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Autumn Reflection, Acadia National Park

Mar, 2019

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Behind The Lens

Location

I took this photo in Acadia National Park, while on vacation with my wife. The park is full of beautiful lakes and ponds, and in autumn they are spectacular. There are tons of hiking trails, as well as many miles of carriage roads that are bike-only. I've been to Acadia several times, and never get tired of it!

Time

This photo was taken around mid-day, while on one of our hikes.

Lighting

Given that the light was bright at mid-day, a direct shot of the leaves in the trees might have been a little harsh. Fall leaves often photograph better under hazy sun or even cloud cover. So I noticed the beautiful reflection in the water (I'm always looking for reflections), and saw a very painterly, Monet-like quality to the color. I decided to focus on the reflection, adding just enough of the far shore to anchor the photo, and let the viewer imagine the trees that gave the color to the pond. I shot that cropped out the strip of shore would have been beautiful in its own right, but would have been completely abstract. In this case, on a personal level, I like the way this one turned out.

Equipment

Minolta XG-M (old school!), Fuji Velvia slide film, hand-held with a Tokina 100-300 lens.

Inspiration

I'm a sucker for fall colors, and always looking for their reflections. The lighting here really made the colors in the pond pop!

Editing

In scanning slides, the scanned file always looks a little washed out or subdued compared to the original slide. So I typically just bump up the saturation about 8 points on the slider, to get the image to look like it did originally.

In my camera bag

I did make the switch to digital some years ago. I now carry a Nikon D7000, along with Nikon 18-55 and 55-200 lenses. And of course a tripod, (nothing fancy).

Feedback

Fall is just wonderful for a color landscape photographer. And just about anywhere in New England is fantastic that time of year. If you're going to a particular place, try to research it a little to see when the peak color is going to hit. I like to take photos just before peak, preferring a little green in leaves that haven't yet turned color to having branches where the leaves have fallen off. As I say, don't neglect cloudy or even rainy days, as fall leaves look beautifully saturated in that light. But in bright light, the contrast of colorful leaves against a blue sky can be very dramatic. And as I did with this photo, always look for those reflections! Walk around the lake or pond to change position, and note how that changes the intensity of the reflection in the water.

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Autumn Reflection, Acadia National Park

Behind The Lens

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