Just a reminder that there is only a week left to use the current discount on ad spots! Now through the end of February all Land of Marvels ad spots will be 25% off with code “landofmarvels” so head on over and get yours now!
As the last few months have been a bit crazy on our end, Nick’s monthly photography posts just kept getting pushed back but back due to a million things happening in our day to day lives, but he’s back today to share more of his travel photography tips as we continue this popular series!
Most of you are aware by now that the majority of the photos on these pages are taken by my husband Nick who has a wonderful eye for creating lovely images. And in this monthly series, Nick offers his tips and tricks that we’ve picked up over the years through our travels. From some of his favorite lenses to travel with to how he gets the shots he does and so much more, welcome to next installment of Travel {Photography} Tips!
Throughout my travels, I’ve learned you can’t count on the weather being good. Not too long ago I was in Hawaii visiting family and had planned on having some time for early morning sunrise photos. A week before the trip there were hurricane warnings issued for the Islands, which put a damper on the whole sunrise/sunset tropical paradise photo plan. This isn’t the first time Mother Nature has decided to test me when I’ve got my camera out so here are a few tips I’ve picked up to help make taking photos in bad weather a little easier.
1. Keep some kind of rain protector for your camera.
Your camera is a piece of a pretty sophisticated electronics and unfortunately, electronics don’t like water very much. Some cameras have more weather protection and sealing than others. My professional level camera (Canon 5D Mark II) has decent weather protection and therefore I don’t worry unless it’s really stormy and wet outside. A lot of time, I’ll just throw a small towel on the top of my camera just to block the drops and call it good.
Though if it’s really stormy or your camera doesn’t have very good weather sealing (like the majority of the under $1000 cameras out there) and you don’t want to keep shooting, I recommend having some kind of plastic bag or sleeve with you to throw your camera in and protect it from the elements. Sleeves like these are inexpensive and after I use them, I just throw them away. If you don’t want to spend the money on a dedicated sleeve, or forgot them at home, in a pinch I’ve taken ziplock bags and cut a hold in them for my lens to pop out of and used a rubber band to hold it in place. Both this and the rain sleeve can fold up pretty small and store easily in your camera bag, purse, or backpack.
2. Keep your batteries warm in the cold weather.
Batteries die faster in the cold, so whenever I am going to shoot in a place that is really cold, I try to find ways to keep my spare batteries warm and fully charged. Usually I’ll keep the spares in my inside jacket pocket and use my body heat to keep them warm. I will occasionally throw a hand warmer in the same pocket as the batters as an additional source of heat. It’s always a good idea to have a couple spare batteries, in case they do die. You can pick them up for cheap on Amazon from third party vendors, just make sure to read the reviews first.
3. Avoid bringing your cold camera into a warm environment.
If you’re outside shooting in the cold and you bring your camera into a warm environment too fast, there is the possibility of the sudden heat change causing condensation to form on the outside of your camera. This causes your camera lens and LCD to fog up and water droplets to form on the outside of the body. Fog on your lens is a pain because you can’t really shoot any photos until it clears….not to mention the water condensation is bad for your electronics. This is another use for those ziplock bags I mentioned above: before you go into a warm environment, throw your camera into the bag and seal it up. The condensation will them form on the outside of the bag and not your camera itself. Once the camera warms up a little, you can pull it out and take more pictures. If you don’t have a ziplock bag, I recommend putting your camera into your camera bag and zipping it up and not opening it until it heats up a bit. It doesn’t protect it as well as a sealed bag but it will be better than nothing. If your camera does fog up, make sure to give it a good wipe down with a cloth of some kind, because you don’t want water and moisture just sitting on your lens and camera body.
4. Dress for the weather.
This is pretty common sense but dress appropriately for the weather. A lot of my favorite photos were taken in stormy, moody conditions and if you’re cold or wet and uncomfortable, you’re not going to want to stay out and take photos. You will either be miserable and shoot bad photos or have to go seek shelter and possibly miss something special with your camera. Again, this should be common sense but I’m always amazed at home many people I see out and about in the middle of Winter in flip-flops and short sleeve shirts.
Jennifer @This Off Script Life says
I was just in the Swiss Alps and #3 happened to me. And I had no idea about #2. Thanks for the great tips!
Casey says
Oh yea… the Swiss Alps would for sure do that!!! 🙂