Autumn portrait photography

Why Atuumn is a great time for creative portrait photography

Summer is over ….at least in London for another year. That means that Autumn is here which just happens to be one of the best times of year for location portrait photography. There are 2 main reasons as a creative portrait photographer why autumn portrait photograhy ideas can be so stunning.The first one is the colours that one can shoot against as a backdrop. Go to any park or woodland and you can’t help to notice the beautiful, yellows, browns, and reds of the leaves. Some are still on the trees and others have fallen to the ground. Either way, they create a beautiful background for the creative portrait photographer. Whether those autumn photo poses are just for yourself or for family photography it’s a wonderful time of year.

The second reason is that the golden hour. In Autumn it’s much later in the day in the morning and earlier in the evening. What is the golden hour I hear you ask? It’s a great question. The golden hour is the first hour (or 2) of sunlight in the day or the last hour (or 2.)

It’s referred to that as the light is lower in the sky. It comes to us at a much more horizontal angle. This allows a creative portrait photographer to position their subject to great effect using the natural light. Done properly this can be used to help create stunning images.

Contrast in the middle of summer. In the middle of the day the sun is high in the sky and causes prominent shadows on subjects faces.

The final 2 hours of the day generally tend to provide a warmer glow to autumn photo poses than first light. If you When day is breaking the sun is appearing to warm things up. There can be a bluish tint to the sky even when the sun is almost horizontal. Contrast this to when the sun is going down and setting in the evening. The ground has been warmed by the sun all day. As the sun disappears the temperature will drop. Before this happens the air will still be warm. This creates a lovely warm glow to images.

Combining these 2 factors helps create lots of autumn portrait photography ideas..

Here are 5 location autumn portrait photography ideas for you.

1. Use the colours as a background for that warm autumn family photography.

Keep things simple and use the beautiful Autmunal colours for a location portrait photography shoot. If you walk in a park on a regular basis or know a woodland with lovely trees and paths then do a little recce. Select appropriate outfits to match the background and research a few autumn photo poses and you have a great series of images

2. Use the light streaming through the trees

Take the time when out walking to notice where the best spots are. Look for places with the light streaming through the trees for the last couple of hours of daylight. Then simply return to the same spot around the same time for your autumn family photography session. Depending on how long after your recce you do the photoshoot then you might have to get to the location a few minutes earlier. Ensure that you record the time and date and share that with your chosen portrait photographer. As long as you prepare for that all should be well.

3. Create some great autumn photo poses walking through the leaves.

I can remember when I was young walking through piles of leaves and kicking them in the air as I went. In hindsight I wish someone had a camera on them at the time even though I don’t much like having my picture taken. Autumn family photography images with leaves in movement can look great. Hopefully you will have fun too. Walking or even running through a whole stack of leaves should be a playful experience. That will show in the images too. You may not get the autumn photo pose great in every image. That doesn’t matter in today’s digital world. You only need to look good in a few.

4. Throw the leaves around in the air

Some studio portrait photography can be a bit sterile. A great way to make things more intersting is to add props to the shoot. Leaves are nature’s props and aren’t they fantastic? The next autumn portrait photography idea is to throw the leaves up in the air yourself and smile. Alternatively get a friend or family member to throw those autumn leaves up in the air whilst you strike your pose.

5. Use some leaves as props for your autumn photo poses

Being a creative portrait photographer means capturing those special moments. I encourage adults as much as kids to play and enjoy themselves. Leaves are great props. They don’t have to stay on the ground or be kicked up in the air. Another autumn family portrait photography idea is to decorate yourself and each other with leaves.