the colors end up blowing away all too quickly. So I find myself trying to get out and about to enjoy the colors all the more and this year is the first in about two years that I've actually had both the time and the energy to really enjoy it.

What do I like about Fall?

For me the fall is the most colorful time of year; however, this is not the only thing that I enjoy. You see with the shorter days that come with it, I am now able to play more with the lighting at sunset and not need to stay up all night just to get a golden sunset. Don't get me wrong; I loved having more daylight during the summer too. It's just that if you want to do anything in the lower light levels (like painting with light) It takes a lot more planning. So this time of year helps both the hobby enthusiast and work worlds get along a bit better.

Does anyone know when the 'magic' times of day are?

The magic times of day are more easily remembered when it's not, which is usually between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m when the sun is highest in the sky. If you want pretty gold light tones then the morning sunrise is when you are most likely going to be making your time. Now if you would like more of the warm reds and oranges then about an hour before sunset is your prime time for the nature photos. Don't forget that you will want to take more than just a couple of photos at this time as the lighting changes quickly.

To show just how quickly the light can change at this time of day we can look at these two examples here. The one above was taken first and the one to the right was taken about half an hour later. This is quite the change for our cameras. So do you think we would also use the same settings on our equipment, or would they need to be changed? To answer this one would likely say that this is easy to answer. Obviously it would be changed. This is true, however deciding by how much also depends on what kind of an effect you want to create in your photo. Remember this is no different than deciding what colors you are putting on a painting palet. The camera's 'film', traditional or digital, is your canvas. Get creative and try something that maybe is not quite the ordinary for you.

So I do hope that everyone is able to enjoy our warm weather this fall as well as able to get out there and enjoy all those great colors. Until next time happy painting. :)