Ah, Fog
I love a good, foggy morning. Don't you? I don't particularly like driving thru "pea soup" but when it comes to photography, few weather conditions can get me as excited as a good fog. We got a good deal of snow on Wednesday afternoon (about 2 1/2 inches) and then it turned to rain in the early evening; by morning it was an ugly slush more than anything. The conditions were perfect for fog and I knew exactly where I wanted to shoot, I just had to hope it didn't dissipate before I got there.
I headed straight for Durand Park in Freehold, a place I have been to many times before, in all types of weather. I have even shot there in the fog a time or two. I would normally head straight to the lake but this time I had a completely different part of the park in mind. The last time I was there I walked along a trail that runs more or less parallel to the road. This part of the park has quite a few small to medium sized trees of all types. I saw one in particular that I noted would make a good composition when the conditions were right - this was the time. The trail was slushy and my feet got wet soon after I started out - it isn't the first time I got wet feet and it won't be the last - but I was on a mission. I actually found a few other trees that looked good with the fog as a backdrop, some of which are shown here.
I walked around for about 30 minutes, looking at different trees from different angles and found that low-angle shots worked the best. I wasn't about to get down on my belly in the slush and I had left my tripod in the car (don't ask me why, I have no idea) so I flipped open the screen, turned it up and held the camera close to the ground. One of the features of the Canon Rebel EOS T3i is the flip-out Vari-angle 3.0-inch Clear View LCD monitor which allows me to hold the camera low (or high) and still see the composition.
After I walked around for a while and looked at every tree I decided to stop by the lake to see if the fog was giving anything interesting there. Sadly, by the time I got to the lake much of the fog had dissipated and there was nothing to see. I headed back to the car, got all of the slush and mud off of my shoes and headed to the office. I knew I had at least one or two solid images and couldn't wait until I was able to process them.
I did a preliminary edit of the smartphone image on my phone using Photoshop Express but knew it wasn't quite "there" yet. I uploaded to Photoshop and got it to where you see it now. This is the only smartphone image of the morning - the other three (3) shown here were made with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i and my Canon EF-S 18-135mm lens. The RAW images were edited in Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.
I am happy with these images but they have me craving for another foggy morning. While editing these (and some of the other images that didn't make the cut) I played with some compositions that I want to try. I also want to get there when the trees have leaves and at peak foliage. I found some interesting trees and other features in this section of the park that deserve some attention in the future. You wouldn't think there were a lot of opportunities in such a small area but you would be wrong.
I hope you enjoyed these images as much as I enjoyed making them and bringing them to you. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and tell me about your experiences shooting in fog. Until next time!
All photos are copyright Joseph S. Valencia All Rights Reserved They may not be used in any way without express written permission of the photographer. If you wish to use any of the photos you may contact the photographer at valencia32photo@gmail.com
I did a preliminary edit of the smartphone image on my phone using Photoshop Express but knew it wasn't quite "there" yet. I uploaded to Photoshop and got it to where you see it now. This is the only smartphone image of the morning - the other three (3) shown here were made with the Canon EOS Rebel T3i and my Canon EF-S 18-135mm lens. The RAW images were edited in Lightroom and finished in Photoshop.
I am happy with these images but they have me craving for another foggy morning. While editing these (and some of the other images that didn't make the cut) I played with some compositions that I want to try. I also want to get there when the trees have leaves and at peak foliage. I found some interesting trees and other features in this section of the park that deserve some attention in the future. You wouldn't think there were a lot of opportunities in such a small area but you would be wrong.
I hope you enjoyed these images as much as I enjoyed making them and bringing them to you. I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below and tell me about your experiences shooting in fog. Until next time!
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