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611 Reasons Fall Is the Most Beautiful Season of All

Posted by Ashim Adhikari on 2:24 PM // 0 comments

By Mark Wilson

611 Reasons Fall Is the Most Beautiful Season of All

Across much of the world, autumn is the most beautiful time of the year. To celebrate, Gizmodo photographers assembled en masse to capture every color and texture of the season, just to share here with you.

Find the wallpapers on flickr.

Lead Shot - Crunchers

I took this while taking a walk in the White Mountains near Plymouth, NH. The leaves hadn't really started to turn yet, so I wasn't even looking for foliage shots. However, this gave me a chance to capture these really popping out against the dull ground and dead leaves. Nikon D40, 18-55mm lens, 1/80, f/5.6, ISO 800, adjusted slightly for contrast in Picasa.
-Greg Carlson

Como Lake

Late September in Northern Italy. Autumn came to quick to this region this year. Cold atmosphere is strong from the Alpine mountains. Villa Balbianello in Como Lake, Italy.
-Alikhan Kuljanov

Dingman's Falls

I took this photo just after the sun came up while camping at Dingman's Falls in the Delaware Water Gap in Pennsylvania. I used a Sony DSC-N1.
-Cooper Faust

Surprisingly Classy Photoshop Filter

This fall in Colorado is unusual in that leaves remain on the trees after Halloween. Normally, November 1st is cold and dreary with nary a leaf of color in sight. This photo op came when I was walking down the driveway. With the sun illuminating the leaves from behind the trees, the shapes and colors, the interplay of light and dark intrigued me. Again, this was my trusty Canon Powershot A720 IS, set on auto. And once again, I played with the Topaz Labs filter for Photoshop, Simplify/Buzsim. I like how the filter treats the leaves and creates a near stained glass effect with branches and leaves.
-Sally Austin

Mantis

In sunny California, we really do not experience the four seasons like the east coast. Most of our trees still have their leaves intact and the colors do not really change until really late fall early winter. I am fortunate to some trees and shrub on my property that are experiencing some color change. The first photo is unprocessed with the exception of white balancing. I wanted to show the praying mantis' color contrasts with its surrounding leaves. The second photo has been tweaked with contrast, vibrancy and vignetting. I wanted to express our wonderful weather this leaf is experiencing by example with lens flare. Canon XSI - Sigma 28mm f/1.8, Aperture 3
-Marvin Goda

If a Fence Falls in a Forest...

Canon 7D, Canon EF-S 17-55m F/2.8 IS (Best lens for the 7D, blows 24-70mm F/2.8 L out of the water) ISO 400, F/8, 1/100 sec., RAW, hand held. This was Taken in the Lasal Mountains just outside of Moab, UT. The colors up there are amazing this time of year. This was near the Hazard County mountain biking trails (which is why I was there in the first place). The whole area is incredible, you can be in the desert one minute, and then take a 20 minute drive and be in the high alpine.
-Brandon J. Doza

Leaf Traffic

Shot with my Nikon D40X, Keelia. 18mm Focal Length (Lens) f/14, 30 second exposure, ISO at 800.
This is along a median that travels the "nice neighborhood." It was raining and my friend stood with me holding an umbrella above my camera. Took a few tries, and we got a lot of strange looks. Love it.
-Brettward Massecre

On Moss

Lumix GF1, 20mm f/1.7, 1/80 shutter, ISO100.
While wandering the forest it was like walking on a colorful mosaic of fallen leaves, some with a soft mix of red and green and others shining like bright red beacons. In one spot the lush, spongy, moss made a beautiful carpet for the leaves to lie on. With all the moisture in the air the water had beaded up on the fuzzy underside of the leaves but were slick on the more colorful side of the leaves. I dropped the tripod to only a foot off the ground so I could get some depth of focus without losing the mosaic nature of the leaves.
-Dustin Baugh

Where the Red Ferns Grow

Here is my photo that I took on October 25th at Sequoia National Park. I was hiking to Tharps Log and the clouds started rolling over the mountain. It was really a very eerie feeling as this was happening. I am not a fan of Twilight but I was half expecting some werewolf action to happen. There was not too much fall foliage up there but the variety of colors and the fog makes a cool shot in my opinion. Canon Rebel Xsi with 18-55 kit lens, ISO 200, F/7.0 (5.63), 1/80 second
-Andy Felt

Stick

These were taken while i was raking leaves with my brother. I noticed it was a really nice day out and decided to run back in and grab my camera. Canon Powershot Sx110 IS, 1/60 sec, ISO 80, f/3.5
-Kalden Dhatsenpa

