Shooting fog (mist) on film

[alex_iwonttell]

<p>It's 6 in the morning here and there's beautiful fog outside. Bummer I have a cold and have to sit tight. Otherwise I'd probably be out shooting... But most likely with a digital SLR.</p>

<p>I've never had much luck shooting fog on film. Granted, I'm not much into tripods, especially not in foggy mornings, when light and conditions change way too quickly. So I typically use faster films, such as Superia 400 and 800, which can be way too grainy especially when underexposed. On the other hand, contrasty films such as Velvia aren't that well suited for fog either, IMHO, though I haven't tried it that much. And I never had luck with BW films, with worst being C41 BW films such as Kodak CN, which really needs a contrasty scene, otherwise it looks like ass.</p>

<p>But maybe it's just my technique that's flawed... With film, I usually just use auto exposure (I guess I'll try bracketing some day), but it still seems to me that film just can't handle fog very well, whatever the result exposure is.</p>

<p>Or maybe my lab doesn't scan well? It's the best lab around with a new Noritsu machine, so I guess it doesn't get much better than that.</p>

<p>What are your experiences and techniques shooting fog on film? Film selection, metering methods?</p>

<p>Tips much appreciated.</p>

[bob_sunley]

<p>Fog does the same thing to your meter as snow, it creates underexposure. Try adding a stop or two more exposure. The amount depends on fog level, lighting, etc.</p>

<p> </p>

[adamjohnson]

<p id="yui_3_2_0_4_13117490475468841" >Fog has been a bit of a rarity for me because it usually means I've been awake all night. But each time I've encountered it I was quite pleased to have taken the time to capture it on film.</p>

<p >After shooting just about every film out there, it's Velvia RVP 50 that I prefer. Velvia is a tough film master, so you have to shoot quite a lot of it while paying attention to the process and results before you learn how it reacts to different lighting and color situations. Provia 100<em><em>F</em></em> on the other hand has similar colors; is much more forgiving in terms of latitude; and doesn't require exposure compensation.</p>

<p >If you're really concerned about exposure, I'd suggest you get yourself a gray card and learn the Zone System. If you can determine Zone 5 and expose it properly, everything else will fall into place as long as the shadows and highlights are not beyond what the film is capable of recording in terms of latitude. There are of course some exceptions, but you learn what to expect the more you shoot.</p>

<p >Warming Filters will also help a lot in low light situations. For light fog, an 81A is probably enough. If it's a thick, heavy fog and the sun cannot break through, then an 81B would probably be necessary.</p>

[luis_g]

<p>I second the above, but until you learn the subtleties of metering, follow Bob's advice and bracket in 1/3 stops from about +1 to +2. The 81B is also a good idea. Once you've gone through the efforts of being there, burning a few extra frames to make sure it's in the bag (and you will also have variants) is well worth your money and time. And bring the tripod.</p>

[alex_iwonttell]

<p>Just to dissipate some confusion, when I shoot fog, I usually expect lots of grey and darker areas. If i'd overexpose by a stop or two, wouldn't it be blown out too much? Maybe the film would handle it, but would it also scan well? It seems labs like to overblow the bright areas when scanning.</p>

<p>Attaching a quick and dirty sample from a DSLR.</p>

<p>Maybe my questions should have been targeted at night and low-light photography rather then fog.</p><div></div>

[steve m smith]

<blockquote>

<p>Just to dissipate some confusion, when I shoot fog, I usually expect lots of grey and darker areas. If i'd overexpose by a stop or two, wouldn't it be blown out too much?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>No because you're not actually over-exposing, you are exposing a stop or two more than the meter is telling you to.</p>

[User_502260]

<p>Last weekend the weather was very hot and humid in much of the Eastern U.S. Every time I took my camera out of an air conditioned buliding or car, my lens fogged up. I did not take any pictures until the fog cleared. A few weeks ago the same things happened and I inadvertently photographed some leaves with the fog effect.</p>

[roman_p]

<p>The picture that you posted basically related to low light/mist photography. Try Provia 400x. you can push up to 2 stops. You might get unexpectedly wonderful result. And yes, you have to make correction about +1.5 +0.5 stops. Especially when you have the bright street lights in your frame.</p>

[richard_john_edwards]

If shooting unblock and white lookout the shad owns and meter them accordingly to the zone system, I would look for

a zone 2 and set the exposure -3 then check where the highlights sit, if within the scene luminance range then snap

and develope normally, if they are a lot brighter expose for a bit longer and reduce your development time.

[josh_gilreath]

<p>Quite frankly I've never had any trouble photographing foggy scenes on film. My personal words of advice is to find a scene in which contrast is present. It's not "proper" to have a photograph without any contrast anyway. I was taught by my uncle who was a master in the traditional darkroom and his simple advice to me as far as contrast is concerned is that you want to see every shade of gray from black to white regardless of the scene. (This goes for photographing and printing). When I've photographed fog I've used a handheld meter and metered specifically for my subject and I've always had good results. I'll attach a sample photo that was made on Kodak's C-41 B&W film with a broken Minolta/Sekor 1000DTL in which you could barely see through the viewfinder and the 135mm lens on the camera caused the mirror to hang up (really a junker!). Long story short get a good meter reading on your subject! Good Luck!</p><div></div>

[alex_iwonttell]

<p>That's a nice photo josh. But I don't really think that every photo has to have very shade of gray. Also to me, fog inherently means low contrast as an actual intent. Not that it should be all gray, more like when shooting sky with clouds - there need to be contrasty detail in the clouds, but not necessarily the whole range from black to white. That's IMHO. For example, in your photo, I find the dark leaves on the left quite distracting. But the grey leaves in the middle are great.</p>

<p>But it's interesting how you managed to get such contrast from BW400CN. It's a great film, but I find it works well only in good sunlight. It can be worked with in PP, but that's not the point.</p>