Fog at eye level

[opus]

OK, I've got this shot looking out at heavy fog. Can I or should I try to lighten it up? I don't want to lose any more of the grey in the clouds, and I'd really rather not do selective retouching. I've already lightened some to bring the detail out in the plants below.

Am I able to make this photo pop under these lighting conditions? If so, please tell me how. I've got several more taken on this day and they all suffer from underexposure.

[opus]

Is this any better? I'm too close to it to think rationally about it anymore.

[Seb]

Is this any better? I'm too close to it to think rationally about it anymore.

Hello Kelly,

I think that the second picture is a remarkable improvement over the original one. Perhaps I am just way out but it seems to me that it is not necessarily that obvious if there is fog in the foreground or if the picture is poorly exposed (first one).

On the second picture, it is clear to me that there is significant fog at some distance while the foreground remain neat and visually appealing.

I have seen few shots with serious fog from the foreground to the background that looked magnificient but it seems to be really hard to achieve and I don't think that it suited that specific composition of yours.

regards

Seb

[Irish]

Is this any better? I'm too close to it to think rationally about it anymore.

Hi Kellybean - I have a sister nicknamed "Jellybean", any relation???????

I think the second image is marginally better than the first.

This is a difficult subject you have chosen to portray. In my opinion, to effectively portray the fog we have to see through it to some degree. In this case the "low cloud" is completely blocking our view and limits your effective image to the lower half of the frame. I am not sure what you can do to further retrieve the image??

[opus]

Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't think this image was worth anything compositionally. I used it as an extreme example of fog vs foreground just so I learn how to pull the detail out of the foreground without touching the mood that the fog creates.

The fog was thick that day but I've got some (what I think are) very neat shots of fog shrouding Hearst Castle. I want to get my color correcting technique down before I start on those shots. This one was just an example.