Shooting in Fog

Something that's always interested me is filming in Fog. I don't know if you've ever been lucky enough to have your camera with you when this weather pattern comes around, but it's amazing.

The first time I had to film in fog was when I was in school filming a final project. I had the DVX100 and was walking to the bus stop from the college when I realized what was in front of me. The density, the way the light streaked from the street lamps, it was awesome! I filmed several shots of the empty street from many interesting angels and guess what? It was the opening scene to my moody futuristic sci-fi short. Hah! And the music I used at the time gave it an edgy espionage feel too!

BUT... one thing i was disappointed with was how much the DVX100 was capturing, there was a lot more fog than it showed.. the footage came out amazing, but it could have been even more amazing.

So, has anyone perfected this endeavor? What's your technique? I can't wait to see what the BMCC EF I have now, will do in such a scenario with it's high dynamic range.

(also.. regarding shooting stills in fog: http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutori ... graphy.htm)

BUT... one thing i was disappointed with was how much the DVX100 was capturing, there was a lot more fog than it showed.

Just guessing here, but i think an IR filter could help. As far as my physics go i think that fog doesn't dispers IR light as much as "visual" light, so IR components could boost contrast and add contour where the eye doesn't see. I might be totally wrong here, but give it a try, next time you are in london...

Or you boost shadows in post a bit so that you do not have so much contrast overall.

We use hazer a lot when shooting some stuff and it is relatively simple to kill the effect in post.

I bet it is possible to go to the other direction also.

Fog as well as smoke benefit from being backlit in relation to the camera's position.

And I agree with you, shooting fog - especially the real deal - can evoke such an emotional feel.

Good idea about the back-light! I've never played with an IR filter so not sure what that would do, but I'll give it a look too.

There is a Davinci Resolve demo here, that uses a fog machine and creates a nice look, they were using some back-lighting to highlight it..