Even if you don't do the annual Christmas card, here are three reasons you should take your family photos in fall.

1. The Colors.
This might be obvious, but I'm not just talking about the changing leaves. You can have so much fun with the colors your family wears.
In this setting, the prominent colors are red and orange, warm colors. Yes, there's lots of green too, but in outdoor photos, natural greenery works as a neutral.
I've read posts that say families should also wear warm colors to match your background. I disagree. You want your family to stand out, and to do that, you want to wear cool tones like blues and purples. But stay away from solid colors (So 80s!). Play with different patterns and shades.

2. Natural Playground
You remember what it was like to play in the leaves, let your kids have fun too! Don't worry about getting new outfits dirty. The candid facial expressions will be well worth the risk.
Parents should get in there too. Start a leaf war with your kids. Make some memories.
If it's not late enough in the season for this many leaves, you can always find natural settings with sunflowers this time of year. And ever seen a kid not happy in a pumpkin patch or a corn maze?

3. Texture/Lighting
This reason is a little more technical. In Fall, there are so many leaves on the ground, you can get a cool depth of field. The texture makes the photos more interesting to look at. Again, this same principal works in a pumpkin patch or a corn maze.
I threw lighting in there too because in order to see the cool textures, you have to have the right lighting. You WANT shadows and highlights.
Not all of these pictures are perfect examples. The sun kept going behind clouds, which is fine, I still got some good shots, but I got the BEST pictures when the sun was out (see picture below).

One last tip. Morning or afternoon is the best time of day to take pictures in fall. Don't wait until evening (unless your trying to work the sunset into your shots). You will lose your light too fast.
Learned that the hard way.

These pictures of the Pagnani family were taken in Fall 2010 at Nielson's Grove Park in Orem, Utah.