The Fog

One of the most exciting times for me to photograph is when The Fog comes around.  No, I’m not talking about Karl the Fog (see twitter @karlthefog), I’m talking about real fog or heavy mist in and over the landscape.

The fog, mist or dramatic clouds provide some amazing dimension to an image and whenever there is a chance for an appearance, I jump for joy and head out to make some images.  See this previous post about just such a thing. Cool environmental conditions can provide some amazing depth and mystery to an image and they are an additional compositional element that you can use in your photographs.  Plus, the cool thing about them is that they are typically ever-changing…..they twist and turn and move on the wind to provide new perspectives on the other elements in your composition.

Fog in the trees is perhaps my favorite subject to shoot environmental conditions.  Above is a stand of trees in SW Washington.  I was headed to a destination to shoot Fall color when I saw this and just had to pull over and shoot until the fog dissipated.   Below was shot at the Oregon coast.  I saw that there would be foggy conditions in the coastal mountains so I headed out with no specific destination or agenda, just to see if I could capture the fog in the trees.

When shooting environmental conditions, there are a couple of thoughts or approaches I have towards it.  Sometimes I enjoy shooting the environmental conditions along with other subjects, in a broader context, such as the above.  The conditions provide an added dynamic variable to a known subject and that subject can take on new meaning or be seen in a different light or evoke a different mood, than if the fog wasn’t there.

Normally this location in Yellowstone National Park is vibrant and full of energy, the yellows and oranges of the rock are quite vibrant and along with the waterfall and rushing river, provide a lot of dynamics in this shot.  However, with a thick fog layer overhead, the mood and energy changes and this familiar scene takes on a whole new feeling.

Another very familiar scene at Oxbow Bend in Grand Teton National Park with Mt Moran in the distance.  Normally this is a beautiful sweeping landscape with majestic mountains.  However with fog and low clouds present, it is more subdued and quiet.  Not a “grand landscape” at all.  I’m still shooting the mountains and river as the subjects, but they take on a whole new context when they are partially hidden by the fog and clouds.

There are other times that I shoot environmental conditions as the subject itself, without other subjects involved.  Typically these shots are a bit more abstract, at least how I like to shoot them.  Below the mist is rising off the water as the golden sunlight comes in at an angle and the shadows of trees create interesting lines across the water.

Here is a similar shot but with a little more context.  Again, the subject is the light and mist rising off of the water. There is nothing special about the rest of the image really, it’s a nice scene but nothing to write home about.  Again, it’s shooting the environmental conditions as the subject, or main element of an image.

And the last example of this is when the fog or mist does something really cool, like the below shot from Grand Teton National Park in Winter.   We were shooting the mountains at sunrise and I happened to turn around and look at the meadow behind us off in the distance and saw this cool behavior in the fog.

The subject is not the landscape, its actually quite boring, just a meadow and some trees.  Its the behavior of the fog that is the subject and story of this shot.

Fog and mist can be used to enhance your shots and add a sense of mystery or depth to your images.  Embrace the fog!

The above shot is from Hayden Meadows in Yellowstone NP and believe it or not, this is during sunrise!  The fog was so thick we didn’t have any chance at a colorful sunrise and were initially disappointed until we saw what was happening out in the distance.  The stand of trees would appear and disappear as the fog moved through the valley.  We shot this scene for a good half hour and came away with some of my favorite images from this trip.  The sense of mystery, the large amount of negative space in the image, the subtlety of the colors and elements in the comp….all came together to be a very pleasing image to me.

In the above shot, I used the fog as a backdrop for the ice encrusted trees.  I wanted to highlight and isolate these trees and give the feeling of cold winter (which it was!).  The hillside behind the trees doesn’t add anything to the image and having the fog obscuring the hillside really helped me isolate the trees and show off the dark trunks and ice coated limbs.

Fog can also add to more urban or man-made types of shots.  Below, I was able to capture a light fog in Charleston Harbor as it settled around the small fishing fleet.  It adds a lot of mood and ambience to an otherwise un-inspiring shot.

And as we’re speaking about fog, let’s also talk a bit about clouds.  My view on clouds is simple….CLOUDS = DRAMA!   As much as I love clearer skies and colorful sunrises and sunsets, the presence of clouds always gets me excited and looking for new and interesting compositions.   As an example, here are two shots from Grand Teton National Park during Winter, when clouds are more common than not and some weeks we’re lucky to see the mountains at all.

Envisioning this shot, I wanted the clouds to play a prominent visual role in the image. Yes the mountains are the main subject, but the clouds and the drama is a close second.  It’s really the storm, the dark feeling, the enveloping nature of the clouds that make this shot work.  To accentuate the clouds and the interplay with the mountains, I put on my 100mm-400mm telephoto lens and zoomed in to just a small portion of the mountain range.

Similarly, below is another shot with my zoom lens and tele-extender to really get close and isolate just a portion of the mountain.  In this shot because it’s tighter and there is less mountain visible, the clouds are the main compositional element.  I shot several dozen frames of this scene as the mountain peeked through in different ways and I settled on the below image because the contrast of dark clouds and spot of light on the mountain was just right.

When you are shooting in the fog or clouds, also take time to envision how you want to process the image.  Often times I chose monochrome for my environmental shots, which adds to the drama.  The below shot was taken on the Olympic Peninsula on a stormy evening.  The “story” I wanted to tell was not necessarily just the ocean and driftwood, but it was the “stormy rugged coastline”.  The clouds in this scene provided fantastic drama and converting the image to monochrome accentuated that dark and stormy feeling.

I know many of you already know the value and benefit of great environmental conditions while shooting landscape and nature images.  If you don’t already, I would encourage you to explore the differentiation of whether the conditions are just an added bonus to your subject, or, if they can be shot as the main subject itself.   Shooting the fog as the main subject requires a bit of luck to be in the right place at the right time, and it typically involves stretching our creating muscles to shoot images that we might not normally shoot.  Experiment with the idea of just shooting the conditions and not the subject and you may be rewarded with some great shots, and I guarantee that you’ll grow your creative muscles by trying.