About a week after the tornado in New York City, I started to notice "shadows" of leaves on the sidewalk. It looked almost like the leaves had vaporized, leaving little scorch marks in their place. There aren't many beautiful, pristine meadows or forests in NY, so I figured I'd take a photo of the shadows instead of the leaves. Shot on a Nikon D40 with an old Nikkor 55mm lens, propped up on a folded jacket and on self-timer. 1/5 at f/32.
-Abe Levitan
A synagogue in my neighborhood is being renovated, and the scaffold directed the leaf-crushing foot traffic further from the building. This made for a non-soggy pile of leaves, a rarity. Nikon D40 with a 55mm lens, 1/60 at f/5.6.
-Abe Levitan
f/22 1/60 ISO-400 focal length 18mm
-Alexandre de Oliveira
f/22 1/13 ISO-100 focal length 18mm
-Alexandre de Oliveira
Nikon D90 + Nikkor 35mm @ f/1.8, ISO200, 1/1600
I was holding camera close to the ground to provide sense of perspective with bokeh, reflections and those shadows of the trees.
-Alexey Yakushev
Nikon D90 + Nikkor 35mm @ f/1.8, ISO100, 1/1000
Nothing special to say about this one – I just like the composition and warm sunny colors.
I made this shots in Moscow in Tsaritsino park/museum in the end of this September.
-Alexey Yakushev
This photo was taken with a Nikon D40 DSLR with a Nikkor ED 55-200 mm lens. ISO was set to 200, F-stop at f/10 and an exposure of 1/400.
This shot was taken on Saturday October 30, 2010 at the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, DC. My group of friends were pretty far back from the stage, so we were forced to watch the rally on one of the many large monitors set up on the mall. I shot a few photos of one of the musical performances, and noticed this shot above me as I was powering down the camera.
-Alex Yoder
"Anticipation" was taken with a D700 and 12-24 f/4 DX lens, at 24mm, 1/1250 and f/4.0. This is at Stratton Mountain in Vermont. To me, it's exciting. They're starting to get snow (which you can see on the peak), but everything is just sitting and waiting. I'll be back here in a few more weeks, and it'll be a whole different world.
-Tony Lanza
"Fire" was also taken with a D700, this time with an 80-200 f/2.8D, at 80mm, 1/200 and f/3.2. I was driving around my town just about at sunset, snapping pictures. While reviewing them all, I found this one, and immediately thought of flames. If you look quickly, it looks like the trees really are burning.
-Tony Lanza
Nikon D700
Lens: 17-35 2.8
ISO: 100
Shutter: 1/250
F: 3.5
Story:
I convinced myself to go for my run/jog and knew that it was Fall and I might catch some colorful leaves but wasn't expecting this. As it turns out, I may have found something more than just leaves, something that no one has ever witnessed - the heaven's gate. Just before finishing my normal jog, I saw that the sun was setting perfect through the colors of Fall and creating the doors to heaven. If I missed this for about another 5-10minutes, I may have not been able to capture this perfect lighting or the perfect moment.
-Azeem Baig
Nikon: D700
Lens: 17-35 2.8
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/320
F: 5.3
Story:
Just taking a walk by the lake with all my gear, knowing it was the season of colors. I saw some ducks, while trying to capture the ducks I noticed a nice 'poster like' pattern forming in the reflection of the water. The Fall colors just made it vibrant enough to make my abstract work.
-Azeem Baig
Three weeks ago I went for a walk at the Morton Arboretum in the suburbs of Chicago. I wanted to snap some pictures of the trees changing color. I saw this tree from the path in the woods and had to cut through them, off the path to get to it. Then, I had to wait for almost half an hour for everybody to get out of the way. I have been experimenting with HDR and decided that I would snap 3 pictures of the tree at –1, 0, and +1 steps with my Nikon D90 and the kit 18-105 lens at 18mm focus and an ISO of 3200 with a 1/400 shutter speed. The image was combined using Photomatrix Pro to get the results you see here.
