Kasson Road view of Curvy Valley

This view of the curvy Kasson Road was taken in Leelanau County in Maple City. By car, take M-72 west out of Traverse City for 11 miles. Turn right onto Maple City Road/County Road 667. Drive north for about 1 mile and then turn left onto Kasson Road, which is a gravel road with some potholes (usually not a problem for most vehicles). Look for winding valley views as you drive; this image was about 0.7 miles into the road. If you follow the GPS, you'll reach the exact spot where I took this photo.

By mid-November, the leaves are usually off the trees, but there will still be color on the ground. You can also expect frosty mornings that turn foggy as the frost lifts off of the ground.

You might get lucky with a foggy day, but frosty mornings in November often turn foggy in late-morning as the frost melts and rises.

This is a two-way road with little traffic. You can stop in the middle of the road and set up your tripod, but definitely listen and look out for other cars.

Try standing back from the edge of the hill and focus on the trees in at the bottom of the dip.

Shooting at a 70mm focal length with an aperture of f/5 will soften the foreground and nudges the viewer's interest further into the image.

Try to position roadside leaves leading in from the left corner and the road edge in the right corner to allow the road to take a soft S through the image.

Be sure to turn on your polarizer so that it cuts glare.

I often stop on this road in the fall on my way up to Good Harbor Bay. The Sleeping Bear Dunes are nearby and there are also a lot of Leelanau County backroads that are photogenic this time of year.