Tag: weather

5 Tips for Photographing in the Heat

Posted on March 20, 2017 by Jennifer Berube

Sometimes weather doesn’t agree with our camera gear. The heat and the cold, the wet and the dry, can always wreak havoc on cameras. They are, after all, electronic equipment. So then what do you do when you need to photograph in the extreme heat? Maybe it’s a really hot summer day. Maybe you’ve got an assignment to shoot in the jungle or the desert. Either way, you need to keep your gear working even in extreme heat conditions. Here are some tips that will help you protect your equipment as your work.

1. Find Some Shade

One of the easiest ways to keep your camera safe is to shoot from the shade. Finding a tree or building that will cast a large enough shadow is the first step you should take. The shade will help keep both the air and your camera cooler. The less heat that’s on your camera, the better it is overall.

Of course, shade doesn’t always play with your artistic vision. If you need to step out while you’re taking your picture, that’s okay. Just be sure to return to your shady refuge in-between shots.

2. Cover Your Gear

Even if you have a shady spot, you need to cover your gear when not directly shooting. Your camera, mostly made out of some kind of metal, easily absorbs the heat from the sun. By being in the shade, you greatly reduce the heat your camera absorbs. However, if your environment doesn’t contain any shade you’ll need some other way to protect your equipment. The next best way to protect your camera is to cover it.

A simple cloth will do, preferably one that is darker in color. It’s a good idea to cover your gear even if it’s already in the shade, every bit helps.

3. Remember Gradual Change

If you’ve got a climate controlled home or hotel you’re keeping your camera in, you don’t want to just suddenly take it out into the heat. A sudden change in temperature can shock your equipment just as it can shock your body. The best way to control the temperature change is to use an insulated camera bag. Place all of your gear into your bag and then take it outside. Set your bag down, preferably in the shade if you can, and let it sit for a while. The insulation in the bag will slow the speed at which your camera heats up. After a while, your equipment will be the temperature of the air and you can safely remove it from its case.

4. Keep it Dry

One of the most damaging things to your camera is water. However, the threat of liquid doesn’t just come from rivers and other bodies of water. Sweat and condensation are just as big of an issue, especially in the hot weather. Your lens can quickly fog up in the heat. The sweat from your face can easily get onto your camera. And any amount of liquid will mess with your gear and might even break your camera. Keep a lens cloth with you to keep your equipment dry.

To prevent sweat, wear an athletic headband or hat and be sure to bring a towel with you to dry off. Being in the shade will greatly reduce your own sweat content. Keeping yourself cool is as important for your equipment as it is for your comfort.

5. Avoid the Car

Using your car to get around from place to place is very convenient. If you’re running errands before or after a photo shoot in the heat, you want to avoid leaving your camera in your car. Without the air on, cars become exceptionally hot in the heat, more so than simply being outside in direct sunlight. Because the glass traps the heat inside, the car can be the most dangerous place for your camera and its gear. If you’re going to leave your car for any reason, even if it’s something short and simple, take your camera with you. Leaving your camera alone in the car for any amount of time can prove disastrous to your equipment. Keeping your camera in an insulated bag and taking it with you will greatly reduce the hard done to your gear.

The best way to keep your camera protected is to avoid extreme temperature conditions. Of course, this can’t always be the case. If you need to do a photo shoot in the heat, you need to prepare to keep your camera safe. By using an insulated bag you can control how fast your camera heats up. By keeping your camera out of direct sunlight, either in the shade or by covering it with a cloth, you can reduce the amount of direct heat your camera absorbs. And by keeping yourself and your camera dry, you can ensure a safe and harmless shoot for your equipment.

Winter Photography: Part One – Gear And Weather

Posted on July 29, 2016 by Dzvonko Petrovski

Photographing during winter periods is quite challenging. Every aspect of the photography workflow gets slightly more difficult, and when you add everything up it ends up being significantly harder. However, if you are like me, harder equals better. Even if I produce the best pictures without much hassle, they don’t hold the same value to me as pictures for which I’d have to work for. Winter shots are almost always hard shots.

