Fall Colors in Colorado
Written by Ron Coscorrosa
Southwest Colorado is one of the best places in the United States for fall color, and, conveniently, happens to be where we live. Despite that, it has been years since Sarah and I have spent a full fall season in Colorado. We vowed to change that this year, and we nearly succeeded, except for the fact that there were still many fall color opportunities remaining two full weeks into October and other plans pulled us away a bit earlier than we would have liked.
This year was exceptionally good for fall colors, from the aspens, which everyone knows and loves, to the scrub oaks, willows, cottonwoods, and dwarf birch (among others). We also had varied weather all season, including blue skies, wind, mist, rain, fog, freezing temperatures, and some minor snowfall on the mountains. Below, you will find a selection of some of my favorite photos with brief descriptions, and you can click here to see the full gallery.
A clearing storm near Red Mountain Pass (this was followed shortly by a rainbow - but I preferred this light just before).
The last few leaves on an aspen basking in backlight.
I titled this photo "Puzzle from Hell" as I imagine it would be a very frustrating jigsaw puzzle. This is one of the larger pools of aspen leaves I saw this year.
"Reddy and Not" (one of my better titles from this collection).
Saying "peak fall color" is like saying "peak light" - there is no peak light, there is no peak fall color, there is only the right color or right light for whatever scene you are working on. This particular photo is past conventional "peak fall color" but works because of the blues from the empty trees contrasting with the remaining yellow leaves.
Speaking of yellow and blue contrasts - this is the same idea but with a different scene. While some photographers dread high winds that knock the leaves off the trees, I know it just means there will be opportunities like this one.
A rainbow palette of scrub oaks (also known as Gambel oaks or Quercus gambelii), which may be my favorite autumn plant in southwest Colorado.
It's not enough that aspens turn brilliant colors in the fall, but their white trunks provide such a pleasing contrast to the foliage.
Bad weather is good photography! This was taken in a ridiculous rain storm and after spending a few hours trying to chase the fog. We stood still and the fog finally came to us.
I really do like red and yellow contrast and was able to find a nice section of red oaks with yellow underbrush.
Did someone say red and yellow? Here is an aspen version.
You will have to take my word that this is a fall color photo (gold aspens reflecting on a frozen pool of ice). This was photographed at 800mm and focus-stacked -- a kind of photo that would be impractical or impossible a few years ago (especially at full resolution) but is now made possible with good focus stacking software (Helicon Focus) and mirrorless lenses (the Canon RF 200-800mm in this case).
I really liked this arrangement of dwarf birches which had just a few leaves remaining.
Twilight is a fantastic time to photograph aspen trees -- they are mostly shaded, and their trunks are highly reflective, taking on the blues of the sky.
This birch foliage provides a pleasing pastel contrast to the dominant yellows and golds of aspen fall foliage.
