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Thread: Shooting in fog/mist

  1. #1
    allenlennon's Avatar
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    Allen or "Lurchy" is fine

    Shooting in fog/mist

    Hi all, over the past few days i had to be in my car fairly early in the morning, bout half hour before sunrise, to get to work at another store an hour away as they were short staffed, and there was always fog. As i was driving and took the usual left turn a the end of my long drive way, i started to look at things differently that i seen thousands of times that i never really paid attention to( true that you will suffer from the photographers eyes in this hobby). For example just bout 30 secs after turning left theres a nut farm, and through the fog i fell in love with the depth of visible field effect had on the serenity and feel of the place. Another is fog through the dead empty street of the main st of my town, with a closed cement works and few lights with the fog gave me the feeling of erie mystery behind the town(well to me anyways). Plus many others, but for some i will have to leave earlier to get there for the effect i want. Thinking of making separate early morning starts (which i dont mind really, as long as i have me coffee and shower), so i can have the time to do one or two subjects at a time.

    So i finally get to my question(sorry bout the prologue):

    Any tips/advice for this type of photography? Im assuming using shutter priority mode for this, as a start anyways. Also, since it is bit misty, will this effect my camera? i dont care bout the photos as much as my gear. And another, im thinking to get there just before 1 hour to set up equipment. I assume that if i just stay at one subject for the morning and take a bunch of photos and experiment. Is that good time frame??

    Im hoping to do this through out the next few weeks. If this weather isnt going to be too crazy(its summer here but its more winter, flooding and so on). Evan if i get up earlier before work at my store.

    Any help will be, as always, appreciated!
    Cheers
    Last edited by allenlennon; 4th March 2012 at 11:54 AM.

  2. #2

    Re: Shooting in fog/mist

    Lurchy, I was working on this for my project52 here is a link I was trying to illicit some feed back as there is a pond and industrial area that I hope to capture this spring. Sounds like you have a good plan. My EXIF data is still attached, but I was shooting in Manual mode f7-10 on 1/8-1/40 exposure times. The biggest problem I was having was in the post processing, once I set the levels, and tried to clear up the subject all the fog would disappear.

    Thanks
    Ryo

  3. #3

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    Re: Shooting in fog/mist

    Try getting away from aperture or shutter priority when shooting in fog. I generally only use spot metering, one point focus, metering for the brightest part of the scene once I've chosen my preferred depth of field, then dial up or back to get the correct shutter speed. If speed is a necessity, I go the opposite way and set my shutter and dial in the corrected aperture. In 99% of all fog shots I do, I generally find the subject doesn't move and if it move faster than a lightly swaying limb, you're probably not going to stop the action in fog, anyway. I also only shoot at an ISO of 100 in fog or misty light to avoid noise.

    Ryo...use your levels to set your black point and curves to adjust the contrast and you should be able to manage your whites and light grays better. Be gentle with those sliders. Fog is quite delicate.

  4. #4
    PBelarge's Avatar
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    Pierre

    Re: Shooting in fog/mist

    Here is a link that Donald posted earlier that I thought was very helpful.

    https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...hotography.htm

  5. #5

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    Re: Shooting in fog/mist

    I find that foggy scenes often need a good 'reference point' such as a fairly sharply focused element in the foreground, otherwise they can simply look out of focus.

  6. #6
    allenlennon's Avatar
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    Re: Shooting in fog/mist

    Quote Originally Posted by Geoff F View Post
    I find that foggy scenes often need a good 'reference point' such as a fairly sharply focused element in the foreground, otherwise they can simply look out of focus.
    Thank you, i was thinking along the same line. cheers

    Quote Originally Posted by MiniChris View Post
    Try getting away from aperture or shutter priority when shooting in fog. I generally only use spot metering, one point focus, metering for the brightest part of the scene once I've chosen my preferred depth of field, then dial up or back to get the correct shutter speed. If speed is a necessity, I go the opposite way and set my shutter and dial in the corrected aperture. In 99% of all fog shots I do, I generally find the subject doesn't move and if it move faster than a lightly swaying limb, you're probably not going to stop the action in fog, anyway. I also only shoot at an ISO of 100 in fog or misty light to avoid noise.
    Thank you chris, great advice i will take to hart.

    Was going to start this morning but my cat disable my alarm, he has the tendency to do that. But was going to go for a walk around town this morning(which was about 8-9am) but since it was the first fine day we had and the fact it wasnt raining, i thought i shoud put that plan on hold to peg up some washing, do some much needed mowing and poisening, and a very very much needed dump run as the garbo man dont get my bin as i am not exactly part of town, and the bags kept on piling up, as i cant take my car with trailer hooked up while its wet or i'll either jack knife or get bogged. Hmmm, how i do hate how my personel life interfears with my photography. For the past few months i had no time or no energy to go and do what i am loving to do and really miss! GRRR!! lol, im going to start to bring my gear with me where ever i drive! Like i am going to do tonight when i go to work, battery charging, checked my equipment, and cleaned the lens. Im going to try to do a photo a week, not for the project 52, but for myself.

    Hmm, seems like i like to ramble on and on, im going to get really bad with this when im older! LOL, i kid, no offence intended.

    Anyways, cheers

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