Summer may be over, but you won’t find landscape photographers crying about this change of season. That’s because autumn — the beloved time for fall foliage — makes landscapes more captivating than ever. Now, any camera can make red, yellow, and orange leaves look dazzling, but the perfect fall foliage photography kit needs a few lenses and accessories.
To help you capitalize on the colors, we picked six of the best lenses and gadgets to take your fall foliage images up a notch. Don’t forget to check this year’s foliage forecast to time your fall-color photo trip perfectly!
The Best Lenses & Accessories for Fall Foliage Photography:
- Wide-angle prime lens
- Telephoto lens
- Zoom lens
- Polarizing filter
- Spherical ball
- Travel Tripod
Wide-angle prime lens: Sigma 14mm f/1.8 ()
The Sigma 14mm f/1.8 pairs low-light versatility with an impressively wide focal length, making it perfect for fall-foliage landscape shots, no matter the time of day. This lens is compatible with Canon EOS cameras; like most primes, it delivers impeccable clarity to help colorful leaves nearly pop off the screen. While a 14mm focal length is ideal for capturing wide scenes like a red-tinged mountain range, this fast f/1.8 Sigma lens will impress well after dark — a feature you shouldn’t overlook, given fall also kicks off auroras season across the upper U.S. (yes, even in the lower 48 states!).
Telephoto lens: Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR ()
If you’re capturing fall landscapes, a long lens hardly seems like a necessity, but telephoto lenses like the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm f/4.5-6.3 VR give photographers the flexibility to zoom in and compose the perfect shot, even from afar. Knowing when to opt for a wide-angle lens or a telephoto lens will also give you a variety of shots. This could mean close-ups of a particularly colorful patch of leaves, or zooming in on wildlife with the background vibrantly red. And, since the Nikon Z DX 50-250mm has a relatively large aperture of f/4.5-6.3, you can softly blur that backdrop with your subject — be it wildlife or a fellow leaf peeper — in focus.
Zoom lens: Sony 24-105mm f/4 ()
If you’d rather stick to one lens on your fall-photo expedition, try a zoom lens like the Sony 24-105mm f/4. This versatile Sony E-mount lens will give you a wide, 24mm focal length for scenery like a field of colorful red trees, with an up to 105mm focal length for zooming in on specific scenery, such as a colorful birch-tree forest or the reflection of leaves in a calm pond. This lens focuses quickly and promises advanced optics for corner-to-corner resolution, meaning those perfect fall-foliage shots will look as dazzling on your wall as they do in your Sony Alpha camera’s viewfinder.
Polarizing filter: NiSi Pro Nano Natural CPL ()
Golden hour is perhaps best time to shoot any type of scenery, let alone fall foliage, but if you want to keep photographing into the morning and afternoon, you’ll benefit from a polarizing filter like the new NiSi Pro Nano Natural CPL. With a polarizing filter, you’ll be able to darken the skies, add contrast with clouds, and enhance natural saturation. This brings interest and dimension to your landscape and nature shots. The filter will also let you use a longer shutter speed for dreamy waterfalls or still lakes, which will look even more astounding — not to mention professional — in a sea of colorful leaves. If you’d like to experiment more with filters, and see how they affect your shots, check out our list of top essential camera lens filters for landscape photography.
Lensball Photography Sphere ()
When it’s time to turn that fall foliage landscape on its head, try the Lensball Photography Sphere. This fun photography accessory lets you creatively experiment with your landscapes, bringing a fresh new angle that most leaf-peepers would never consider. The spherical ball turns your scene 180 degrees, producing a mind-blowing upside-down effect, especially when integrated with the larger fall-foliage scene. Just center the Lensball, grab your wide-angle lens, blur that colorful backdrop, and shoot away!
MeFOTO Backpacker S Carbon Fiber Travel Tripod ()
A tripod isn’t essential for fall foliage photography; you can simply grab your camera, don a lens, hit the trail, and shoot. But, if you’d like to experiment with long exposures, such as a glassy lake reflecting those red-hued mountains, it’s best to bring a lightweight tripod along for long-shutter stabilization. The MeFOTO Backpacker Travel Tripod doubles as a monopod while remaining impressively lightweight at 2.2 pounds. You can also try your hand at fall-foliage timelapses with this versatile tripod. Its sturdy build and rubber feet promise ultimate stability.
For more fall-foliage photo inspiration, check out our guide to some of the country’s most dazzling autumn destinations.
Feature photo by Harold Wijnholds on Unsplash
