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Tag: fall colors

Why Fall is My Favorite Time of Year

I expect many people would pick summertime as their favorite season. Warmer temperatures. Vacations. Grill action. Beach time. General fun in the sun. What’s not to like? 

Well, all that is indeed great, but I’m wired a bit differently. I like 75 degrees in the sun with low humidity.

And summer is often hot and humid. I don’t dig that. (Humidity is my kryptonite.)

Don’t get wrong… I enjoy the summer months… just not all the heat and sweat.

Instead, I prefer the cooler conditions that fall weather usually brings.

New Beginnings

However, fall gets a bad rap for ending summer’s bliss. Sure, it’s back to work. Back to school. Back to being serious.

But I like morning chill in the air. The crisp edge. The resulting sharper focus when you’re out and about.

Yes, I like putting on my big boy pants.

Of course, as a kid, I dreaded the first day of school. But it was also exciting. A new beginning. A fresh start.

And I’ve carried that enthusiasm for fall throughout my life.

There are also two big reasons I enjoy fall here in Connecticut.

Fire and Ice

Fall brings us right to the intersection between hot and cold. And I love that space. There’s nothing better than that glorious feeling of the warm sun on your shoulders on a cool fall day.

That’s when you can really appreciate nature’s warm vibe. And knowing it’s among the last few opportunities to feel it for months makes it even more special.

Colorful Conditions

The many colors of fall, of course, provide a great canvas for nature photography. And the fall foliage projects the similar theme of a last hurrah before all the leaves snap away into oblivion.

Yes, winter’s coming, but it’s not here yet.

To celebrate this time of year, here are some early October photos I snapped in a park near my local beach on a sunny weekend morning. The fall colors were just starting to show on the trees.

Warm. Cool. Perfect.

How to Give your Photos a More Personal Touch in Post

If you want your fall photos to have more pop, consider taking these steps after you snap your pics.

I admit it. I often like to add in a bit more color and contrast to the photos I snap. A little more brightness too. The process is easy to do in any number of ways. You can do it directly using your smartphone’s photo app or in a photo-editing program like Adobe Lightroom.

Add your Own Ingredients
Enhancing the look of your pictures is like adding your own personal filter, and this practice should give your pics more pop without making them look too manipulated.

Even if the colors start to look a little too good to be true, if the effect pleases you, I say why not?! (By now, haven’t we all become photographic artists at some level?)

And with fall colors all around us, now’s a perfect time to take some shots and squeeze a little more oomph out of your images.

Here are a few of my own shots from my iPhone and Panasonic Lumix LX-10 during my family’s recent apple-picking adventure. I’ve positioned the original photos on the left next to my ‘Barrett-boosted-versions.’ (And if you need to look closely to spot some of the subtle differences, then I’ve done a good job.)
Take More than One Step Forward
Sure, you can always slap on one of your photo app’s premade filters to give your pics more zing, but contributing your own special visual ingredients in post can maintain your sense of ownership.

Tweak the settings for:

  • Brightness
  • Shadows
  • Contrast
  • Color saturation

Yes, it takes more time that simply clicking ‘enhance,’ but one click or tap is rarely a total solution to feeding your creative self.