How to photograph fog?

[Russ]

Re: How to photograph fog?

Now that temperatures are finally dropping here in North Carolina, we are getting a little morning fog - quite nice. It clears off pretty quickly and I'm hoping to go out early and catch some over a smooth lake or pond, hiding out in the trees, etc. I think a rangefinder will be ideal - the SLR gets all foggy in the mirror and pentaprism and is hard to focus when it gets like that.

Trouble is, the only time I've tried to capture fog, it came out looking like a dirty lens or high haze or something. Nothing at all like what my eyes saw.

Suggestions? Is there a trick to it?

Thanks!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

Bill;

That's a no-brainer. Use a fog filter. But seriously, it's important to overexpose by one or two stops. Especially if you are metering off the fog. And a darker foreground helps.

Russ

 

[l.mar]

How about a little rising mist?

(Ikonta "C", FP4)

 

[Phylflash]

While searching for tips on how to shoot in fog, I found rangefinderforum.com. It's great how we now can keep tips like these up for the long term, so that when someone like me comes along, the info can educate yet another shooter. Think I'll stay a while.

 

[nomade]

Hey great stuff here guys, very usefull..

 

[Byuphoto]

Excellent points all.
I too have found the lighting critical and have found early morning sidelight the best.
I have found a polarizer to help also
As does a grad ND
Maximum DOF and some good photoshop.
To meter for fog, overexpose by one-half to a full stop for a natural look. If you want the fog to appear grayer or darker, adding more mystery and sinister tones, underexpose a bit.

 

[ray_g]

If you want the fog to appear grayer or darker, adding more mystery and sinister tones, underexpose a bit.

Here is a shot I took last week. I underexposed to silhoutte the foreground. I also liked the backlit fog in the background. Taken with a Hexar AF, xp2 super.

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Another pointer: use a low-contrast lens, such as a Summar, Summitar, Summarit; no filters. If using B&W film, use HP5+ developed in Microdol, or Tri-X in X-tol. I'd avoid Neopan.

 

[Back2theFuture]

Odd that I saw this post this morning, we had an insane fog roll through late last night while I was sitting on the porch! I didnt shoot it with an RF last night, buttt with both a D70 and Mamiya M645....it was about 12:30am, very dark, with one streetlamp about 10 yards away Id say, as you know fog reflects a lot of light, so it feels bright even if theres a little light around! With my D70, with that, and at 5.6, zoomed to 75mm, I shot at 4 seconds, then with the Mamiya with 80mm lens, same deal, 5.6 at 4 seconds.
Ill post the D70 shots if youd like to see how they came out.
Bryan