Essential photography equipment for Autumn landscapes

Best photography equipment for Autumn landscapes:

Standard Lens

For general shots my Nikon 35-70mm f2.8 is a superb midrange zoom with the added benefit of a close-up facility ideal for shooting those little still-life shots on the lawn or close-ups of frosted berries hanging in the hedgerows.

DSLR

You can use a compact but obviously you’ll get better results from a DSLR. I use a Nikon D2x. It’s tough, rugged, handles well and produces excellent files.

Macro lens

A dedicated macro lens is useful for extreme close-up work, such as individual leaves, bugs and stuff. My Nikon 105mm f2.5 macro is also a short telephoto, which lets me step back for a more comfortable working distance from the subject.

Filters

I never go anywhere without the following filters:

A set of Lee ND grads for exposure control.
A set of Lee ND standards, for increasing the exposure to introduce blur or movement in water or wind blown leaves.
A Lee circular polariser to help saturate colour and get rid of reflections from shiny leaves.

Cable release

I use a Nikon MC30 electronic cable release to release the shutter without touching the camera, for sharper pictures. You could also use a remote release (pictured).

Reflectors

To bounce light back into the shadows of close-ups or still-lifes (white card is ok), I use a Lastolite folding reflector.

Wideangle lens

A wideangle lens is essential for those autumn landscape shots. You may find that the 18mm end of your standard zoom is wide enough but if not you could look at a superwide zoom. My Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 is useful for dramatic, wide landscape views.

Telephoto lens

For those nice long shots where you want to pull the image in and isolate sections of a scene you’ll need a telephoto zoom. I use the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8.

The fruits of harvest time make for an interesting still life.