A Week in Andalucia at Christmas

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The autumnal equinox takes place Sunday, September 22 and marks the transition from summer to fall. Not only do weather patterns change and the days get increasing shorter, but the new season requires a different approach to nature and landscape photography.

Today’s tutorial from instructor Toma Bonciu provides a wealth of shooting tips and interesting ideas to pursue. He’s a Romanian landscape pro who says this: “As a photographer you should offer the viewer an interpretation of what you see, and you can achieve this with careful framing, point of view, and editing.”

Bonciu’s goal for this episode is to inspire you with several stunning fall photos and offer helpful ideas about elements worthy of attention—along with simple techniques for capturing scenes that are emblematic of autumn.

The most obvious approach to take, according to Bonciu, is to capture the unique colors of this vibrant season, and doing so often requires waiting for perfect light to bathe the landscape. His example is a epic scene he captured at sunrise while photographing into the sun to accentuate the golden tones of a stand of trees in the foreground of the frame.

Another trick for drawing attention to striking fall colors is to take advantage of negative space when composing a shot. Bonciu does this in another stunning image by positioning three sunlit trees in a way that they’re surrounded by darker areas devoid of much detail. It’s this interaction between light and shadow that really grabs attention and draws viewers into the scene.

You’ll also see how a foggy day in the forest provides opportunities to capture images full of drama and emotion. Fall colors tend to be muted under these conditions and the fog will hide of distracting clutter and simplify a scene. Oftentimes you’ll end up with images that convey a sense of mystery. The trick is to embrace the muted tones, rather than bumping up vibrance and saturation.

Another foolproof technique is to create a bit of abstraction by including the reflections of colorful trees in a small lake or pond. This approach works really well on calm, windless days when sharp reflections make it difficult to determine which end it up.

At this point you’re only halfway through the lesson and there’s much more to learn. Start practicing this weekend so you be prepared for the height of the season that typically occurs in October depending upon where you live. Then check out Bonciu’s instructional YouTube channel for more interesting landscape tips and techniques.

And be sure to take a look at our post from last week with a 2024 fall foliage prediction map so you’ll know where and when to capture photographs with beautiful autumn colors.

There’s a common post-processing oversight that sacrifices the quality of every photograph you edit; namely making global adjustments to the entire photo rather than selective (otherwise known as local) enhancements to different areas within the frame.

The technique isn’t difficult to learn and delivers vastly superior results, as you’ll see in this eight minute tutorial from instructor Robin Whalley. He demonstrates the pitfalls of global adjustments, and then uses the same sample image to illustrate how editing selectively with a few simple masks makes a world of difference.

Whalley uses Lightroom to get the job done, but this method can be accomplished in much the same way with most full-featured editing software. At first glance his simple shot looks like a throwaway, with a foreground that’s way too dark. To make matters worse, the beautiful warm light he saw through the viewfinder is nowhere to be found.

He tries rehabilitating the image using nothing but global adjustments, and that approach proves futile. Increasing exposure opens up the foreground, but the sky becomes far too bright. He then tries employing the Highlights slider to no avail, because now his photo looks really flat. Other global enhancements like increasing contrast are equally disappointing.

In other words, the resulting image is a very poor compromise, “because we’ve used global adjustment controls to fix what are really localized problems in the image.” And when you do that with photos like this one there are unwanted effects on portions of the scene that were OK as they were or required a totally different fix.

Whalley compares employing global adjustments to “using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.” Hence, the “better way” of selective enhancements that target specific portions of the shot—each with a thoughtful and unique approach.

This way, for example, you can open up shadows without blowing out highlights, warm up areas that appear too cool without affecting blue tones, and add Texture, Clarity, and other missing attributes only where they’re needed. And Whalley demonstrates a straightforward procedure that you’ll likely use time and time again.

Check out Whalley’s popular YouTube channel where you’ll find other great tips for shooting impressive landscape photographs and editing them to perfection.

We also recommend watching the tutorial we featured recently from another accomplished pro who demonstrates how to leverage the power of Photoshop’s Style Transfer tools to create spectacular photographs with ease.