The well known song “ The Autumn Leaves” was originally called “Les Feuilles Mortes” which literally means “The Dead Leaves” The original title in French is probably the more appropriate one for photographers as catching the leaves at the peak of their autumn glory is often a difficult task. Here in Ireland, you can have magnificent leaves one day and the following day a big wind will come and you just have the bare trees to photograph.
Even in New England, the home of the “Fall Foliage” (strange how a trip across the Atlantic changes the English language and terminology) you have to be at the right spot at the right time as the foliage changes colour in a North to South movement. I discovered this for myself when I was there in 2012. Enthusiastic Fall Foliage chasers in the US use online maps and forecasts to chase the peak and I found that on our trip we saw only the autumn foliage in spots.
I have taken many photographs of the autumn leaves over the years, but for this article I have concentrated on photographs taken about two weeks ago. I am lucky to have several magnificent parks near to where I live and, if we get a sunny day in Autumn I can jump in my car and be taking photos of the leaves within ten minutes or so.
This year we had some nice sunshine one Friday about two weeks ago and, without giving the matter much thought, I jumped into my car with my Leica M10 — and the 35mm Summicron lens that usually acts as its body cap — and headed to Marlay Park, which is a few miles from home. The park has had an interesting history , but today it is a public area which, as well as acting as an amenity for local residents, is also the start point on the 131 kilometre Wicklow Way.
I am very comfortable when taking landscape and nature photographs with a 35mm lens and so I just kept it on the camera for the whole afternoon. Trees can be a difficult subject to photograph and I like to use vertical format (portrait mode) as much as possible, as that is how I envisage trees.
Click on above images to see them full size
The little fountain above is an interloper from the garden beside the main house in the estate and I put it in here to break up the sequence of leaves a bit.
The estate also has small lakes and ponds. For this one I also used a graduated red filter to enhance the autumn effect in the photo on the right below.
Click on above images to see them full size
I use Photoshop for processing, together with Nik Filters and some occasional forays into Photoshop. When I processed the photo on the left, I thought it lacked a certain something and so I added in some ‘extra red’. There are rumours circulating that the new Apple High Sierra version of OS is killing Nik Filters. I have noticed recently that the functionality of Nik Filters is decreasing as Apple has introduced new OS upgrades. That is the way the world is today, I suppose. DxO has now acquired the Nik software suite and has promised to continue development, so enough of that for now. What I would like to know, though, is which version of the photo above do readers prefer? You need to click on them to see them uncrossed and full size.
As an added point, these photos from the M10 have received my full post processing work flow. Some readers were bemused and confused recently when I limited my work flow in a recent article, comparing the output from the M10 with that from a 91 year old film Leica. I hope that I managed to explain my approach in the responses that I gave.
Marlay Park, as a former country estate, also includes trees in open landscape.
One feature of the estate is the number of little bridges and waterfalls that are dotted throughout the wooded areas
Click on the above images to see them full size
For my final image, here are all of the elements, a bridge, a waterfall, dappled sunlight and the autumn leaves all together.
The Leica M10 and 35mm performed impeccably, as they should. To end with a little story, as I was going around the park I met a lady, who was taking photos of the autumn leaves with a little iPad type device. When she saw my camera, she said that she did have a camera at one time, but ‘now I use this’, pointing to her iPad. She added that her daughter, who was living abroad, was coming home soon, but the leaves would probably be all gone by the time her daughter would return. I said that I was doing more or less the same thing myself, as the leaves would not hang around waiting for us to photograph them. You really do have to move quickly to capture ”les feuilles mortes”.
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Hi William, I’m the webmaster of Galway Hookers Association Website – https://www.galwayhookers.ie – and I’m trying to built a photographic archive of old photos of Galway Hookers. I’m very interested in the photos your father took in Carraroe (blog link https://www.macfilos.com/photo/2015/2/20/the-1940-super-baldina-for-nine-guineas-and-red-sails-in-the-sunset). I wonder wether I may use them in our website, of course giving the due credits to you (or your father Anthony, if you prefer…)
Many thanks for your attention
Eilís Petroni
Thanks Eilis. I will get in touch with you directly about the photos. There would be no problem about publishing them and I will send you the best quality images that I have. They should, of course, be attributed to my late father, Anthony Fagan.
William
William
Beautiful series of images (except the over red one!). I know from a recent visit to Westonbirt Arboretum how difficult it is to do justice to Autumn colours, leafy detail and sweeping vistas. You have used the structural items of bridges, stretches of water, the fountain and hedges to enhance the shots. Thoughtful and very enjoyable.
Thanks David
I have by now decided that the graduated red filter was a mistake. I know this location well, so I just knew where to go to get the best out of the autumn leaves and the dappled light along with the other features of the park. I was out last weekend shooting in another park/museum with a recently acquired Rolleiflex, but the autumn leaves were well past their peak. I decided to work monuments and other items into the shots in order to compensate for the lack of leaves. You may see my Rolleiflex shots in an upcoming article. I am enjoying the results from the Rolleiflex. 120 film really was ‘more megapixels’ long before we knew what megapixels were.
William
Excellent Marley Park autumnal tour William. I particularly like the images featuring bridges with the trees.
dunk
Thank you, shared with my wife, her dad left Dublin 1913 came US, she revisited in 60 s, and even found hospital where he was born. One day I will get her back there. Yes he became a police officer. Again thanks for the lovely photos you and Mike and all other photos provide glimpses of other Countries.his step father was head gardener for wealthy family here and it remind us of work that still exists today.
That is very interesting John. A lot of us left for the US in the early part of the 20th century. Three of my wife’s aunts went to live in New Jersey in the 1920s and one of them came back here before World War 2. The other two stayed there for the rest of their life. If you are coming to Dublin, let me know. It would be my pleasure to show you and your wife around some of the places that have featured in my articles.
William
Lovely pictures, William. I prefer the unfiltered alternative, being more natural.
Thanks John and David. I probably prefer the photo without the red filter myself. I was trying to get back in the colours I saw and may have overdone it. We don’t get the same reds in the foliage that you can see in New England. At best, ours has deep orange or copper colours.
On the portrait v landscape mode raised issue by John, I was using a 35mm lens rather than a 28mm or 24mm and I wanted to get in the higher points on the trees. The tree in the first photo in the panel is quite huge and I did not manage to get in the very top of the tree. John’s point about walking around the wood is very valid. This was one of those comparatively rare Autumn days when we had lovely dappled sunlight falling in among the leaves.
William
I have the same urge which I satisfied here in Denmark recently with my X-Vario – which never exaggerates and needs an occasional discreet boost in pp. I definitely prefer the "non-red" of the two photos, and I like your landscape format better than your vertical – it feels more like I can walk around in the wood.