If you’re a fan of cinematic, dreamlike photos, don’t miss the opportunity to capture the enchanting atmosphere of a foggy night.
As photographers, we adapt to different weather conditions, and foggy weather holds a unique allure.
In cities like San Francisco and Porto, fog is a frequent occurrence. In Hong Kong, it happens a few times a year, and I always take advantage of the opportunity.
During the daytime in urban areas, buildings across the harbor are concealed in the fog. If you ascend to the mountains, the effect becomes more pronounced.
Nighttime scenes are enchanting. Streetlights cast radiant beams of light, and the hazy atmosphere complements silhouettes beautifully. It’s an effect that you don’t typically experience.
The gear and settings
I yearn for weather like this because it’s extreme and rare. In reality, if you know how to capture its beauty, the potential of “bad weather” is boundless.
You might be curious about the gear I used: a 24-70mm f/4 lens. That’s all—no tripod, no filter.
Interestingly, the fog enhances brightness compared to usual conditions. I either hang on or lean against the ground or a handrail to extend the shutter speed slightly, just under a second.
In low light situations like this, I took my time to manually focus with the help of focus peaking while waiting for subjects to walk in.
Regarding composition, I used the handrail and road marking as leading lines. So even with no people in the frame, the image still looks decent.
Silhouettes
Foggy night is also a perfect setting for capturing silhouettes.
Do you need a wide aperture for these shots? Not at all. f/4 is more than sufficient for sharp outlines of silhouettes.
Whether there is fog or not, the technique remains the same: position your subject between your camera and the light source. However, the challenge in fog lies in achieving sharp focus. The simplest method is to set the focus initially and then await the appearance of the subject. As long as they are at the same horizon and distance, the focus should remain accurate.
However, for the taxi and motorbike, I had to utilize continuous focus AF-C. Fortunately, they were not moving very quickly in these weather conditions, allowing me to track them down with steady hands.
Glowing light
The dense moisture in the air during foggy weather makes the light glow because the water droplets in the fog scatter and refract the light, creating a soft, diffused lighting effect.
So I captured the light beams radiating, which you don’t normally see. Endless beauty that looks like dreamy movie scenes.
I put my camera on the ground and used a slower shutter speed 1/30 so I can keep the ISO at 100.
All in all, I had a lot of fun shooting in the fog. I can’t include all the photos here, I might make a video on YouTube later. If you missed my other video “Bad Weather, Cool Photos”, click here to check it out.