In search of Autumn

Portraying natures most colourful season in black and white.

Nov 18, 2024

Hello, I’m Gill and I write a photography blog inspired by the landscapes of Suffolk and beyond. Please subscribe to read more of my writing and visit my website to view my images.

Misty morning on Loch Chon, Trossachs National Park. This image combines autumn colour and mist, a classic autumnal combination.

It is just after sunrise as I enter the woods. The soft morning light is beginning to filter through the autumn canopy, bouncing off the surfaces of the many colourful leaves as they dance in the breeze. I zip my fleece against the morning chill and enter a fiery world of russet, gold and yellow. The path between the trees is covered in fallen beech leaves and I kick some ahead of me as I wander along. Overhead flocks of gold crests and long tailed tits cavort amongst the branches, their musical calls echoing back and forth between the trees. I wander along, searching out a composition amongst natures chaos. My eyes are eventually drawn to a pattern, an unusual area of symmetry amongst the randomness of the forest. I set up the camera and take a shot - 5 trees in a straight line surrounded by autumn colour.

Broken Line - silver birch trees in my local woodland. Whist this shot is dominated by colour, it only works because of the symmetry and composition. The colour is actually a background.

I love this time of year. Next to spring it is my favourite time for photography. I love the element of change, the transformation in the landscape and of course the colour. I consider myself lucky this year to have spent autumn in two locations. Beginning in Scotland, amongst the lochs and Atlantic rainforests I experienced all the colour and beauty that a highland autumn can offer. Vibrant colours, gnarly trees and plenty of misty, moody weather. I photographed the lochs in the Trossachs and the mountains and rainforests of Ardnamurchan and enjoyed every moment.

Autumn Colour on the shores of Loch Sunart - plenty of random colour which I hope is held together by the arching shape of the oak tree in the centre of the frame.

Autumn in Scotland is stunning but after 3 weeks the colours were beginning to fade and I headed south, back to Suffolk where it felt like autumn was just beginning.

As I explored my local woodland and thought about my compositions I realised that all my images were constructed around the use of colour. There were other compositional elements within the frame but essentially the images hung together because of the colours within them. I began to wonder whether it would be possible to make an autumn image in black and white? Would the absence of colour still allow the essence of the season to shine through?

I like a challenge so I thought it would be interesting to approach this one in two different ways. Firstly I decided to look at some of my Scottish images and see if they worked as mono conversions. I then went out in my local wood specifically to take autumn shots in black and white.

The shots that I made in Scotland were not taken with this challenge in mind so this made it a little tricky when it came to selecting images. I wanted the shots I chose to be obviously autumnal, but would my compositions be good enough to convey this without the use of colour?

I set about looking for things that indicated autumn to me; rain, mist, fallen leaves, bare or windswept trees, berries, seed heads, fruit and fungi.

Using these as reference points I converted the following two images into black and white and I feel they have been reasonably successful at conveying autumn.

Autumn on the shore of Loch Sunart - is the presence of mist enough to convey an autumnal feel?

Rowan berries and bare branches - are these good enough autumnal indicators?

Working specifically to create mono images for the challenge was a little easier as I could focus on the list and photograph only the things that I felt best symbolised autumn. Interestingly I found it easier to concentrate on smaller details instead of wider landscapes.

Fallen leaves on a rotting tree trunk - a focus stacked image. Does the symbolism work here to portray a strong autumn image?

All that remains - the last few silver birch leaves

Portraying autumn in black and white came down to how I perceived the season - my images only worked if I had identified a strong indicator and built my compositions around that. In the two shots below I feel that the fallen leaves tell a good enough story about autumn to make up for the absence of colour. If I had excluded the forest floor in the mono conversion the autumn indicator would be missing and story would be diluted.

I rarely photograph in black and white so this was an interesting challenge for me. It made me realise how crucial composition is in getting our message across. It is tempting, when surrounded by so much colour, to be lazy about the rest of the composition, but just like sunsets or sunrises - colour alone does not make a compelling image. There has to be more substance and a good composition.

As a challenge I found this really difficult. I was surprised how hard it was to turn a colourful image into a meaningful black and white shot and it really made me think about my use of colour and composition. It also made me consider the use of symbolic elements within the frame and how we utilise them to tell stories.

Overall I still prefer my colour images but this was a worthwhile challenge and one that I hope you might find interesting to repeat.

What is your take on colour in autumn photography? Do you find it easy to portray the season in black and white. I would love to hear your thoughts on autumn photography and the use of colour in general so please leave a comment below.

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