-Barry Smith
Three weeks ago I went for a walk at the Morton Arboretum. On the way in I saw this really cool yellow tree on the side of the path. I walked off to the side and started shooting pictures of it. I had made up my mind to really experiment with HDR shots this week, so not only did I take some regular shots, but I also took a lot of stepped shots. Nothing fancy; everything was at –1, 0, and +1 with my Nikon D90 and the kit 18-105 lens at 22mm focus and an ISO of 2500 with a 1/25 shutter speed. The photos were combined with Photomatrix Pro.
-Barry Smith
Shot with a Canon EOS500
f/2,8
1/2000s
ISO 100
@17mm
We didn't exactly buy plants and flowers for our roof terrace in Hoboken (Antwerp, Belgium). Instead, we decided to let nature take its course. The only things we added were the yellow birdhouse and fake grass in front.
The ivy climbed up from our neighbours wall, and even the mix of grass and flowers sprung out of seeds that were blown there from surrounding gardens. Our terrace looks different every year, without any gardening effort.
We particularly like the red color of the ivy during the fall.
-Bie Van Laer
Taken with Pentax at ISO 1600, 22.0 aperture, 1/100 exposure
I was walking around outside, looking for inspiration when saw some leaves arranged in a circular pattern. A combination of that and seeing the Work of Andy Goldsworthy inpspired me to put this one together. It took quite a few shots in the bad light do get a decent one, but I like the dappling effect of the light coming through the trees.
-Cason Reily
Taken with Pentax at ISO 400, 14.0 aperture, 1/250 exposure.
Walking around seeking inspiration, I came upon these enormous cast iron bull statues, and decided to get them in the background with leaves in the foreground. It took a few angles and tries to get the right shot, but after a bit of work I came up with one.
-Cason Reily
Canon EOS Rebel T2i,
Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS Lens
ISO:100
Exposure Time:1/40
Aperture: f/5.6
The photo was taken after I returned home from school. It has been raining for the past few days. The sky was beautiful, I had ever saw such beautiful sky. So I use my camera , and took the shot.
-Chen Jiang
Just got my Rebel T2i last month yet i'm still new in photography. There's no obvious change in foliage around Macau, even its now fall.
It was the morning after rain and I was on my way to a friend's house, suddenly felt like doing some impromptu shots when i passed by the creepers, so i took out my Vivo (thats the name of my camera) and spontaneously snapped a photo.
The photo had some color boost in iPhoto, shot at 1/100, f5.6, ISO100, with EFS 18-55mm lens.
-Chingsin Wong
My roommate's plant. Its evergreen but to due her busy schedule, she forgot to change the water and the leaves sorta yellowed. I tried some freelensing and ms.roommate was delighted with this shot.
No post-photography effect(s) applied. 1/100 shutter speed, ISO1600, EFS 18-55mm lens.
-Chingsin Wong
Focal length 5.8, F 2.8 at 1/320
-Chris Thompson
Focal length 5.8, F 2.8 at 1/250
Both pictures were taken near North Lake in the Eastern Sierras about 20 miles
west of Bishop, CA on October 3rd, 2010. There were dozens of serious
photographers out that day trying to capturing the beauty of the fall foliage.
I got these shots with my point-and-shoot as we began our hike up to Upper
Lamarck Lake for some trout fishing.
-Chris Thompson
I've looked at leaves from both sides now.
Canon 7D, 100mm macro
Taken over a back-lit tracing pad.
-David Lee
This photo was taken at a winery in New Bedford, MA. I've always been fascinated by abandoned things, and the life they take (or host) after they have been disposed.
ISO 100, 18mm, 0EV, f/4, 1/125
-Diego Jimenez
I took this photo the day I learned about this challenge, in front of the Arsenal Mall in Watertown, MA. Lots of roadtrips (North and South of the city) and 1,000+ pics later, this is still one of my favorites. I know it's not the most original (even though at the time I took it, I thought I was SOOO COOOL, hahahaha), but I really liked the clear sky and how the tree had so many interesting colors in it.
