Autumn » Autumn Leaves

Fall photography 101

Christine — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 22:27:19 +0000

Fall photography 101

(NC)—With the beautiful colours, and the harvest moon, autumn is the perfect time to let your inner photographer shine. To help capture those iconic fall moments, Matt Lewis, digital technology and photography professional at Black’s Photography, offers these helpful tips:

Pets and children—Short attention spans make awesome candid photography. Rake a big pile of leaves and let them go nuts. Be sure to have your camera set for action shots—or a fast shutter speed on a DSLR.

The moon and sky—That red moon that hangs low is a rare but beautiful photo opportunity. To make the most of it make sure you have a sturdy tri-pod and set your camera for a long-exposure. The tri-pod will eliminate camera shake, while the lengthy exposure time will enhance the sky’s glow.

Trees and landscapes—Trees and landscapes can be a difficult subject when there is so much colour and detail. For the best results, pick a focal point and an angle that compliments it.

“The most important tip to keep in mind when taking a photo is to capture a moment,” says Matt Lewis. “The fall is the perfect time to get outside and have fun testing out different types of equipment and lenses.”

Once you’ve captured the perfect shots, be sure to compile them into a photo book or photo album that you can share with others. Black’s PhotoBook design service allows you to choose the photos you want to include, upload them online or in-store and then leave the rest of the work up to the experts. The end result is a perfectly designed photo book capturing the best of your fall photography.

For more tips on fall photography please visit www.blacks.ca.

www.newscanada.com

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Why Autumn Leaves Change Color

Jennifer — Sun, 03 May 2009 20:34:27 +0000

Fall is without doubt my favorite time of the year. As a gardener you may be considering planting trees for beauty and sustainability. If you are thinking about planting deciduous trees, fall color is one factor you might want to consider.

Here it is late September and it won’t be long before the fall leaves color the mountains with vibrant tones of red, yellow and green. You can even be given fall color alerts through the various national weather channels!

Colors usually peak around the last half of October with the higher elevations changing color first and then trickling down into the valleys.

If you have a child, you’ve probably been asked why trees leaves turn yellow, orange, or red in fall. Although you might not think of it as a color, brown is another color of fall. You have to understand a little about botany to get a better grasp on fall colors.

As the chlorophyll breaks down in the leaves, the green color disappears, and the yellow to orange colors become visible and give the leaves part of their fall splendor. Some mixtures give rise to the reddish and purplish fall colors of trees such as dogwoods and sumacs, while others give the sugar maple its brilliant orange. The autumn foliage of some trees show only yellow colors such as our local polars here in the Pacific Northwest.

Autumn leaf color is a phenomenon that affects the normally green leaves of many deciduous trees and shrubs by which they take on, during a few weeks in the autumn months, one or many colors that range from red to yellow. Autumn colors (especially red) are not just due to the breakdown of chlorophyll; in fact anthocyanins (red-purple) are actively produced in autumn. Autumn weather conditions favoring the most brilliant colors are warm sunny days and cool, but not freezing, nights. The amount of rain in a year also affects autumn leaf color. A warm, wet period during fall will lower the intensity, or brightness, of autumn colors. As sunlight decreases in autumn, the veins that carry sap into and out of a leaf gradually close. The brightest colors are seen when late summer is dry, and autumn has bright sunny days and cool (low 40′s Fahrenheit) nights.

Now this is interesting: University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists have a new theory about why autumn leaves turn scarlet and why the hues are more vibrant some years than others. They say that the red pigments — called anthocyanins — in plants such as maples, oaks, dogwoods and viburnums act like sunscreen. “The pigments shade sensitive photosynthetic tissue in fall while trees reabsorb nutrients from their leaves,” says horticulturist Bill Hoch. “Trees need to store as many of those nutrients as they can before the leaves drop.”

Here is my interpretation of Autumn: Autumn is warm lazy days with crisp nights whispering of the winter to come. The days are shorter and our gardens are shutting down for a long winter’s nap. Even human beings respond to the changing season. Fall weather signals us to get our crock pots out and make wonderful steamy soups and stews. I love autumn!

