Jonas | Upper Michigan Fall Senior Session

More often that not I hear inquiring clients worry about missing peak colors if we don’t hit the perfect, unpredictable weekend. It’s true, autumn isn’t in full colorful splendor on the trees for very long. The part that bothers me though is the worn out comment that comes after that concern. Then it’ll be all ugly and brown and gross and no one wants those photos. Jonas’ session is proof that our autumn season AFTER the leaves have fallen produces absolutely incredible light and imagery.

If I’m being honest, after the leaves have fallen is one of my absolute favorite times to photograph! Something that the average, non-photographer may not think about is the fact that everything around us reflects on us. This directly effects our skin tones. In the summer, especially in Northern Michigan, there’s a lot of dense greenery that’ll reflect in photos. Green on skin isn’t very natural looking, so the color tweaking in post-process takes a little longer at times.

Once the leaves have fallen, we no longer have harsh, green grass tones reflecting up at us from down below as there is a blanket of warm, golden, fallen leaves. Plus, there are usually a few stragglers still hanging from the branches that’ll also reflect these craveable neutral tones down on us. With the leaves mostly fallen, there’s a lot less tree canopy blocking the autumn sun too, making it super easy to make fall photos all the more cozy, warm, and ideal.