Fog Photos: The best tips for nature shots

Taking photos in the fog is a challenge of its own. The following tips make great photos from nature.

Photography in the fog - so it'll work

• You can usually find fog near the water, in the evening and in the early morning. Position yourself so that you can work with backlight like the rising sun. This works best when you are close to a position from which the light source is directly visible. This way you can catch light rays and capture particularly interesting color effects caused by the fog. Tip: It's better to get up early and take pictures in the morning - the lighting conditions are more favorable.
• In fog, the contrast is greatly reduced, which makes focusing difficult. So look for a motif with staggered trees, street lamps, poles or other objects that are at different distances from you. This gives depth to the picture. Tip: A border object should be close to the camera. If the autofocus is still overwhelmed, simply deactivate it and focus manually.
• You should turn off the automatic exposure and the flash. Also set the exposure manually higher than the exposure meter specifies because it is confused by the light reflections of the fog. A half or full step plus prevents a dull gray cast.
• It is best to have a tripod with you. Otherwise, a solid base such as a wall is sufficient. The diffuse lighting conditions in fog require longer exposure times; there is a risk of blurring. Press the shutter release slowly and calmly. Experiment with the times. Because it shouldn't be too slow, otherwise the fog looks too dense and undefined.
• With faster photo series you document the wobbling movements of the fog, which can change quickly.
• Adjust the white balance manually. This enables you to achieve much more lifelike colors. You are also welcome to experiment here: white balance is a powerful tool that you can use to enhance your images.
• A hot tip is also to create bracketing series. To do this, place your camera on a tripod and take three pictures: one underexposed, one normal and one overexposed. You can then use Lightroom to combine these images, for example. This technique is called HDR - high dynamic range and increases the dynamic range of your pictures enormously. You can find out more at our HDR workshop.

Tip: take a picture of the blue hour

If you simply don't want to get good fog photos, you can add fog afterwards using Photoshop. If you have some practice in it, you will also get great fog photos. Although they are not suitable for a photo exhibition, they definitely do something on Facebook.