Telluride

Why a Wonder: One of the epic Autumn colors capitals of the world.

Where: Nestled within a box canyon in Southwest Colorado.

When: Mid-September to early October.

Photography: Beautiful landscape photo opportunities await you just a few minutes from downtown – along the paved Last Dollar Road; on the steep, narrow and rocky road up to the abandoned Tomboy mine; and around the often mirror-like lakes.

One of the keys to a good landscape photograph is to cut the clutter. Remember that photography is subtractive, while painting is additive. While looking through your camera’s viewfinder, think about the story you want to tell, and what elements you don’t want in the scene. Often times, eliminating distracting elements by using careful composition results in an image with impact.

Also remember that cropping gives us a second chance at composition.

Bring a variety of lenses, from wide-angle to telephoto. Shoot at a small aperture to get everything in focus – so your photograph looks like the scene looks to your eyes.

Also pack a polarizing filter, as it can reduce glare on water and foliage, as well as darkening a blue sky.

Be careful about increasing the color saturation in Photoshop/Lightroom when working on a colorful image, which can be tempting. If you over-saturate already saturated colors, you can lose detail in saturated areas. A better idea is to use the Vibrance slider, which increases the vibrance of only non-saturated colors.

When photographing upward through trees,check your camera’s highlight alert and histogram to make sure the sky is not overexposed. If it is, reduce your exposure and then open up the shadow areas in Photoshop or Lightroom. An option is to use HDR (high dynamic range) photography.

Want more photo fun? Find a local cowboy, head out to a ranch, make some photographs, and apply a creative old-time digital photo effect. Nik Analog Efex Pro shown here.

More: Check out this KelbyOne class, The 20 Time-Proven Rules of Composition.

© Rick Sammon

This post sponsored by Delkin Devices.