leaf peeping

Fall foliage is right around the corner, or here for some. Is there a thread with some tips for a novice the way there is for fireworks?
I never quite get what I thought I saw........

Well, this is just my opinion....

With landscapes, you will find one of the best ways to capture what you 'see' is to shoot at sunrise/sunset. The dynamic range at that those times are easier to capture in a single frame, for the most part. Once the sun is up and the dynamic range between shadows and highlights gets too wide, you end up sacrificing one or the other, or both in some cases.

Some solutions for this would be filters such as CPL filters, GND filters, and Reverse GND filters. All these filters, when used correctly, can help to achieve a higher dynamic range image than what would be possible without them.

Another solution would be to shoot multiple exposures and then blend them together. However, this approach can go really wrong without the right techniques. The concept is to shoot multiple frames with different exposures and then blend them together to create a final image with good highlight and shadow data. When done properly, images can look very natural. This technique requires some practice. For this type of photo I use various programs depending on the shot. I might use Enfuse, SNS-HDR, Photomatix Pro, or in most cases I open the images in PS as Layers and manually blend them together. I have found that many times the software will bring in parts of the image I may not want. By manually blending them in PS, I have complete control over the final image.

I hope that helps.