54. Ozarks Mountains Fall Foliage reports, photos, drives

These photographs represent what you can expect from Ozark foliage in any average year. Some years the displays are grander, and other years duller than what we show. All photos were made during our normal foliage reporting runs. As you can see, we really do get out into the foliage by car, on foot, in boats, and in airplanes. We do not rely on "spotters" for our reporting. We are the spotters.

1. Aerial Photos of Ozark Foliage
Photos made during our foliage reporting flights. A great view of peak fall foliage and the Ozark hills.

2. Roadside Foliage Photos
Foliage you'll see driving major highways and back roads. Photos made during our reporting drives.

3. Foliage On The Water
Photos made during our "boat and float" reporting trips, or while hiking.

4. Foliage From The Hill Tops
Photos made during our drives and hikes to the top of hills looking out over grand vistas.

5. Hillside Foliage
Photos we made while looking up at hillsides from roads, rivers, and hiking trails.

6. Understory Foliage
Walking under colorful trees puts a whole new perspective on foliage. This is why you'll see references to understory color in our reports.

7. Colored Leaves
What's a foliage site without leaf photos! Here's a collection of what we typically see up close on reporting runs.

Truth In Photography
We have made it a goal to make photographs which accurately represent Ozark foliage. For those of you who wonder about how much "photoshopping" we do on our images, the answer is very little. We shoot in camera raw at 5300 degrees. We purposely shoot soft and slightly under-exposed. We make only minor adjustments as any professional photographer will. We do NOT ramp up saturation, indeed we rarely adjust for saturation which is left at zero, or tuned up to a maximum of +4. Thus what you see in our photos is almost dead-on for real life.

We do spend considerable time "scouting the light". We pick a spot, then visit it several times over a period of days at sunrise, sunset, etc. to discover what time of day the light is at absolute best for photo making. Much of what you see that looks over-saturated is simply waiting for the right light to hit the leaves. We have learned that optimum light conditions for any scene rarely last more than 10 minutes. The secret is to capture as ridge top shadows are only yards away from hitting the subject. Photographers who do this won't need Photoshop to make good images!