How to photograph fog?

bmattock

bmattock

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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,
My best luck has been using a UV filter and mounting on a tripod. Sometimes it still comes down to working it in PS to make it look closer to what I remember seeing. Be interesting to hear what others say.
 
The "brightness" of fog can fool the camera's meter which results in an underexposed scene, especially in the darker highlights. Compensate with a slower shutter speed, wider aperture, etc.

You can also get a close-up meter reading off the subject, step back and then recompose your shot. This tends to work out best for me, but I'll also bracket the shot if I'm not confident of success.
 
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Fog is useful in accentuating the different distances of things in the scene; "atmospherics". Even without fog things in the distance lose contrast and detail due to atmospheric dust and haze, and fog just makes that effect much stronger and makes it useful for nearby things. So I think it can be very useful in promoting a strong 3D effect if you use it in that way. Of course you can also use the veiling effect for an air of mystery or unreality.
 
Bill, I have the same problem - I can almost never get that special look in the shot. I still have a couple of fog shots ("Autumn in the park") in my gallery - but, as you said, the actual scene was different.
Maybe you could try using an incident meter - although I don't think it's a big deal. You could also experiment with DOF and different f-stops, and see how it turns out.
Some of the best fog shots I've seen were actually done in combination of fog and sun (usual September morning combo in some places along the Adriatic coast here). If you're taking fog shots on dull mornings (no sun, heavy overcast, greyish, etc.), you get more chances of shots being "muddy" and unsatisfactory.
So, the best thing is to wait for that "perfect" light, when fog is actually lit by some sun rays.

Denis
 
It may be a "right time right place" issue too. If you can find a place that you want to shoot, hang out and try to capture the "right" image, just as the fog is lifting, hovering over the ground not engulfing it. Or as the sunlight is breaking through. Any time of change.
 
On the weekends I usually get up in time for the sun to be shining through the trees and burning off the morning fog. I need to try the Summarit to capture it. I was surprised that it picked up the rainbow in the sprinkler when other lenses "wash it out". Will give it a try.
 
Interesting comments, especially about waiting until the fog is beginning to lift or burn off, thanks! I don't think my problem is metering - I usually do bracket shots like that, and they don't come out over or under exposed, but rather just fuzzy and 'blah' with no sense of what it really looked like. I'll try playing the waiting game!

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks
 
Bill, I was shooting some really thick fog recently and learned a few things from the experience.

1. Fog light levels are deceptive. Give more exposure than a reflected meter indicates.

2. You need a strong foreground. Detail, colour and texture drop off rapidly with distance. This creates very atmospheric shots, but without a good fg they look blah.

3. Use the finest grain film you can. Fog can really accentuate grain. The finer-grained the film, the smoother the fog will look.

4. Normal to wide-angle lenses work better than teles in fog.

I also find it takes some good post-processing in Photoshop (or whatever) to achieve a good image.

I was shooting both RF and DSLR. Here's a digital image (taken at 1/100s f/8 at iso200):

.
 
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Gene makes some excellent points! Over-expose from the reflected meter suggestion and have a strong foreground. Normal/wide angle lenses and fine grain film. These suggestions will eliminate those muddy, blah, fog shots.

(Gene, I love your shot the way it came up on my screen at first - with the right side cropped off. This is obviously entirely subjective and just my opinion.)
 
Bill,

I would echo what everyone is saying -

* fog with a light source is best, not too overcast

* foreground is important focus point

* bracket the exposure

* I think it's a seasonal opportunity

This is an Olympus OM 2000 example, we get regular fog on Lone Mt. at certain times of the year.
 
Great points everyone, I'll keep them in mind. With winter coming the fog is starting here too, and I've had some trouble capturing it myself in the past. Nice shot Michael.
 
On my trip to Olympic National Park over the summer, there was fog everywhere off the Pacific. It was really quite lovely in the forested areas. I metered the foreground using my CV Bessa L and 25mm. I don't have any good editing tools so editing in this image is minimal. I think I'm still slightly underexposed.

Old Growth Fog
 
This was last week, looking across the my street, foggy all day.
 
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