↑

Posts Tagged ‘fog’

Personal, Photography, Travel | 0 comment

Compositions with Fog

Foggy trees make a minimal composition
Foggy trees make a minimal composition ©TimeLine Media
Foggy trees make a minimal composition ©TimeLine Media

Virginia

Fog can do a photographer a lot of favors. In our part of the world, it is not a common occurrence for us to have foggy days. So if you are looking to get images of familiar places in a new light, adding a bit of fog can be helpful. Sometimes I come upon a scene, and it is not immediately apparent where I should start. Compositions with fog gets me excited since there is a completely different feel right off the bat. I know from the beginning that I am going to get something out of the ordinary, so my creativity neurons start firing when I start looking through the camera.

Pier under a cover of fog ©TimeLine Media
Pier under a cover of fog ©TimeLine Media

Fog acts as a large light diffuser. If there is a sun above it cannot cut through the fog directly affecting your scene. It’s light is spread out across a larger area making the light cast more even. This is the reason why you see studio photographer using large boxes where they place their flashes. A larger light source will make the perceived light softer on your subjects. Fog will automatically do this for landscape scenes.

End of pier over a foggy river ©TimeLine Media
End of pier over a foggy river ©TimeLine Media

Having clear subjects in photos is also a challenge for me. Strong photographs usually have an undeniably clear main subject. With fog it can be easier to isolate a subject for your composition. Clouds in the sky can sometimes make my photos too busy – the fog took care of that problem for me! The stark emptiness adds to the mood while focusing the viewer to what ever is left in the scene. It can give a sense of melancholy, or foreboding, but it does achieve the goal of setting a mood.

Washington, DC

Foggy US Capitol Building and the Capitol Christmas tree ©TimeLine Media
Foggy US Capitol Building and the Capitol Christmas tree ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Personal, Photography, Technology, Travel | 0 comment

Black and White Challenge – Part 2

Nokesville, VA

To follow up from a post a few Fridays ago, I’m posting here more black and white photos I made specifically for the Facebook Black and White Challenge. Being that these were made over the holidays, we spent a lot of time with our family. The familiar surroundings sometimes makes it difficult to make new photos. The scenes are too familiar, and nuances that make for compelling images seem difficult to pick out. Sometimes, you just need to change your angle. Get higher, or get lower. That is usually my first go-to move! Here Dani, a little dachshund becomes much larger in the photo. I put my head and camera right on the ground. I took a series of photos as she sniffed around the grass. In a stroke of luck, she licked making her look like a lioness!

Dani-in-the-yard
Dani-in-the-yard

Moody Environments

In these other photos, the mood was really helped by a thick fog rolling in from the river. It was an unusually warm air day, but the water was still cold creating the foggy scene. You could almost feel the low ceiling when you were standing by the edge of the water. Not too much noise was cutting through their either – only lapping water and shore birds. This image of the tree branches cutting through the negative space of the cloudy background made me think of canvas paintings of a coastline. This is almost exactly how the photo was captured in camera:

Trees-through-the-fog
Trees-through-the-fog

The last took a little more work in Photoshop. I placed a neutral density (ND) filter in front of my wide angle lens. This filter does not change the color tone of the scene, it only makes it darker – like sunglasses for your camera! Putting the camera on a tripod, the ND filter allows you to lower the shutter speed which makes the moving water smooth into a blurry sheet at the bottom of the photo. To simplify the photo even more, I removed some string running across the pylons, and other piers that jutted into the left and right sides of the frame. It makes for a more minimalistic presentation that my eye likes much more than the original. Have a great weekend, readers!

Foggy-pier
Foggy-pier

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

Personal, Photography, Travel | 0 comment

Leavin’ On A Jetplane!

Flying West

It has been a while since I have taken a trip that needed a jetplane to get to the destination. This was a good occasion – an out of town wedding! The best part, is that I did not have any work to do for the wedding! It was another trip that did not have a work-related component attached. So, I went into the trip with a more relaxed approach. However, I still wanted to make some good photos. Especially since it is not every day that I get the chance to travel.

KC-135 on tarmac - ©TimeLine Media
KC-135 on tarmac – ©TimeLine Media

For the trip, I planned what gear to take that would let me take a range of photos without weighing me down too much. Paring down the gear list will also let me carry it onto planes without too much fuss. I brought my Fuji X100s which has a 35mm lens, and my iPhone. For the “big” camera, I brought my Nikon D800 with 3 lenses – a 14mm for a wide angle, a 50mm which is a small, normal, lens, and a 105mm macro lens that I could use as a telephoto or portrait lens.

Fog Over Chicago

747 and Willis Tower on approach to Chicago O'Hare airport - ©TimeLine Media
747 and Willis Tower on approach to Chicago O’Hare airport – ©TimeLine Media

The first plane we boarded was an almost factory-new Embraer 175. From the inside, the modern design was really evident with what seemed like a lot of headroom and legroom for a small regional jet. The first leg of the trip was supposed to be from Washington Reagan National Airport (DCA) to Chicago’s O’Hare airport (ORD). The E-175 and the crew provided a smooth flight to Chicago, but Mother Nature had a wrench into the landing plans. Due to the Polar Vortex that brought a lot of cold down from the Arctic, the Great Lakes stayed frozen for much longer than usual. With the warm air starting to arrive it created a lot of fog off the lakes. You can see from this photo, that there is a thick layer of fog closer to the ground. Chicago is usually one of the most beautiful cities to see from the air. With Lake Michigan taking up most of the view, and the tall towers, it is a great view from the plane. Not on this trip! Zooming in, you can just see the top of Willis Tower, the 2nd tallest building in the US.

747 and Willis Tower on approach to Chicago O'Hare airport - ©TimeLine Media
747 and Willis Tower on approach to Chicago O’Hare airport – ©TimeLine Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208