Fall Leaves

Sacramento area neighborhoods and parkways are lined with rows of trees exploding with beautiful fall color. The entire area is in full color.

With the beautiful fall leaf show over in the Eastern Sierra and Yosemite, it's time we discover the color in our own backyards. Here are the best places in the Sacramento region to view and photograph leaves in all their brilliant fall color.

"It ain't over 'til it's over" pretty much sums up this season of fall leaf color watching in the Eastern Sierra.

The foliage season is drawing to a close faster than normal due to all areas changing color all at once. Usually, most of our stops change independently from each other. That creates full color areas when other areas have fallen.

If you have been waiting to photograph the fall foliage or you want to make one last trip, you'd definitely pick this weekend.

The big question this week: What will happen with fall leaf color the rest of the season? Guessing what Mother Nature will do is as easy as guessing winning lottery numbers.

With fall colors still several weeks away below 4,000 feet, Tahoe National Forest officials offer scenic drives for earlier "leaf peepers" wishing to see colors through mid-October.

The big story here in the Eastern Sierra is the weather: It's created the "perfect storm" -- a photographer's dream day photographing trees blanketed in snow.

The fall foliage finally got the memo in the Eastern Sierra: Start turning!

Throughout much of California, a seasonal change in colors means that the grass turns brown in late spring – or even earlier. That isn't, however, our state's only state of change.

Welcome to our 2011 Sacbee.com photography coverage of the autumn season in the Eastern Sierra.

This Tips & Techniques section is designed to help you understand many of the concepts being used to create the photos you are following in our fall colors coverage.

Many amateur photographers seem overwhelmed in the field with their camera and simply finding something to shoot. I have found over the years that every scene we photograph can be divided into two categories. It is either an f-stop controlled photo or a shutter speed controlled photo.

Photographing fall colors allows us some freedoms that any other time of year we wouldn't get away with.

I use very few filters for color photography but the few I use, I use a lot shooting fall colors. I use polarizing, neutral density and graduated neutral density filters. I don't use sunset, warming or "enhancing" filters at all. I prefer the colors natural. I don't like fake color.

Using an efficient lens shade (hood) or even your hand to block extraneous light from entering your lens will improve the contrast of your photos.

Many photographers agree that lighting is the most important part of the photograph.