Glass Ball

I received a crystal (actually just glass) ball as a gift and wanted to try it out right away. Walked down the street, saw the beautiful trees and took some shots. It was harder than I thought it'd be, holding the ball (quite heavy) in one hand and the camera with the other since I didn't have a tripod, but I'm really happy with the way this came out. I edited the picture using Picasa and Picnik. Increased the highlights and shadows to bring out some colors. Also used focal B/W with opacity at around 70%. Olympus E-PL1 (14-42mm lens), f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO 640, 38mm.
-Linlin Li

Leaf Sparks

Photo was taken of a puddle on Hornby & Robson in Vancouver, BC. The tree is the reflection and the out of focus blurry parts are the leaves that have fallen off of that tree into the puddle. Canon 5D Mkii, 50mm, f/1.8
-Christopher Young

Virginia Panorama

This was actually my last shot of the day. It was about 5pm and the sun was pretty bright before we had made our ascent to the peak so i wanted to go back for one last opportunity. You might be wondering where this place is and the answer is Virginia. My girlfriend and I were just in a wedding in Lynchburg and planned our trip so that we would have a day to see the sights. There is a small hotel/eatery at the base called the Peaks of Otter Lodge. It is a beautiful place with breathtaking views. This was where the photo was taken and it turned out to be my favorite photo of the trip. I am glad we went back before we left because the lighting was just right. I hope you enjoy the picture as much as we did taking it. Nikon D90, Nikon 18-105mm @ 75mm, f/8, 1/40-sec.
-Cameron Hoch

Pewit's Nest

611 Reasons Fall Is the Most Beautiful Season of All
"Pewit's Nest" near Baraboo, WI. This unique formation is surrounded by forests and cornfields. It would be easy to drive by about 300 yards away and never know it was there. The only way to get this perspective is to climb down on the ledges of this little canyon, no railing or safety net! It was after sunset, so I needed a long exposure to gather what little light was left. On a tripod with a Canon T2i using 28-135mm lens at 28mm, 6 sec, f 6.3, ISO 800
-Bill Robbins

Family Tree

The picture was taken in our garden. Nikon D30000; 18-55 VR kit lens; f4.5; 1/1000; ISO 200
-Attila Lukács

Through the Fog

This shot was made while climbing Mojstrovka wall in Mala mojstrovka, Slovenia. It was early fall when larches in the mountains gain first hue but it was cold enough already that the morning fog fills the valleys. This tree was slightly taller than the others and stood out of the fog into the sun. Nikon D5000, AF-S 18-105 VR, ISO 800, 1/400 s, f/8, 105 mm
-Janez Kos

Imprint

This is actually my desktop picture right now. The best part of autumn, for me, was always the shadows that leaves left on sidewalks after they've decayed, especially after rain. I call them leaf ghosts. I was lucky to find two leaves on the sidewalk right before they disintegrated completely. When I came home and uploaded the pictures I realized that the placement of the leaves right next to the crease in the sidewalk made them good candidates for a diptych. Both pictures in the diptych were taken with my Canon Digital Rebel XT with my EF-S 60mm Macro lens. The picture on the right was taken at f/4.5, 1/640, ISO 400 and the one on the left was taken at f/4.5, 1/320, ISO 400.
-Nihar Bhattacharyya

Aspens in Aspen

Shot using the nikon d300s in Aspen, Colorado for a music video.
-Danny Brown

Bonsai Fall

One of my bonsai trees. This is an imported Korean hornbeam (Carpinus coreana) that I have been working on for the last few years. The tree was grown in Korea and imported to the US in the 80s. It is approximately 60 years old. I acquired it a few years ago and began improving it. It required major pruning to clean out the top of the tree. Cutting it back (and using wire to shape it) helped get better ramification (smaller and smaller branching). Root work improved what is known as the 'nebari' in Japanese; the root spread where the tree anchors itself to the ground. I repotted it into this wonderful American-made bonsai pot last March. It was selected for the 2nd U.S. National Bonsai show this Spring and thrived all year leading up to this Fall. Preparing a tree for a major show is planned well over a year in advance; this tree must have loved being pampered because it showed itself beautifully all year.

Fall color is still somewhat of a mystery even to plant scientists. Rainfall, sunlight and temperature all play a part. But the bottom line is I never know how much color a tree will have until the colors start to change. This year's colors were magnificent on this tree.

