Three people told me that it was too foggy for photography when I took my camera out last week. However, I say it’s never too foggy for photography! I love the minimalistic look fog gives brings. How it desaturates the colours and reduces contrast changes the way our world looks.

Most of these are colour photos shot in the last fortnight. A couple of monochrome conversions lurk amongst them. Can you spot the difference? (Observant residents of Amble might also spot that four of the photos were shot in the wintertime a couple of years ago.)

Foggy Photography Equipment

When photographing in inclement weather, weather-sealed cameras and lenses are a must. The sealing on Olympus OM-D E-M5s and E-M1s are just one of the many reasons I choose that system. I never change my lenses outdoors when the weather is bad.

Remember to take a lens cloth. Wiping the lens dry is needed a lot in the fog. Keeping the lens cap on between shots also helps. Furthermore, avoid changing the lens while you are out. The last thing you want is water entering your camera’s internal workings.

Techniques for photographing in the fog

Fog is bright. Because of that brightness, the camera’s exposure meter compensates by automatically under-exposing. Therefore, if heading out into the fog, add a bit of positive exposure compensation as this brightens the image up.

Post processing foggy photos

Fog brings low contrast and saturation. Consequently, photos shot in the fog require a minimum of development. Don’t fight it by with heavy-handed contrast, clarity, structure, texture, dehaze or saturation adjustments in your raw development software. Instead, gentle adjustments bring out the best in your images.

I hope you found this post useful. If you did, please do comment below. Feel free to ask questions too and I’ll do my best to answer them.

You would be doing me a huge favour by sharing this post with your friends on your social media. Please tag me, @ivortog, if you do.

From 4th July 2020, my (socially distanced) one-to-one photography workshops start up again. But be quick to book, the first ten applications for 7-hour training get £20 off. Just enter the discount code UNLOCKED at the checkout. This offer ends on 18th July.

I know many are champing at the bit for stating training again and also for the first time. So, I look forward to seeing you.