Autumn Photography Tips

Nights are getting shorter and the pumpkin spice is brewing at your local coffee shop. That means the leaves will be turning soon and photography options will be bountiful. Here are some of my favorite spots and some tricks for your photography bag

Waterfalls

Ricketts Glen State Park, Pennsylvania

Wait for a rainy day and go out and capture a waterfall with leaves still on the trees and covering the rocks and ground. Bring a circular polarizer filter to help with reflections and to slow down your shutter speed to capture the smooth water flow. Try a one second exposure.

Forest

Blackwater Falls State Park, West Virginia

Go to the forest like the one above at Blackwater Falls State Park in West Virginia even during a cold wet morning you can find amazing images in the forest. Look for fog or stay under the canopy looking for those bright color trees.

Go for a hike

Watkins Glen State Park, New York

Go for a hike in the woods and look down on the ground for leaves like the one in image at Watkins Glen State Park. Zoom in and shoot just the one leaf or maybe find one still hanging on a tree.

Back Light

Sunrise at Prince Gallitzin State Park

I always enjoy looking at the fall foliage with the sun behind a tree that makes the colors even more vibrant. This shot at Prince Gallitzin State Park came alive after the fog burned off the lake when the sun rose over the mountains. Go enjoy those sunrises and sunset that create these bright scenes.

Look UP

Nathan’s Divide Nature Center

Looks up and find some leaves above you in front of a blue sky. It took me a few minutes of shooting this tree to find this angle. Remember to slow down and look all around when shooting. Look up, look down, and look all around. That image might be behind what you are shooting.

Upcoming Art Festival Schedule

September 18-19    New Germany Arts Festival
September 25         Ebensburg Potato Fest
October 2-3             Bedford Fall Foliage
October 9-10           Bedford Fall Foliage

Check out more images on my website https://www.brandonhirt.com/

Cheers,

Brandon

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Pittsburgh Top 10 Photo spots

Since the Three Rivers Arts Festival is virtual this year I thought I would share my top 10 places to shoot in Pittsburgh.

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10. Carrie Furnace

Steel Mill=Pittsburgh and this is one you can visit
https://riversofsteel.com/attractions/carrie-furnaces/

9. Three Rivers Art Festival

Umbrellas from the Three Rivers Art Festival
Umbrellas

8. Phipps Conservatory

Phipps is known for its gardens but the light show during the holidays is awesome.
https://www.phipps.conservatory.org

7. Point Park

Sunsetpaloza of spots to hangout in the summer in Pittsburgh
https://www.dcnr.pa.gov/StateParks/FindAPark/PointStatePark/Pages/default.aspx

6. Penn Station

One of my favorite spots in downtown.
Pittsburgh Train Station

5. Mt Washington

The famous overlook area so many opportunities for unique shots
Shop Steel City Fence

4. Under the Bridge

Multiple bridges to catch unique angles.

Buy a Bridge

3. Market Square

Brandonhirt.com

2. Oakland

Cathedral of Learning

1. West End Overlook

Pittsburgh Twilight

Glacier National Park quick photo guide

Glacier National Park in Montana. This is a great park to view mountain, lakes, waterfalls, and wildlife. All of my images are from September 2010. Check out my website Brandonhirt.com to see more images from this trip

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Lake McDonald

Look for the colorful rocks in the lake. You will be surrounded by mountains so look for some cool reflections

Trail of the Cedars

A great hike in the woods with multiple tree shots available. Plus a really cool gorge

Many Glacier

You will be on top of the world with multiple mountain tops to shoot. I would love to be here for an awesome sunrise or sunset. Get out of your car like this guy and check out the scenes

St Mary Lake

Wild Goose Island in the middle of this lake is awesome. Try a wide angle view like below or zoom in onto the island.

Two Medicine

Problem with only having one sunset is sometimes the clouds come in. Give yourself multiple days so you can chase the light.

Going to the Sun Road

This road sets the ball on the tee for you to get some amazing shots. The leaves are beside a bathroom and the fog is from one of the pull offs on the west side of the divide. So always keep your eye open for photo opportunities.

App a day keeps the bad photos away

Keys to success with photography? All that boring planning like looking at maps and watching the weather channel:) it is so much easier today to plan then before. 

Yes I still have my real maps but google maps has made my time estimates more accurate. Time management is not my strong suit. Now I am able to save locations and find travel times and directions correctly. 

My two favorite photo app is PhotoPills and the Photographer’s Ephemeris. They are awesome. If you need to find where the sun is coming up at or where the Milky Way is and what time it will appear at. 

PhotoPills is great for Milky Way information 

The Photographer’s Ephemeris is great for sunrise or sunset planning

Now that you found you locations what about the weather. I use three different apps The Weather Channel, Weather underground, and AccuWeather. Weather underground is great for viewing the hundreds of webcams so you can see the real weather. TWC and AccuWeather I use to predict weather and cloud cover. 

I hope this helps your planning. So many resources available now at the tip of our fingers. What apps do you use? I would love to hear.
 You can view my work at Www.brandonhirtphoto.com Also right now my favorite photo lab CG Pro Prints is offering a 10% coupon to you. Use code BHPRO10 for 10% off your first order.