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View Full Version : Camera setting for shooting fog (day or night)?



theantiquetiger
01-02-2015, 12:07 PM
Down here in South Louisiana, we don't have winter, we have fog because of the extreme temperature differences between night and day, and an abundance of water.

I want to go down to New Orleans one night/early morning and catch some foggy streets, etc, but everytime I shot fog, it just makes the image hazy, not looking like fog.

What should my camera settings be for this (ballpark numbers)? I am guessing a very small f/stop for a long exposure and low ISO to avoid the noise.

Any advice welcomed

Marko
01-02-2015, 12:19 PM
Fog is one of those ethereal things (like clouds) that might actually move during the exposure, so my shutter speed instinct would be the exact opposite of your guess and my minimum shutter speed might be something like 1/60 or 1/125. I'd let shutter speed dictate the subsequent aperture and ISO choices based on the existing light.

This is a great learning test for everyone though...so if you can shoot one faster - we'd love to see the comparison.
Hope that may help

theantiquetiger
01-02-2015, 01:24 PM
I'm on my phone, so I cannot see the settings, but here are two shots I did last winter, trying to shot fog

http://www.photography.ca/Forums/black-white-monochrome-monotone-photography-forum/21646-foggy-morning.html

Marko
01-02-2015, 01:49 PM
Both of those shots are 1/60 and shot 2 shows the fog well imo.
Shot 1 was too slow at 1/60 as I see the tree leaves moving so maybe the wind helped dissipate the fog a bit too much. (bit of a guess on my part..)

Maybe post the long exposure for comparison when you get a chance.
(I'll be on the lookout for my settings next time fog comes around, but I just checked a foggy series I did 7 years ago. 1/60 to 1/250 were the shutter speeds I used - fog came out well at those speeds under my not so windy conditions.)