The Humid Photographic Fog Effect
Letting Nature Add Special Effects To Your Images
It wasn’t on purpose. Out a few mornings ago, the light was just right. I wanted to add some images to my extensive “Amy’s Garden” portfolio, the portfolio I’ve been building for years of Amy’s garden. Flowers, plants, wildlife. The garden Amy has dedicated herself to cultivating for 13 years. I’ve been photographing it for 5 years now with plans on publishing a book of her nature efforts. The sun had risen just an hour before, I had the indirect light, and I grabbed my Nikon DSLR with Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens (click here for the Canon version of the lens) attached. To my surprise, the protective UV filter on my lens had fogged up immediately, the humidity that morning was in the mid-90’s!
Amy’s Garden, Nikon D80, Tamron 18-270 VR, F8, 1/400 Second, ISO 100
What the heck, I could barely make out the compositions in my viewfinder better yet get a sharp shot. I shot anyway, why not? The result I received for fogging up my gear was some pretty cool garden images of Amy’s flowers with a nice “natural filter” effect. I usually add effects in post-processing, this time, I let mother nature help me out for a more natural looking fog and glow effect to these images.
Amy’s Garden, Nikon D80, Tamron 18-270 VR, F8, 1/80 Second, ISO 100
Amy’s Garden, Nikon D80, Tamron 18-270 VR, F8, 1/125 Second, ISO 100
An Alternative: The Tiffen Pro Mist Filter Series of Filters
Photo's courtesy of Tiffen
Sometimes weather doesn’t cooperate, unless you live in the tropics, or even Florida when its so humid you can cut it with a knife. At any time of day or in any weather conditions, there are options. One is to have a special effects filter in yuour camera bag ready to go…
The Pro-Mist is a popular motion picture effect that creates a special “atmosphere” by softening excess sharpness and contrast. It generates a pearlescent halo around highlights. Lighter grades are useful in toning down the excessive sharpness and contrast of contemporary film and lens combinations. This Hollywood/FX filters was originally designed for the TV and Motion Picture industry, but is now available to all photographers and videographers.
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