Autumn is a season of golden opportunity for photographers -­ a wealth of rich colours and subtle light conditions.

Early morning and evenings are always good times to shoot but they seem so much better in autumn woodlands.

Check out these tips on photography in the autumn…

• To get the best light - shoot when your shadow is bigger (longer) than you are.
• A good macro lens is fantastic for close ups of intricate leaf structures­ but you can also get in close with a long zoom for a similar effect.
• Shoot directly up into a tree for great radiating canopy shots.
• Try shooting directly along a tree trunk to capture mossy bark disappearing into the distance -­ use a high F number (small aperture) and long exposure for best depth of focus.
• On a breezy day even trees can benefit from a fast shutter speed because they’ll be moving. Try 1/250th for sharper detailing of dew-drenched spiders’ webs, ferns and grasses.
• Use manual focus for pin-sharp results ­- auto-focus doesn’t know which area of an image you want to have in focus so sometimes it’ll miss the point entirely!
• Use your exposure compensation button to brighten or darken your pictures. It can make your shots seem more atmospheric.
• Take a piece of white card and another black one out with you when shooting close ups. The white’s useful for reflecting light back into a dreary subject ­and the black’s perfect to shade a delicate one (like a mushroom) on bright sunny days when the contrast would be too high.
• Experiment with polarising filters to boost the contrast, make your colours richer and cut glare on water. Polarisers work best at 45 degrees to the sun.

Autumn forests are always a popular setting for our one-to-one training days. For more free tips on photography plus information on digital photography courses, contact us now. Don't forget to watch our Photography Videos too!

* Picture by one-to-one photography course student Maria Leekblade.