By Robin Esrock

“I'm so glad that I live in a world where there are Octobers.” L. M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

Each fall, Canada’s forests light up in rich shades of red, orange, yellow, and all the wild shades in between. Whether hiking in the backcountry or strolling an urban trail, it’s a gorgeous sight and an annual October treat. Here are a few handy tips to capture the beauty, whether using an expensive camera or just pulling out your phone camera. 

Golden Hour: Even if you’re not a pro, you probably know how great photos can look in that brief window before sunset or after sunrise. Golden Hour rewards photographers with a warm, soft light that accentuates whatever you’re pointing the lens at. If the weather cooperates, it’s the best time for landscape photography. 

Blue Hour: Less-known is the Blue Hour, which occurs about a half-hour before sunrise or after sunset. During this time, the sky has cool tones of lavender, purple, and silver. This period tends to produce dramatic photographs of natural landscapes. Because light conditions are low, you typically need to play with your exposure or use a tripod to minimize blur. 

Exposure: Auto settings are getting better and better, but adjusting your exposure helps avoid blown-out or blurry photos. Modern phones and DSLR cams take multiple photos at different exposures and combine them for a balanced exposure – this is known as HDR (High Dynamic Range), so make sure that option is on. If you’re using your phone, you can also play with exposure settings after the picture has been taken with the Edit function. 

Framing: The most impactful landscape photos include a foreground, middle ground and background, resulting in an image that has depth and scale. When you look at an image in your viewfinder or screen, think in layers. Consider, for example, placing a tree, branch, sign or gate in the foreground, with a river or forest in the middle ground and a hill or distant mountain behind it. It’s the classic outdoor landscape shot, with the multiple layers inviting viewers into the moment. You can also add scale by including people in the shot or framing objects like canoes, hiking poles, backpacks or silhouettes in the foreground. Photographers also look for leading lines like forest trails, winding rivers, rocks, or roads. This can add movement and natural flow to the image, guiding one’s eye into the photograph. 

High Noon: We often hike or ride in the afternoon when the sign is high overhead, casting a harsh light over the landscape or subject. That doesn’t mean you can’t work with what you’ve got. If you can, find shade or shadows, especially if you’re taking pictures of people. Look for trees or shade from hills or rocks, anything to add texture or softer light for the subject. Move people into the shade to diffuse the sunlight, resulting in a more flattering portrait. Polarizing filters (available for SLRs and phone cams) reduce glare and punch colour, especially if you’re taking fall foliage pictures. Another trick for harsh light is to convert or desaturate colours to black and white with a post-photo edit, which can add drama and texture to the photograph. 

Tripods: Your photos will often look great on your small lens or phone screen until you blow them up and see how shaky your camera is. Shutter speeds decrease in low light, resulting in blurry photographs. If you plan on capturing sunsets, sunrises, stars, northern lights or anything in low light, you will need a tripod. These range from expensive, sturdy contraptions to small, cheap and bendy devices designed for phones that are easy to carry and simple to use. Set up the shot, and use the phone camera timer to avoid touching the phone when the shutter clicks. Tripods also allow you to experiment with time lapses and long exposures, perfect for capturing waterfalls, moving clouds, and the aurora borealis. 

Portraits: On a recent trip in the backcountry, I took photos of friends quietly meditating, blissfully cloud-gazing, and even snoozing. While we got plenty of smiles, these images are my favourite shots of the trip, and their favourites, too. We’ve been conditioned to smile for the camera, and while it’s wonderful for everyone to look happy, smiles don’t always do an epic photo justice. Too many posed photos tend to look inauthentic, interchangeable, and forgettable. The most memorable images are often candid and unexpected – a beautiful moment captured while the subject is having a real, emotional moment of their own. For photos of friends old and new, play with Portrait mode settings on your phone, which create a beautiful depth of field and easy professional sheen. Remember, it’s not just the subject you’re capturing, it’s the subject as they relate to the landscape around them. 

Fall Colours: Foliage bursting with vibrant colours makes fall the most photogenic of all seasons. Pro photographers recommend backlighting - shooting with the sun behind the leaves – which lights up the different colours, resulting in a striking glow. Cloudy, overcast days work well, too, eliminating harsh shadows, diffusing the landscape with a softer light, and enhancing the colours of the foliage. Reflections of trees in water are effective, as are wide-angles for a larger scope, or close-ups of leaves in their colourful metamorphosis. 

Storytelling: The best landscape photos make viewers want to learn more about what they depict. Placing the viewer in a captured moment, landscapes tell a story of weather, geography, seasons, moods, and emotions. Subjects, meanwhile, tell a story of lived experience. It doesn’t always have to be perfect, and you’re not entering photographic awards (although that’s fine, too). Sometimes, the best adventures are the ones we don’t plan; they just unfold when we least expect them. Stay present, stay open, and let your photos tell the story of your adventure. There may be tips, but there are no rules, so whatever you’re hoping to capture, just have fun. 

Robin Esrock is the bestselling author of The Great Canadian Bucket List and The Great Global Bucket List.