When you're going for that sharp shot of fall foliage, wind can often ruin the picture, causing your subjects to sway and streak across the frame. But what if you could make that work for you?
UK-based landscape photographer Thomas Heaton made the claim that "wind is the enemy" in his newsletter to subscribers. After facing a deluge of messages stating the opposite, he set out to use the wind for his picture-making in the video above, rather than fighting it as he had been.
Armed with a nearing hurricane, and a bevvy of neutral density filters, he sought to use slower shutter speeds to create motion in the leaves for the landscapes he was shooting. In the resulting photos, you can see tree trunks as sharp as possible since they're anchored into the ground, while the leaves appear as a blur of color around the trunk. It's beautiful, and not what you typically think of in landscape photography. He also stopped right before getting into his car to capture another shot of some leaves changing color that were swaying in the wind.
All that said, I personally have had a love-hate relationship with the wind during fall foliage photography this season. Between the difficulty it adds to tasks such as flying a drone or stabilizing a tripod, it also makes long exposures much more challenging. How much movement is acceptable? How will the imperceptible effects of the wind on my tripod affect the final image? I don't necessarily have light tripods either, with my go-to tripod being a Manfrotto 190. Then there's also the fact that a day with strong winds can rip the leaves you're trying to photograph right off the trees.
There are still plenty of areas that are just now reaching peak colors for the fall season, so if long-exposure foliage photos aren't something you've considered or tried yet, there's still time to make it happen.
Check out Heaton's video above to see his photos, both raw and edited files, as well as get some tips on how to make a compelling landscape photo in these windy conditions. And if you have your own long-exposure fall foliage photos, share them in the comments below.
