April 26, 2011
Fall Colors at Toad River, Alaska Highway, British Columbia, Canada

Another image from our trip to Alaska in 2009 … We left Alaska in mid September and drove south on the Alaska Highway during the peak of fall color. Some of my favorite images were taken at Toad River on an overcast day. Overcast conditions are great for photographing fall color as long as the sky isn't included in the composition because of the nice diffuse light. A telephoto zoom, in this case a Canon 100-400, is useful for selecting parts of the landscape to create an image with graphic impact. In the image above, the alternating diagonal bands of evergreens and yellow/orange deciduous trees creates more interest than just a solid patch of yellow. I used a polarizer to remove the reflections on the wet leaves to let the wonderful color shine through.