Fall colors may not be peaking quite yet in Tahoe but they are definitely looking great! I grabbed the photo gear and headed out yesterday afternoon to scout my favorite spots to see how the aspens and cottonwoods were looking. Lucky me, I ended up getting some "keeper" photos while out. I really didn't think I was going to be shooting much because it's still a little early in the season and there is still some green to many of the leaves, but the afternoon sun ended up making the golden glow happen anyway.

These photos below were all shot at "The Shack" near the top of Highway 267, in between Truckee and Kings Beach, California. This shack is a favorite go-to spot this time of year. Although it's often difficult to shoot because it's a well-known spot that is easily visible from the highway. There tends to be a lot of people out there in autumn, taking selfies, portrait photos and sometimes painting. I tagged the location using @steemitworldmap, look for the link in the comments below.

I have more photos from other locations and a little video to share soon. But for now, I have a question:

Which one these photos do you like best?

#1

Shot on a Canon 5DS R with a 24-105mm lens set at 24mm. A polarizing filter was used in order to cut down on any glare on the yellow leaves, this helps bring out a little more color saturation to the leaves. It also helped darken the blue sky and create a nice contrasty look. The shutter speed was 1/320 of a second, nice and fast since there was a breeze shaking the leaves. No tripod was needed since the shutter speed was fast enough to shoot handheld. The aperture was set wide to let in a lot of light, f5.6. And this all let to an ISO of 400.

#2

A close up of the leaves, shot with the same camera with the lens set at 105mm. A polarizing filter was also used for the same reason as above. The shutter speed was 1/320 second, the aperture was f7.1, the ISO was 400.

#3

Here's a wide angle view of the shack (on the left). I like that this one shows the overall scene and I like the layered look to the dried grass, trees, and sky. A polarizer was NOT used for this shot. I had actually just gotten out of the car when I shot this, I had not put the filter on yet.

#4

These aspens are in the same area as the shack, but the shack is obviously not in the shot. Again I like the layered look to this image. I also like how orange the color of the leaves were at this little patch of aspen. It's the same area as the closeup of the leaves above.

Thank you for reading, looking, and answering my question!

Scott Thompson
Scott Shots Photography