ISO 100, 18mm, 0EV, f/8, 1/60
-Diego Jimenez
Camera used: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT
Original picture format: CR2
Date: 05 November 2010 in afternoon.
Original image size: 3456 x 2304 pixels
Three images were obtained to create an HDR image. Relevant data for each is:
1 - ISO: 800; Focal Length: 200mm; Shutter Speed: 1/15 sec; Aperature: f/9.0
2 - ISO: 800; Focal Length: 200mm; Shutter Speed: 1/50 sec; Aperature: f/9.0
3 - ISO: 800; Focal Length: 200mm; Shutter Speed: 1/8 sec; Aperature: f/9.0
The CR2 file size for each was:
Image 1: 7.8 megabytes
Image 2: 7 megabytes
Image 3: 9 megabytes
The camera was mounted on a tripod to maintain close registration of all three images. A shutter release cable was used to also minimize unwanted movement/vibration. The camera's Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) mode was used.
Scene was shot in my back yard. I gave up trying HDR processing for multiple images of leaves on trees because wind moved leaves between shots. So, looked at ground. Ground is stable. Ground and leaves were still moist from previous rains. Clearly, mowing and raking are in order.
Used Photomatix Pro software to do the HDR processing (Got the software at a discount when I visited http://www.hdrguru.com by chance.). Used GraphicCoverter to convert HDR 16 bit .tiff files to .jpg . Then used Photoshop Elements to sharpen and add an edgy look (may not be obvious in smaller image). Also used Photoshop Elements to crop, scale and change jpeg quality.
The original HDR processed file was many megabytes in size. The two shots entered in the contest were sized down and the .jpg quality was adjusted so that the larger file is 1.3 megabytes in size and the smaller is 180 kilobytes. This whole effort was an experiment in HDR image processing. Whew.
-Nick Iascone
This first picture was taken in Tübingen-Germany, in a park full of leaves, try to walk there was like walking in the snow. So I decided to set up the "children trap" (the punch of leaves) and set down to wait for them. I was about less than 5 minutes and this girl come and just jump into the leaves.
-Fernando Jofre
This second picture was taken in Schloßplats - Stuttgart in a rainy day, that leave was waiting for me.
The two pictures were taken with an alpha 200, and a 70-300 sigma lenses.
-Fernando Jofre
Nikon D300s - Nikon 105mm f/2.8G AF-S VR @ 1/160s - f/7.1 - ISO 200
Taken : 2010-11-06 @ 11:26 AM
Just got my camera back from Nikon, there was a issue with the CF slot corrupting every single cards I got. Coming back from the camera store, testing the rig. I was playing with bokeh. The result is abstract but definitely autumnal.
-Frederic Beaulieu
Nikon D70s - Nikon 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G IF-ED AF-S VR DX @ 200mm - f/5.6 - 1/50s - ISO 200
Taken : 2010-11-01 @ 8:15 AM
The fall is here but already, the winter is approaching... On that morning, there was snow and ice all around and I saw this leaf frozen on that park bench.
Is had to take my old D70s out since my D300s was at the Nikon repair shop. I'm astonished by what I can pull out of this little beast, converting the RAWs with PSCS5!
-Frederic Beaulieu
This photo was taken on a saturday - i think - the only sunny day in the last 2 weeks. Temperatures rose up to 25 degrees from 7 degrees in november which is another sign of the upcoming Ice Age. The funny thing is that, beneath all those leaves, lies a another layer of trash... good thing fall is here so the don't have to clean up.
Photo taken in Bacau, Romania with a Pentax K-x with the following settings:
62.5 mm (50-200mm lenses)
ISO 200
F/4.5
1/400 Sec
I know I included 2 photographs, but the judged photo was taken vertical so there is no cropping possible, so i took another photo, a bit more up, close and personal.
