Photographing landscapes in foggy weather
This article appeared in December issue of Terrascape, a travel magazine for which I am an editorial consultant and also write a column on photography. Read all the earlier earlier travel photography articles on India Travel Blog.
Photographing in foggy weather needs an approach much different from shooting on a clear day. Details in the subject get masked in the mist, letting shapes and outlines take more importance than finer aspects. Since the light gets completely diffused in the fog, your subject tends to get uniformly lit from all sides, reducing the significance of the angle in which the light source is located.
Go above the fog. The best way to shoot fog is by standing much above it. You can do this in mountainous regions where mist gathers in the valleys during early morning hours. Climb over a high peak that overlooks several ridges and valleys. If there is enough humidity in the atmosphere, there is a good chance that you will find fog settling down in the depressions, adding a drama to the landscape. Your chances of finding such fog are higher during the winter months, during the first two hours after sunrise.
Shapes, not details. On a foggy day, details and colours in your subjects are lost in the mist but the contours get emphasized. Look for interesting shapes to capture and ignore the finer aspects within. Some good subjects include arches and domes, a series of temple towers, tall trees standing parallel to each other, mountain ridges and repetitive patterns of any kind. Once again, attempt this during winter mornings.
Capture light rays. Have you ever seen photographs with beautiful streaks of light making a landscape look glorious, and wondered how to photograph them? Your best bet is to wait for a mildly foggy day with an alternating sunny and foggy weather. Light rays passing through fog invariably create streaks of light. When you spot one, aim your camera with sun directly above you, keep the aperture of the camera small and take a picture. You are guaranteed to record your own shot of light streaks in the landscape.
Aim at the sun. A foggy day is your best chance to take pictures that have sun in the frame. If you include sun in your frame on a normal day, all that gets recorded in the frame is a huge white area of the sky without any details. But on a foggy day, you can capture the evening sun in all his glory without worrying about poorly exposed picture. While you do that, ensure that you have more interesting elements in your frame: it could be anything from a sea shore or rocky cliffs to power lines or an urban expanse.
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