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Fall foliage in Arkansas. How time flies! With the first cool front of Fall passing through the Houston area last week, my mind turned to fall foliage and all the places I won't be going this year. Thank you, COVID-19.
In the US, perhaps the best planning resource for photographing fall foliage is the Fall Foliage Prediction Map from the Great Smoky mountains National park website.
Despite the name, the map provides a prediction for the entire United States. For those of us who believe in science, they also have an easy to read explanation of why leaves change color in the autumn.
Looking at the EXIF data of the photo below, I was surprised to realize it's from six years ago. I was on a trip the capture images of fall foliage in Arkansas with James Brandon and Mike Mezeul, two great photographers.
This year's predictor shows that late October – early November will be near-peak to peak color season. All the northern states will be post-peak by then.
Taken on October 27, 2014, a few miles south of Ponca in north-west Arkansas, the photo shows a private road heading down the hill towards Smith Creek.
I mostly shoot in RAW format. The initial results from a RAW file can look flat and uninspiring. The image on the back of the camera is a JPEG processed by the camera profile.
A RAW file needs to be processed on the computer to bring it to life. The choices the photographer makes in processing their RAW photos is part of their Art.
Below is the unprocessed RAW file.
Image Processing:
For this image I:
- Straightened the image in Adobe Lightroom and applied some input sharpening
- Processed the image in Skylum Luminar 4
Camera and Lens:
- Canon EOS 5D Mark III
- Canon EF-28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM
- Gitzo GT3530 Mountaineer Tripod
- Really Rights Stuff BH-55 Ball Head
- ISO 100, 1/3 sec at f/16
Image Processing:
- Simple adjustments in Adobe Lightroom
- Color adjustments in NIK Color Efex Pro 5 by DxO
- Additional adjustments in Adobe photoshop