-George Fratila
These ruins were once part of a Civil War era train trestle, but have since melded with the landscape. I photographed this early in the morning, and as the sun rose it warmed the river creating a light mist. I used a warming filter to enhance the reds and oranges, as well as to give life to the subtle browns in the ruins. I originally shot this, with my Canon XS, using a very long exposure, but that caused the mist to obscure the reflections. I tried again useing a faster ISO of 400 which reduced the shutter speed to 1/13th of a second. I used aperture priority mode at f/18 with a focal length of 55mm.
-John Chapman
I finally decided to photograph a creek that I drive past every day on my way to class. My initial attempts to photograph this creek were met with soggy failure, and at 40 degrees (Fahrenheit) stepping too near the creek proved to be a very cold mistake. I eventually found a spot where I could take the shot from the middle of the creek. I used a warming filter to bring out the rich browns and reds. I set my Canon XS to aperture priority mode at f/18, with a shutter speed of 1/4 of a second, and a focal length of 170mm. Since I was taking this shot so early in the morning I used an ISO of 400.
-John Chapman
"Sanity Leaves"
Last week I went to the Sanity Rally on the DC mall with 200,000 others. I volunteered for Birth Control Matters through Planned Parenthood and got a special guest pass to get close to the action. This is the shot I took of the crowd overlooking the stage. Taken with my Canon EOS T2i DSLR f/11 ISO 100 -1ev
-Joshua Feldman
Date taken: 25/10/2010
Camera body: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL, with orginal lens 18-55mm
F-stop: f/4.5
Exposure time: 1/100
ISO – 200
-Kamil Puzdrowski
Date taken: 25/10/2010
Camera body: Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL, with orginal lens 18-55mm
F-stop: f/4
Exposure time: 1/30
ISO – 200
Exposure bias: +2 step
Both of them images was taken on the same day, so I will describe them at one point.
I set myself a target for the day, to take pictures showing movement. However when I was walking through the park and when I notice, firstly the wood becoming gold and then the red bush. I've had to take a picture. I think that it come out really good and that it has something intriguing.
-Kamil Puzdrowski
Camera: Canon EOS Rebel XSi
Lens: 50mm f/1.8 "nifty fifty"
Shutter speed: 15 seconds
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 400
I took the shot in my back yard after wondering just how much light the lens would pick up. I was sitting in a patio chair with the camera propped in a pillow as best I could manage. I had to take 40-50 shots to end up with around 5 that don't have terrible star blur. Post was white balance correction and a touch of brightness in Canon's software, I also cloned out a distractingly bright star and resized in gimp.
-Kyle Ballance
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8G
Settings: 24mm, f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 320.
Story: Went out for a walk to a local park to get the leaves as they changed. Found these interesting, half 'rotted' leaves, and framed it so the dark trunks of other trees in the background form a great bokeh, and give an excellent sense of scale. I actually have a print of this hanging in a local restaurant now.
-Lance Anderson
Camera: Nikon D700
Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8G
Settings: 55mm, f/2.8, 1/400, ISO 250
Story: On the same fall walk as mentioned above, and saw this leaf on the ground. I think what makes this image is the piece of rotting bark in the background. I also like how the main leaf which grabs your attention is quite different in color and shape when compared to all the myriad of other leaves which surround it.
-Lance Anderson
Canon 5D and 35mm F2 Leica
These two shots were made in at offline of AEVG photography club in Grenoble, France. First picture is about a gift of nature, second one is about the fading of autumn.
-Long Ha
"Contrast": Shot with a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm VR Lens, f/6.3 ISO-200 at 1/400th sec.
I took these early in the contest, where the leaves were just starting to fall to the ground. I wanted to create a contrast between summer and fall, and this is what I came up with!
Brightness and contrast tweaked and smaller image cropped in Photoshop.