But first and foremost, before venturing into the sub zero degrees you should know some stuff about your gear. You don’t want to end up with damaged or broken gear due to the elements.

Taking Care Of Your Gear

Temperature

The working temperature of most electronics ranges from 0 to 40 degrees Celsius. This means that when you are above or below those values you risk damaging your gear. When you are above, there are risks, but they aren’t that big because the only issue is overheating. However, when you go below 0 degrees Celsius, you risk several things: freezing, condensation, materials becoming brittle and easily broken, and so forth. Thus, you’ll have to protect your gear from the temperature as much as you can.

Acclimatization

When going out from a warm room to the freezing winter, don’t bring out the camera straight out of the bag. Instead open the zipper slightly and give it some time to acclimate. Usually, 10-15 minutes should do it. The same goes for the reverse – when heading back into warm areas, don’t open the bag just yet. Allow for 10-15 minutes so the gear can acclimate. In case there is condensation visible (in the lens, viewfinder and so forth), remove the battery, dismount the lens, put the lens cap and lens mount cap on the camera, and hope for the best. Do not, under any circumstances, power the camera back on until it is completely dry. You don’t want to short anything out.

Battery

The batteries don’t like cold weather. In fact, the colder they get, the more charge they lose. There is nothing you can do about this, except keep spare batteries warm. Keeping them in the inside pocket of your photographer vest, or in an insulated pouch of the bag should do. Also, avoid charging the batteries in rooms that are really cold.

Keep It Working

Cameras produce heat. That heat will keep the insides of the camera from freezing over. Therefore shoot more, in order to produce heat from the camera to keep it healthy. It is also good for the gears in your shutter mechanism: the friction they produce will keep them warm enough so they don’t become brittle and break.

Sweater Weather

There are many products on the market that will protect your camera from rain and snow. Some are better than others, but most of them do the job. Yes, the camera can be weather sealed, and the lens can be weather sealed, but there is no guarantee that it will be enough. Some lenses are partially sealed, others are completely sealed. You wouldn’t want to risk it now, would you?

Environment

If you are up in the mountains in the winter, snow and everything, I don’t have to stress the point that you should keep yourself safe first. Do your homework, research the area, ask around, and inform yourself if it is safe to venture there in the first place.

Length Of Day

The day during winter is significantly shorter. The Sun rises later in the day, and it sets quite earlier. Use tools like “The Photographer’s Ephemeris” or weather applications to know when the Sun rises and sets, in order to be able to plan your activities accordingly. Bear in mind that Golden and Blue Hours last quite shorter in the winter.

Eiswälder — Photo by Olli Henze, on Flickr.

Having that in mind, it is wise to scout beforehand and get familiar with your locations, and in doing so be more efficient – you will be able to take more shots during the shorter period of nice light available.

Weather

Winter weather can be quite dull, and it can change quite quickly. Thus, make sure that you avoid overcast weather during winter for most of the photography since it is just gray on gray, and it doesn’t provide contrast nor point of interest.

However, that weather is perfect for high-key portraiture. The snow will act as a reflective surface for fill light, and the light will be soft and envelop the subject quite nicely.

Snow

is basically water. It is funny that most of the time we perceive snow as a different matter – we don’t bring umbrellas when it starts snowing, because, well it is snow, it is fun! That is true, snow is almost always fun, except for your gear. Your gear hates snow. The snowflakes turn to water, and water and electronics are never a good combo. However, if your gear is protected while it is snowing, you can take some excellent shots. It will provide a great atmospheric and foreground element. Just make sure that the shutter speed is not too fast so you end up with dots, instead of nice soft streaks.

