Fog in Canada in June

[ahoys]

DH and I are new photogs--he bought a Nikon D90 recently and I just bought a D60. We're experimenting and having a blast!

 

I need some advice from the experienced photographers on here. We are taking the Triumph on June 15 from New York to St. John, NB and Halifax, NS. I'm expecting fog, and would love to take some special photos on foggy days. Do you have any advice about filters, lenses, aperture or shutter speed settings?

[francesam]

don't know about fog, we went to Halifax in early June, no fog but it was Freezing.:(Take some woolies

[ahoys]

Yes, I'm planning for all types of weather. I'm bringing a jacket that's warm and water repellent!

[pierces]

Fog, in general, doesn't require much in the way of exposure modification like snow or light sandy beaches do. It can actually make close-up photography of flowers and such better because of the soft directionless light. You can reduce some of the hazy effect with a UV filter, but the effect will be negligible with fog thicker than distance haze. I wouldn't bother. If the sun is covered, you may want to switch to "Cloudy" white-balance to give the scene a warmer look.

 

Your camera (all cameras) try to take all of the bright and dark areas of a scene and attempt to average the exposure to middle gray. That's why a scene of a sunset will often underexpose the foreground or over expose the sky, depending on where you point the camera. Most modern DSLRs have very sophisticated metering and determining exposure for a scene balanced out by fog is a walk in the park for them.

 

That said, it doesn't hurt to try a little creative control. You may want to bracket the shot by over-exposing one frame by a stop, shooting one normally and under-expose one to cover the bases. Both of your cameras offer auto-bracketing that will fire off a quick series of three shots adjusting the exposure automatically.

 

I shot this at +1, 0 and -1 stop. I kept the -1.

 

 

This one was taken at a normal exposure setting and warmed with "Cloudy" white-balance.

Not so much of a foggy shot, but I liked the way the light fog made the sea fade away.

 

 

BTW, good plan to shoot the foggy scenes. Too many people put away their cameras when it's cloudy, foggy or raining and miss some great hidden beauty.

 

Happy shooting!

 

Dave

[ahoys]

Thanks so much for the reply, Dave. We're looking forward to experimenting.

 

Kathy and Dave