Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips

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Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips

As winter is just around the corner, we still have a week or so to capture some fall colored leaves.  Most photographers will say fall is their favorite time of year to shoot. You can’t beat the colors that explode in the landscapes. For the macro photographer, close-ups of colorful leaves are everywhere.  I head to my local parks that offer a variety of environments for me the find these treasured shots.   These images can be shot using your digital SLR and macro lenses or your point and shoot cameras.

I like to search the swamps and small streams in the wooded areas at Stony Creek Metro Park. The leaves may be floating a distance from the edges of the swamp or stream, so a longer telephoto macro lens in the 180mm range works best to reach out farther.  I like to shoot in the higher aperture f-stop range (f/22 to f/32) to bring it all in focus.

125 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Floating Cottonwoods

120 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Swirling Swamp Water


After I’m done in the swamps I go into the upland woods and shoot leaves on the ground.  With these shots your working distance to the subject is much closer, so any focal length macro lens (60mm to 180mm) will work fine.  With all the nice fine details in these leaves I will shoot them in the higher f/stop range (f/22 to f/32) to make sure I capture all the details.

139 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Rain Soaked Large Toothed Aspens

566 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Frosty Oaks


If you would like to be creative and set-up your own art work, leaves can be combine with other subjects or have fun making your own arrangements.  As with the other images, use your higher f/stops for full depth of field.

114 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Maple On Birch Tree

108 Capture Great Photographs of Fall Leaves: Macro Photography Tips Guest Bloggers Photography Tips

Here is a nice arrangement of colorful Aspen leaves, and I added the water drops with an eye dropper.

Shooting fall leaves is one of the best times to be out in nature, so hurry as you only have a short time left.

Guest blogger Mike Moats is an award winning pro nature photographer that specializes in macro photography. See more about Mike and his images at, www.tinylandscapes.com

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No Comments

  1. Brooke on January 14, 2010 at 9:56 am

    fabulous post!! it is so very helpful to hear some of the things photographers say to get poses going

  2. Beth @ Pages of Our Life on January 14, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Thank you Alison. I really enjoyed reading your thoughts and wisdom.

  3. Jen on January 14, 2010 at 11:19 am

    Great tips! Thanks for sharing!Love the new blog Jodi!

  4. Sharon Miller on January 14, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Great article. I know first hand from seeing you in action at the Lansing meet up that you are a pro when working with the little one’s. But your images scream that, too.

  5. Amy Hoogstad on January 14, 2010 at 12:45 pm

    Thank you for the great advice!

  6. a thorn among roses on January 14, 2010 at 4:57 pm

    the ideas and shots are fab-u-lous!!!!

  7. Krysta on January 14, 2010 at 7:16 pm

    Thanks so much for this post! I’ve only done a handful of shoots with siblings, but this would’ve come in handy about a year ago! haha. In any case, I’ve stored it in the memory banks and plan to use it on my own kiddos when baby #2 arrives this summer.Also, just as an FYI, I did a sibling shoot for older teenagers last year, and the piggyback thing worked great for them too! If anyone’s interested, here’s a peek: http://deylife.blogspot.com/2009/05/iheartfaces-week-18.html

  8. Tricia on January 20, 2010 at 10:17 am

    These are all fantastic tips, and wonderful images! Thank you so much for sharing.

  9. Sabrina on October 2, 2010 at 11:09 am

    GREAT tips! I just experienced many of these frustrations last week while doing a shoot with a friend that has twin boys (3yrs old) and one daughter (age 4). TOTALLY tough, but we hung out for a few hours and got some decent shots. Time. Lots of time.

  10. Kelly on January 4, 2011 at 8:43 pm

    Great article, as always. Thank you!

  11. Angie on August 24, 2011 at 12:36 pm

    Great post! You are right on track with what it takes to get children to withstand a photo session. Busy and happy!

  12. Kim Boatman on August 30, 2011 at 12:31 am

    I LOVED reading this. Thank you so much for sharing!

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