Summary

The biggest challenge during winter is predicting the weather and protecting the gear, and that is what was this article focused on. However, in the second part of this article, we will tackle the challenge of shooting in certain scenarios in winter, some tips and tricks for better shots and so forth. Remember, winter can be harsh on your gear – you can get it damaged quite faster than you expected, therefore it is imperative that you’re extremely careful with it. Stay safe, and stay tuned for the second part.

Things I’ve Learned About Travel Photography The Hard Way

Posted on July 23, 2016 by Dzvonko Petrovski

Travel photography is almost always fun. You get to travel, visit new places, experience new cultures, meet new people, and on top of that take great photographs that will probably earn you some keep. Now, travel photography is a tad more complicated than regular photography, since you are on the road. That means you are facing new territory, far from home, and you need to be prepared in order to avoid failures.

Among all the things that can go wrong, and will definitely go wrong for that matter (because of Murphy’s Quantum Law: “Anything that can, could have, or will go wrong, is going wrong, all at once”) there are a few that you should be the most aware of, and if you are, you can do something about it.

Always Check The Weather

Having bad weather for your whole trip isn’t fun. I mean, yes, we are photographers and probably will figure something out. However, why improvise in bad weather, when you can plan the trip when the weather is good. Weather forecasts nowadays provide insight quite far ahead. Of course, the further you go ahead, the less accurate the forecast becomes… but then again you can plan the trip without fixed dates 6 months in advance, and so be able to adjust for the weather.

Photo by Dzvonko Petrovski.

There are many weather forecast services. Therefore, it is best to check at least several of them and derive an average. Make sure that the services you are using aren’t pulling their data from the same source.

Additionally, if you think that you’ll need 3 days to complete your preferred goal abroad, add a day or two to spare, in case the weather takes a turn for the worst.

Always Have The Local Public Transport Schedules

If you aren’t traveling by car, or if you aren’t renting a car at your destination, you’ll have to use public transport for destinations that are too far away to be walked to. However, some places have weird schedules for the local public transport, and it can be a bummer if you miss the last bus (or the only bus for that matter, as is in Esino Lario per se). This means you’ll either have to walk copious distances or pay a cab fare which can cost you a leg and an arm, especially in European countries.

London Buses — Photo by oatsy40 on Flickr.

You can probably find the schedules printed out on most of the bus stops, or you can find them online. Anyhow, take a photo of the schedule (or a screencap) and keep it with you at all times. You’ll find it handy more than you think.

Get A Decent Sized Power Bank And USB Chargers For Your Camera

Powerbanks are lifesavers like no other. I usually have one 10 000 mAh power bank with me, and it keeps my phone topped off for around 4 charges. However, recently I’ve realized that I can use power banks to charge my camera batteries as well. All one needs is a USB charger for the batteries. Quite cool right? By applying some logic, having 2 x 16 000 mah power banks, and having two chargers for them (regular 2 amp android chargers), can allow you to charge your phone/tablet on one bank, and have around 10 camera batteries charged on the other power bank. This means that even if you take a ridiculous amount of photos daily (per se, time-lapse shooting) you’ll still be able to charge the spare batteries on the go.

Do Scouting First

I know, obviously, you can’t go beforehand and scout every area, however: there is Google Maps, photographs of the place, shots from other photographers, posts from bloggers, and many more resources on your disposal. Getting to know the place better before you go there means that you won’t loose time looking for cool things to shoot while you are there. So always be prepared beforehand. Look for insight on places like Couchsurfing, or search Flickr, 500px, or even Google Images for images with certain geo locations. The internet is filled with people and resources that can provide enough insight for you to plan your trip accordingly.

Summary

Traveling is fun, traveling is educational, and traveling improves a person on a whole different level. However, traveling can turn into a huge pain in the neck if you aren’t prepared for it. Improvising on the spot can sometimes save you from sticky situations, but why risk it when you can think ahead? It doesn’t take much to ruin your day, but it doesn’t take much to be smart about it and prevent bad stuff from happening in the first place.