Some days, photography is hard work. On others, the light and weather are truly magical and images present themselves so frequently you can hardly keep up.
One day last year I was lucky to have a free day when really heavy fog covered Dorset and Wiltshire. Photographs of foggy scenes sometimes seem a bit disappointing – there’s never as much fog in the shot as you saw (or at least percieved there to be) and the results aren’t quite what you wanted. However this day was very foggy, lit by some weak sunshine which made all the difference as it filtered through the gloom and gave an eerie diffuse light.
Heading (slowly) up onto the downland with a Canon 60D and the 15-85mm standard zoom, opportunities were everywhere. These are some of the best ones divided into two post processing categories. All shot in raw (as always) and converted with Canon software.
Lightly Processed
These didn’t need much processing – just a light colour tint on the last two to give them a slight lift.
This was just a desaturation in the raw converter – any further processing made it worse.
The green tint here made this shot, as well as the header image look just a bit more atmospheric (OK gloomy if you prefer).
This looks tinted but just needed a little tweak – the light had gone more orange by this time, so nature was working on my side.
What I really like about these is that they evoke the day itself – the chilly silence, broken only by condensation dripping off leaves.
More Heavily Processed
These were given a more ‘gothic’ feel – a photoshop layer or two and a run through DXO filmpack (I’ll cover this in another post).
To shoot stock for book covers you need to keep in mind that a cover designer must place some text on the image, so leave ‘copy space’. This isn’t what you’d do with traditional photography where the instinct is to ‘fill the frame’ with the subject.
Same on this one – the layering was to give the shot a dark, old fashioned look.
This is one of those ‘I don’t know why I like it’ shots. Maybe a cover designer could make something of it!
Hopefully you’ll like them and might be inspired to get out there next time it’s foggy.
28mmf2 
There have been several mornings when I’ve considered calling in sick because a thick marine layer (what we call fog in Seattle) was creeping over the city. Your photos are splendid and eerie, it definitely caught my eye.
Pleased you liked them! It was an rare day for this part of the world, so I thought myself pretty lucky.
I really like the atnosphere of your shots. I’ve been meaning to get out and shoot in fog but seemed to put it off for one reason or other. Seeing your shots I think I need to just go find some fog and shoot.
Thanks for comment – looking forward to seeing the shots!
Wonderful mood here, beautiful capture!
Thank you for visiting my blog! 🙂
Beautiful shots! I really like the atmosphere.
Thanks! Really like the old photography techniques you’re using – lovely work.