Winter Colours!

WINTER COLOURS
Yes, Winter colours, taken on Clonagam Road on November 4th.

Fallen leaves everywhere, slightly prematurely,
caused by some recent very windy periods and heavy rain,
now clogging roadside streams, etc.
resulting in much of the autumn foliage having disappeared early.

This scene apast Tower Hill cottages
was much more colourful seven to ten days earlier.

However,by changing position
and using landscape mode,
it was still possible to  capture
a little of the colour
normally experienced at this time.

At ground level, colourful foliage was still to be seen

in plenty because of the shelter. 

While ferns are usually at their best
at this time,
most are now a dull brown;
but in this more open area,
they still looked great despite
the reduction from dark  green,

For better images, move in closer . . . 

                                                                                                                                                                                                   . . . and isolate small clusters of leaves,
using a wide aperture on your camera, if such facility is available,
If you can use a portrait setting, this will also show an unsharp background.
(Aperture here was f5.6, as I did not have a wider option). 

Finally, the farther your subject is from the background,
and the darker and 'less busy' the background is,
the more prominent will be the important part of your image.

"Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,"

"O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing; "

Yellow, and black, and pale and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes;"

With acknowledgements to Percy Bysshe Shelley, 1792-1822