-Louis Levine
"Eclipse":Shot with a Nikon D3000 with 18-55mm VR Lens, f/5.3 IS)-200 at 1/800th sec.
This picture was taken at the height of Fall colors here where I live in Maryland, just when all of the leaves have turned and are about to fall. I was inspired by a picture from last year's Fall Leaves challenge, and I wanted to try this myself! I tried to find the most vibrant leaf on the ground, and then held it out, eclipsing the sun. I think that the color in the leaf is brought out beautifully by the sun behind it.
-Louis Levine
I adore the rich, dark colors that fall brings to us. Unlike spring summer or winter, fall is the only season where everything turns darker. The sunsets during this season are also the best and most meaningful to me because they also prove to be dark and mysterious while also flaunting its beauty. This is a picture shot by my XTi with a 50mm 1.8 lens. I tweaked it inside iphoto to exaggerate the effect of the sunset. f/7.1 1/4000 0.0ev 1600ISO
-Lucas Lim
Camera: Nikon D700, lens: 16-35 f4 VR and 50mm f1.4. Both images were shot on tripod @ ISO 100 for a longer exposure.
Not much of a story behind the pics... I just went out in my local park to take some shots, when all of a sudden, a security guard comes up and asks me what I'm filming.
So I tell him I'm not. I'm taking photographs. You're not allowed, he said. Says who, I asked. My boss, the shift leader, he said in a low intimidating voice.
So... i told him to bring the book, and show me where in the European Union it's forbidden to take pictures in a public park. If he finds it I'll call the police myself. Otherwise, get lost. It worked...
-Matei Buta
I just got my first DSLR a few weeks ago, so I thought that the fall leaves would be a perfect experiment. This tree is in our front yard and I caught it right between green and red. I typically use manual focus and I love the bit of leaf that ended up getting captured. It was shot without a tripod in natural light with a Canon T2i. 50mm lens, f/2.8, ISO 1600, shutter 1/2000.
-Melissa Parish
Driving by I had noticed the colorfull leaves so i pulled over and just then realized that i didn't have my equipment. So, i just grabbed my iphone4 and out the car i went. I wasn't sure how the camera would handle shooting right into the sun, but i took the shot anyway. Just me and my iphone taken at a local park.
-Michael Bartosiewicz
This was shot using the Pro HDR App on my iphone4. I was going for a creative look so i experimented with it by shaking or actually piveting the phone while it took 2 pictures in auto mode. I also used Photoshop Express to enhance the photo a bit. I've even done this while driving along, holding the phone out the window and got some great effects.
-Michael Bartosiewicz
Canon T2i using 28-135mm lens at 47mm. 1/100, f 8.0, ISO 400, tripod. Pond at the Spread Eagle chain of lakes in Florence, WI. This was a case of drive by, slam on the breaks, back up get the shot.
-Michele Honore
Canon T2i using 28-135mm lens at 75mm. 1/4000 sec, f 5.6, ISO 1600, handheld. One of many shots I took wandering in the woods looking for whatever grabbed me.
-Michelle Honore
This contest was hard for me because I spent all fall taking pictures of the leaves as they changed on campus. The best thing about these photos on the go was their immediacy—I posted them right away, flooding my FB wall, because, from one day to the next, the leaves changed. Fall1 here was actually the last one that I took and, although Fall 2 looked great on FB, it looked crappy with the contest specifications, so I doodled on it with the BlurFX app and liked the way the colors seemed to peek out from behind the swirl.
-Peter Sorrell
This is the first time I have gone out and taken some pictures simply for art. I probably therefore suck at this. Also, being colour blind does not help with the autumn colours.
