Fall is coming back. The attentive photographer will remember that it’s time to start expecting mist and fog. These are creating excellent conditions for interesting photographs.
Copyright Yves Roumazeilles
- When? Fog does not appear in any weather conditions but it is relatively predictable. More or less, for a misty morning, you will need to have a relatively warm day before with a cold night without wind. Fog will tend to accumulate in the depressions (like a valley) which will favor night radiation fog and coastal areas will often have a good source of water vapor and a good potential for heat loss over ground.
- How? Use the light histogram to “shoot at right” or “expose at right”. It’s a fact that the camera will tend to under-expose the picture to try and get a medium grey image while the reality that you want to catch is rather white. In some case, you will probably use a preset over-exposure of 1 EV or 1.5 EV.
- Back-light: Even if you do not easily see the sun, favor the “back-lit” orientation.
- Silhouettes: Fog is the occasion to sharply cut the silhouettes on a clear background.
- Surfaces: Mist will tend to draw clear-cut surfaces on the different planes of the picture.
- Rays: As soon as the sun starts to be available and starts to pierce the last strands of mist, watch for the moment when light rays will appear in the landscape.