The way leaves change color is, in its own way, no less miraculous, the result of a complex shift in chemistry as a tree prepares itself for its winter dormant period. Through fallen leaves, Nature has provided the decaying leaves to help replenish and add to the fertile forest floor. And the cycle of life goes on!

Thank you for reading this article on fall leaf color changes. It was fun to put together for you!

By Joyce Moore

Autumn Leaves Provide a Spectacular Sight

Autumn Leaves Provide a Spectacular Sight

Jennifer — Sun, 03 May 2009 03:10:07 +0000

The word `deciduous` comes from Latin, meaning “to fall off.” What is it that makes a trees leaves change color, and eventually to fall off? Although the leaves do it, the trees themselves start it, but they are doing this in order to survive. However it comes about, the performance dazzles the eye and stirs the heart of those who see it. And even as the extravaganza reaches its climax, next year’s performance is waiting in the wings. When cells divide, they’re growing. As the ratios of these specialized plant hormones change, trees stop making the famous energy-producing chemical chlorophyll. They pull in all the nutrients they can from the leaves, and cut the leaves off from their main stems.

In September/October in the Northern Hemisphere, the curtain opens on the show, quietly and without fanfare. A tiny band of cells where the leaf’s stem is attached to the twig begins to loosen and dry out. Between these cells and the twig, a layer of corklike cells begins growing. It is scar tissue forming even before the amputation of the leaf takes place.

It is the season for brightly lighted days and cool, crisp nights-requirements for the colorful extravaganza that is to follow.

As the layer of corky cells toughens, the tiny pipelines that bring sap to the leaves are stopped up. All the while the other layer of cells is continuing to loosen and dry out. The flow of sap to the leaves has been cut off, but it is still weeks before they will fall. These are the days of autumn’s blaze of glory. Without sap, photosynthesis in the leaves stops and the green chlorophyll in the leaves is destroyed by the sun’s rays.

With the passing of the green, pigments that have been in the leaf all summer now take the limelight. Outstanding is carotene. Sugar-maple leaves have orange and chrome hues of carotene. Birches have pure yellow carotene. As nights lengthen in the fall, the chlorophyll that was used to convert sunlight to food isn’t produced anymore. It breaks down, and the other colors show through.

But what about the crimson of the red maple, the scarlet of the oak, the deep red of the sassafras, the plum color of the ash? Those colors are newcomers to the leaves. Only after the corky layer has cut off the flow of sap from the leaf do these dynamic colors usher in their dramatic finale to the fall show. If the weather is cool and bright, the leaf continues for a time to make sugar, which is now trapped in the leaf and is turned into a chemical called anthocyanin. If the sap is acid, the anthocyanins turn red; if alkaline, they turn blue or purple.

It isn`t the approaching cold of winter that causes the leaves to fall. The tree itself does it to conserve its water. Cold air cannot hold as many water molecules per cubic meter or cubic foot as warm air. During winter, very little is available from a frozen earth, and the broad leaves of deciduous trees give off large amounts of it. Without new supplies of water, these leaves would soon dehydrate the tree. So to forestall this, the tree sheds its leaves and seals the open wound with a layer of corky scar tissue.

The tree must retain its water, or the show will not go on next year. There would be no spring green, no summer shade, and no fall foliage to dazzle eyes and stir hearts. The buds of spring that burst open and send out green shoots are not newcomers. They have been there all year, waiting in the wings for warm sunshine to thaw their plumbing and start the sap flowing. Now they grow rapidly, getting the major share of available food.

But at the same time tiny buds no bigger than the head of a pin are being formed, packed with leaves, flowers, twigs, and stems. Only by midsummer, however, do these tiny buds get the food they need to grow larger and develop further. By the end of summer, they contain next spring’s leaves and flowers, stems and twigs, all tightly packed inside waterproof wrappings. Protected from drying and freezing, they wait without stirring for months, waiting for spring. In this state of suspended animation, they are called winter tree buds.

Geoff owns the gardening products and equipment site at http://www.outdoorlivingsupplies.com where many items are on sale at discount prices. Geoff also runs the blog – http://greenfingersiwish.blogspot.com