I used a Nikon D5000 camera with a 50mm F1.4 prime lens. ISO was set at 200
The first image was exposure 1/250 sec F2.5
The second was 1/320 sec F5.0
The location is a local managed woodland park near 50.867667N 1.294311W
It was good fun, and will try harder next time :-)
-Philip Stubbs
This picture was taken on a wonderful sunny afternoon of late October. I was going to some work when I suddenly spotted some trees shining bright orange in the sunlight. When I looked around then I realized that the trees were located in a big memorial park with thousands of graves. My wife, who was with me at that time, wasn't very interested in going to a memorial park to take pictures. So I drove back home, dropped my wife, and quickly came back to the park to capture the beauty of nature that remains only for couple of weeks during this time of the year. I took several pictures of this tree from different angles, against the sun, in the direction of the sun, but then I moved under the tree and took a shot upwards and it came out really nice. I had clicked a lot of other pictures as well, but I found this one the most interesting.
I took this photo with a Nikon D50 using standard 18-55mm kit lens. Other details are: Focal Length 20mm, ISO 200, Aperture f/3.8, shutter speed 1/1000, and no flash.
-Taranjit Singh Boonga
This picture was taken on a wonderful sunny afternoon of late October. I was going to some work when I suddenly spotted some trees shining bright orange in the sunlight. When I looked around then I realized that the trees were located in a big memorial park with thousands of graves. My wife, who was with me at that time, wasn't very interested in going to a memorial park to take pictures. So I drove back home, dropped my wife, and quickly came back to the park to capture the beauty of nature that remains only for couple of weeks during this time of the year. I spotted this beautiful red leaf lying on the grass and the color contrast caught my eye instantly. I quickly changed my lens to 60mm macro and started taking pictures of the leaf. After experimenting lot of angles, this one looked nice. During post-processing, I made the grass black and white to make the leaf look more interesting.
I took this photo with a Nikon D50 using Tamron f/2.0 60mm 1:1 macro lens. Other details are: Focal Length 60mm, ISO 200, Aperture f/11, shutter speed 1/320, and no flash.
-Taranjit Singh Boonga
The first was taken at Winkworth Arboretum in Surrey, UK. I went with my wife and friends to this national trust park to enjoy the leaves. Its a beautiful place that gathers together many trees that would not normally be found in the UK. This Japanese Maple Tree (I think its called Acer) the colour from the leaves was unreal - when standing within its braches the red dominated so much it seemed to bleed into the air around us creating a weird red hue over everything as the light bounced around. I choose a composition looking out from the tree than included the yellow from some other leaves behind to give the red some context, I shot at 1.4 to push the background into an abstract blur, contrasting the braches against the colour of the leaves. I was shooting on my Nikon D5000 with an olympus zuiko 50mm 1.4. It was shoot at 1.4 - the lens provides no metering information whatsoever and I'm ashamed to say I can't remember the other details. I genrally take a guess on past experience with the lens and then adjust the exposure time based on the results. I realise this isn't a very professional approach, but I find I am slowly learning and have a lot of fun along the way. The photo is as it came out of the camera apart from a slight push on saturation that I felt better represents how the colours were in reality.
-Winkworth Arboretum
The second image was also taken at the Arboretum - in fact it was under the same Maple tree! I wanted to create a simple composition and loved the effect of the red leaves against the blue of the sky. Again this was shot on my Olympus lens and so I have no data that records the settings. I have rotated the image and cropped about 150 pixels from the left hand edge to improve the composition a little with a small push in saturation to emphasize the red.
-Winkworth Arboretum
When the trees in the park nearby started loosing their leaves, I decided to get some shots for this challenge. I found this tree and walked around it until it was the only object in my viewfinder. Unfortunately it was a really dreary day so all of my shots had grey skies, so I took the sky from another shot taken a few days later and pasted it over the grey. Since the sun was hiding that day, I added a shadow for the tree. Then I cleaned up white spots in the background that were actually houses in the distance. Taken with a Canon 5D Mark II with 24-105mm lens at 24mm. Camera was set to ISO200, 1/30 sec exposure and f/20 aperture.
-Winnie Tsui
Send an email to Christina Bonnington, the author of this post, atcbonnington@gizmodo.com.
Nov 15, 2010 02:00 PM 
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. 
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