One Saturday morning a few weeks ago I was out with some friends photographing the sunrise when we came across this stand of trees, still full of leaves and even green! Everything around them were starting to change color, but for some reason these had not started the change. As the sun crept through the trees it warmed the cool Autumn air and called to be photographed. I found an angle that provided a bit of flare, but not too overpowering and set up my tripod. I watched and waited as the sun slowly rose and created a nice glow through the translucent leaves. I savored the warmth of the sun, knowing that soon winter would set in and the warmth would be replaced by icy cold temperatures and ice covered branches.
Most of the time, I photograph the landscape with front or side lighting, however on occasion I do find that subjects lit from behind can be interesting. Leaves on the trees appear to glow while solid subjects fall into deep shadow. Flare and sunspots sometimes appear, adding interest or entirely destroying the image. Care must be taken in calculating the exposure, as the highlights from the direct sun in the lens will fool the cameras light meter, causing severe underexposure. While the in camera light meters are quite accurate, it is in situations like these that I use my handheld spotmeter. This was a necessary piece of equipment in my days of shooting large format cameras, and still I take it everywhere with me. Using it, bracketing is not necessary as I know exactly what is happening in the capture. without it, bracketing becomes a necessity.
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