Taken outside with black fleece hanging off the outside wall of my house. I waited for good illumination with no direct sunlight to prevent hotspots and shadows. I shot the tree every day as the colors deepened hoping to catch the peak of the display.
ISO 400, f/6.3, .008 sec., 85mm (x 1.6)
-Michael Pollock

Hipstamatic, I Wish I Could Quit You

For this challenge I decided to test the limits of my iPhone 4, and so I took both of my shots in the Hipstamatic app. The only post processing performed was the resizing of my images in CS5. Again, for this challenge I was really hoping to aim for new perspective and, right place and right time, found this tree on campus with its leaves turning. I like how the orange leaves seem to almost be on fire with sun shining through them so brightly.
-Branden Kerr

Just Leaves

Taken with a Nikon D5000 1/320 f/5.0 ISO 200 26mm. While walking through the park I managed to find this tree with nearly all it's leaves still on it. The sun had just come out on a particularly dreary day and I liked how the sun shown through the leaves and really brought out the detail of the leaf with all it's little veins. In post-production I cropped to bring attention to the detail of the leaf and slightly bumped up the saturation.
-Sarah Ganos

Fallen

I was out in full force wanting to get a good picture for this challenge. I wanted it to be of leaves. Well as you can see this picture is really lacking in the leaf department. This part of Ohio has had a really dry summer and made the fall no so great. All the leaves are mostly off the trees and already brown. So I was walking through the woods and this tree just spoke to me. I love this perspective of a tree and decided to see what I could get. So I got the color I wanted (sky) and got to show some character of this stripped of its leaves tree. This was shot with a D7000 in Aperture Priority Mode at f5.6 with a 18-105 lens at 18mm (27mm dx) at ISO 110 and 1/60sec.
-Scott Robbins

Paint on Water

Just taking a walk by the lake with all my gear, knowing it was the season of colors. I saw some ducks, while trying to capture the ducks I noticed a nice 'poster like' pattern forming in the reflection of the water. The Fall colors just made it vibrant enough to make my abstract work. Nikon D700, 17-35 2.8
ISO: 200, Shutter: 1/320, F: 5.3
-Azeem Baig

Fencing

I was looking for fall leaves to shoot two weeks ago on a weekend afternoon and had to take a detour because of a closed bridge near Hopewell, NJ. The detour road which otherwise I never would have traveled, had a great set of trees so I lined up the trees and fence and took this shot that showed a lot of different color variations both in trees and leaves. I used a canon 5D Mark II, 28-300 Canon telephoto zoomed out to 300, F/5.6, ISO 800 and shutter speed 1/100.
-John Cecilian

Harvest

Title: "Harvest." Story behind it? I live in rural New England. Our winters are long and gray. In the fall, I tend to go all out taking photos — I consider it harvesting colors for the long winter, like the little mouse in the children's book Frederick by Leo Lioni. This was definitely one of those color harvest shots, knowing that this scene will be colorless from November until next April. I shot this with a Nikon D700 and the Nikkor 24-70 f/2.8 lens. Focal length was 24mm, ISO 800, f/10, 1/100.
-Mollie McPhee

Just Leaves Part II

This was taken next to the house where my dad grew up. It took a few shots to get the right exposure. I was seeing sunspots for a while after finally getting it right. This photo is hanging in my cube as a reminder. Nikon D300, AF-S Micro Nikkor 105mm 1:2.8G ED, f/6.7, ISO 400
-Cory Cousins

Oxbow Bend

View of Mount Moran looking across the Oxbow Bend of the Snake River in Grand Teton National Park. Having been to Grand Teton once before, my wife and I knew that the aspen and cottonwood leaves are at their peak fall color around the end of September, so we planned this trip around that. We had a perfect day with almost no wind to ripple the water and ruin the reflections of the mountains and the trees. Camera/Lens: Nikon D300 DSLR with Nikon 18-200mm lens zoomed to 34mm. Exposure: 1/400 at f/10 (ISO 500)
-Jim Chambers

Delaware Water Gap

This is a panorama created from 15 photos from the summit of Mt. Tammany on the NJ side of the gap. The Penn Outdoors Club did a day hike to the area to catch the last of the fall scenery. Camera: Samsung GX-1L, 18mm, 1/180, F11.
-Roman Shor

Urban I

I shot this in Dortmund, Germany today after noticing the awesome yellow-to-red gradient of leaves on this church wall. I also really like what looks like a spiral of leaves going from the foreground to the back. There isn't much to say about technique here, it's a straightforward handheld shot at 72mm, 1/50s, f5.7 and iso 640 on a Canon 7D. I used photoshop to remove noise, to create a little bit of glow and to increase the contrast and the blueness of the windows.
-Robert Kirberich

Urban II

It's actually an old shot I took in Berlin on a business tripp. I used my old Canon 40D and I accidentally saw this state library while walking down the street. I shot it without a tripod and I did some minor colouring in Photoshop.
-The Marvin

WINNER - Monet

While walking through the forest looking for fall subjects I found this reflection in a little creek with ever so slight ripples. Nikon D5000 with the standard 18-55mm lens, 1/100, F5
-John Shable

It goes without saying, but this was the biggest Shooting Challenge to date, and it wouldn't have been possible without everyone's participation. The photos I highlighted are but a representation of the styles in the ELEVEN galleries below. I urge you to poke through them over the next few days, not just for the pictures themselves, but for the brief slices of life you see in everyone's experience of the season.

Gallery 1