This is an action shot. What?! A leaf? Water? Action photography? When that leaf is rushing downstream, yes. But let’s forget about the leaf for a moment. The foundation for this photo is the fall colors reflected in the water. Ever changing, the colors are a mixture of blue from the sky and yellow and red from the trees. The reflections could be an interesting picture on their own. However throw a leaf into the mix and you’ve added another dimension to your photograph, albeit with complications. The leaf is moving quickly along the surface of the river. There’s not time to casually set up, peruse your composition options then take the shot when you feel like it.

Knowing I wanted to use the reflections as the basis for my composition, I found a colorful patch of water where the leaves would be floating through. When a leaf came into this area I’d manually tweak the focus then track the leaf across the water in front of me (like you would an athlete running by) while firing off a series of shots. I was using a wide aperture to obtain a fast shutter speed. This gave me little depth of field to work with, making it critical to get the focus right on the leaf. How the reflections in the water come together is completely up to chance, no two are exactly alike. This is the only photo where I captured the swirl of blue and yellow.

What’s the success rate for these types of images? Very low. Of the many floating leaves I photographed that day I easily took 200 photos which translates into just a handful of keepers. That’s why you need to take a lot of shots! Don’t expect to capture this type of photo by only taking a few pictures. Most photos I deleted were due to out of focus leaves. Being able to choose between various reflection patterns is a luxury in this situation....I’m happy if the leaf is in focus! As for the rest, you get what you get and hope everything comes together at least once.

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Upcoming Events

(workshops, classes, presentations)

Intro to Light & Lighting - November 22

Presentation at Northern Virginia Photographic Society - December 8

Nikon D5000/D90/D80: Functions & Features - December 13

Presentation at North Bethesda Camera Club - January 13