Fall Foliage Map - United States
Travel Suggestions • Fall
Trivia • Camera
Settings • Links
Travel Suggestions
- Make reservations well
in advance - especially if you want to visit on a weekend. Check your
area for "peak" times, as well, and book these dates even earlier.
- Consider staying in an alternate area and traveling a bit
more to get to where you need.
- Consider a multi-night stay in a resort
area with day trips to surrounding sites and attractions.
- Book mid-week. Properties that fill up on weekends often have vacancies
during the week.
- Contact lodging bureaus at major resort areas and Regional Marketing
Organizations for the latest information on availability.
- Different
varieties of trees change at different times. For example, red maples
are among the first to change, especially those along roadsides and
in
wet areas.
- The earliest foliage change generally occurs in the higher elevations.
- "Peak" color is a bit of a myth, since every person has
their own ideas of what "peak" looks like. Check the map
above for your area.
- Many experienced foliage viewers actually consider the time period
right after the most brilliant colors have passed as "peak." The hills
take on a subtler and richer range of hues that are just as beautiful,
if not as spectacular.
Fall Trivia
Everyone enjoys the beautiful panorama of changing leaves
when fall comes around, but did you ever wonder why and how it happens?
To understand the answer to this question, we have to first recognize
what leaves are and what they do.
Leaves are an important part in a tree's food cycle. Plants
draw water from the ground using their roots. They also need carbon dioxide
from
the
air. Sunlight is used to turn the water and the carbon dioxide
into glucose, which is a sugar that all plants use as food. This method
of converting water and carbon dioxide into food is called photosynthesis,
which means "creating with light": the plant "creates" their food with
the "light" of the sun.
To aid in the creation of glucose, each plant has a store
of a chemical called chlorophyll, which is what gives plants—and
their leaves—a green color.
When summer ends and autumn begins, the days get shorter.
As less sunlight hits the trees, they know to begin getting ready for
the winter ahead.
There is not enough sunlight or water during winter for
most trees to perform photosynthesis. The trees rest and live off of
stored food, and they shut down all food-making facilities—including
their stores of chlorophyll. The green disappears from the leaves and
they begin to fade to yellow and orange. Most leaves are naturally yellow
and red, but due to the large amounts of chlorophyll stored within during
the summer, we see them as green.
Brighter fall colors, like red and purple, result in some
trees which store glucose in their leaves even after photosynthesis stops.
Sunlight and the cold air turn the glucose into a red color.
So, the next time you enjoy a beautiful autumn landscape,
remember that each and every color is the result of a tree's natural
food-storage method, and that even as it rests for the winter, the tree
gives off a wonderful show for all to see!
Camera Settings for Fall Photography
- Special Filters: There
is no filter that helps in every foliage photography situation.
A polarizing filter will help when at 90 degrees to the sun, and shooting
after rain will really bring the colors of the leaves out: air is
clearer, the leaves are clean, and the colors will be more much more
vibrant.
- Time of Day: Morning is preferable, due to cleaner
air, less smog and dust.
- Type of Film: Slide film, though take caution to
exposing slide film because it will not tolerate as many mistakes as
regular film It is recommended, though, because when the prints are
developed, the colors are
filtered
into the print. This helps to capture the natural intensity of the
colors of fall foliage.
- Photographing Raindrops on Leaves: The lens settings
are not as important as the lens itself. Take the photo as you normally
take a photo. Be careful that there isn't too much light being reflected
off the droplet of water. Try to diffuse the light with tree coverage
or cloud coverage.
Links
Have questions? Just contact
us and we'll
be glad to answer your questions. |
