How to shoot the fog of the morn

[Cliffs]

I arose early this AM, went out to the backyard and the fog thru the trees was awesome..........


I tried my best to take pics and got nothing....

low iso, long exposure

high iso...

medium iso...

exposure time all over the place...

tripod used...

etc....

I was shooting in RAW, went to full auto - flash off...camera wouldn't fire.

With flash on, I lost the effect...

**************************

I love this new hobby but it can be so dang frustrating.

[Cliffs]

I normally don't feel bad if a post I started gets ignored but after 78 views there is nobody that read my post that can give us a hint of how to do it?

I mean this is entitled Digital Photography School, yes?

This is written with a smile on my face, no problems on my end if I get no replies, I just thought, ya know.

[dcclark]

What do you mean by "got nothing" -- no photos? Camera wouldn't fire, perhaps, because it couldn't focus? You really need to be more precise -- it's hard to understand what you're asking about right now.

[Cliffs]

Yes, none of my rookie pictures had correct exposure.

My question is not so much what I did wrong but how do you take pictures in the fog?

[Bluenoser]

Try over exposing a full stop.

[dcclark]

Fog can be hard to capture. If you take a shot with a telephoto lens, this can sometimes emphasize mist -- the problem is that the human eye can usually see more fog than a camera can, so we have to use tricks to make it show up!

[Cliffs]

Yes dcclark, may we call you d...:-}

It's those tricks you speak of that this novice wants to understand.

I do apologize for lack of understanding how to pose my questions on the subject. As in photography, more detail can be best.

[dcclark]

Another random thing that may help you, is to find a place where the sunlight is hilighting the mist -- especially in the early morning, when you might get some interesting colors. This can provide a cue to the eye that there is something there (instead of just being a grey part of the photo).

[BryanC]

Take this response as opinion and not fact, for I am by no means a 'Fog Photography' expert. Through the years, the images I have seen with fog that I have really liked and thought were interesting seemed to be more about the effect the fog had on the surroundings, and not the fog itself. It's been all different subjects and styles; urban/street scenes to landscapes, and everything in between. But in all of them, the fog didn't seem to be the 'in your face' main subject, but an element of the image.
There was some interesting subject or scene being affected visually by fog. I haven't had the opportunity to take many 'fog' photos, but have managed a few that I have kept because, well, I liked them anyway...lol.

I don't present these as benchmark images for great fog photography, but to share and to help with my opinion.

This was taken in February, in the greater Chicago area, which means Winter. We had a couple of feet of snow on the ground and then we were surprised by 2-3 days of upper 50's, lower 60's temperatures. This makes for a very thick fog! You got wet standing in it. The only time, I believe, I put power poles in an image on purpose. I liked the way they showed the thickness of the fog, each one getting fainter in the distance. The original didn't show much color at all, so I converted to b&w, and bumped the contrast a little. F/7.1--26mm--1/100 shutter--100 ISO.



This one was an early morning shot. Sun was just above the horizon and this is looking northwest. I liked the way it made the trees look. Some hazing in front of the trees, and the thicker stuff mixing in among them. F/5.6--70mm--1/125 shutter--125 ISO.



Again, I don't mean to show these as perfect examples of fog photography, but they're the best I have to help show my opinion about the effects of fog in an image. You should post one or two of yours and let us have a look.

[Cliffs]

Thanks Bryan for your reply...your settings are another part of the equation I am looking for.

They should help, along with the other suggestions I am receiving.

Now, of course, I hope "the fog" returns this week and I can try to capture that which I could not and show you all what I thought was a 'have to have' shot.