James Abbott reveals the secrets behind shooting amazing images during the most eye-catching season of the year

James Abbott

Atmospheric mist, warm colours in the landscape, golden hours that aren’t too early or too late, and one of the most exciting events in the wildlife photography calendar - the deer rut.

These make autumn one of, if not the most, interesting seasons for outdoor photographers. The landscape is awash with photographic opportunities, you simply need to know when and where to look for them. Locations can be as simple as your local park or as spectacular as the Lake District or the Scottish Highlands.

The photography skills you’ll need to draw upon are generally the same as at other times of the year, but the difficulty in shooting autumn comes from the fact that seasons occur at slightly different times up and down the country: typically earlier in the north and a little later in the south. Plus, peak autumn one year may not occur at exactly the same time the following year, so you have to remain flexible when the season begins to change.

To shoot at the perfect time, you’ll need to pay close attention to the changing colour of foliage, and if the location is far away you may need to search for local webcams to check for the onset of the season. Or even better, if you know a local you can ask them to tell you when autumn is about to reach its peak - it’s often possible to estimate this a week or two before it happens.

Here we’ll dive into the best ways to capture this magical, if all-too-brief, season.

Focus on landscapes in transition

Autumn’s bold colours and dramatic weather conditions combine to create sublime results

Autumn is a season of many facets, and two features that always capture the imagination are misty mornings and temperature inversions. These incredibly atmospheric conditions can, of course, occur throughout the year, but are particularly prevalent in autumn due to the typically lower temperatures at night, with clear skies and warmer temperatures in the morning.

This simple recipe can create the most ethereal conditions for shooting, and experiencing them is the photographic equivalent of winning the lottery; even when you know what to look for in the weather forecast it’s still very much a game of chance, so persistence and a bucket full of good luck will always be required. Phone apps such as Clear Outside are great for providing highly detailed weather forecasts.

There are two ways of capturing misty conditions - you either shoot from within the mist, which is often best when capturing images of trees, or from an elevated position when shooting wider landscapes. Being above the mist provides a completely different result, because any tall elements in the landscape scene, such as hills, can appear to be emerging from a sea of haze. Here’s how to capture dramatic landscapes shrouded in mist from elevated locations…