Polar Bear Photography Guide by Natural Habitat Adventures

Polar Bear Photography Guide

Polar Bear Photography Guide © Eric Rock

Photographing polar bears in the wilds of their Arctic home is one of the pinnacles of any wildlife photographer’s life. Polar bears are so much more than just big, beautiful bears—they are a symbol of conservation and our fight against climate change. They are evidence that a remote Arctic outpost can coexist with polar bears and turn their very presence into a conservation travel movement. And they are, of course, the epitome of power, grace, prowess and rarity in the animal world. Whether you’re already planning a trip to see and photograph polar bears in their natural habitat or simply wish to hone your camera skills to one day live out this extraordinary experience, this guide is for you.

Inside, You’ll Learn: • Everything you need to know to ensure you return from the Arctic with wallworthy photos of these stunning creatures • What gear to pack • Shutter speed and lighting considerations • Pro tips on how to compose the perfect polar bear shot

We’ve developed this comprehensive Polar Bear Photography Guide for photographers of all abilities and experience levels.

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Contents 4 C HAPTER 1

Lighting and Exposure Considerations

14 C HAPTER 2

Creative Composition

Author: Court Whelan, PhD Spending much of his youth outdoors fostering a strong love and appreciation

22 C HAPTER 3

A Range of Shutter Speeds

for wildlife, Court got his bachelor’s, master’s and PhD degrees in conservation biology, entomology, and ecotourism. Today, Court continues to guide the

28 C HAPTER 4

Different Styles of Polar Bear Photography

world’s best nature expeditions with Natural Habitat Adventures and World Wildlife Fund, while also leading Nat Hab’s sustainability efforts, elevating it to become one of the most sustainable and eco-conscious travel enterprises in the world. From ensuring complete carbon neutrality to guiding the world’s first zero

36 C HAPTER 5

revent Camera Fog in P Cold Environments

42 C HAPTER 6

What’s in My Camera Bag?

waste adventure, saving the world via travel is at the center of Court’s career, as well as day-to-day purview. He is also a professional nature and wildlife photographer, continuing to guide photo expeditions across the globe. With a preference for bold, dramatic colors, and highlighting wildlife in their natural habitat, Court thrives on capturing the extraordinary. The only thing he enjoys more than taking these photos is teaching his techniques to others in order to perpetuate, preserve and protect nature’s beauty for all to enjoy.

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CH A P T E R 1

LIGHTING AND EXPOSURE CONSIDERATIONS nathab.com/polarbears • 800-543-8917

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1 • LIGHTING AND EXPOSURE CONSIDERATIONS

Let’s start at the beginning here. Exposure is just a fancy way of referencing the lighting of a scene. For instance, if you overexpose, it means that your scene has too much light and is too bright. An underexposure is just the opposite—your scene is too dark.

In today’s world, we can use Photoshop, iPhoto, Lightroom and other programs to make small adjustments to the exposure. However, it is always best to get exposure correct in-camera, instead of relying on computer programs.

No matter your editing proficiency, it is always best to get exposure correct in-camera.

In general, I recommend keeping your exposure meter at zero most of the time. This way, the camera evaluates how light or dark it thinks your photo should be and sets aperture, ISO and/or shutter speed accordingly. Cameras are getting better and better at this, but even the best sometimes don’t evaluate the scene appropriately. Incorrect exposure is an especially common problem when photographing polar bears in bright or snowy conditions. The camera thinks there is too much white in the scene, because there’s a big white bear in a field of bright white snow, and thus darkens the photo. The result? You get an image of a gray, dusky bear—not the brilliant ivorywhite bear you see in front of you!

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The solution? You may need to over expose your photo to tell the camera, “Hey, I want this photo to be “too” bright… it’s okay if you disagree.”

Figure 1

Figure 1 shows what an exposure meter looks like in your camera’s menu. The way to make this adjustment is to first ensure your camera is not on full-auto. (Pro tip: If you’re currently shooting on full-auto, try P mode instead, which is basically the same, but allows you to adjust exposure.) Next, find the small exposure icon (figure 2) and increase your exposure to the + side by one or two notches. Most cameras require you to push the +/- button and dial the back wheel clockwise to increase exposure. However, it may be best to quickly look up how to adjust exposure for your camera’s make and model (figure 3). YouTube is a great resource here! I generally will overexpose my polar bear photos by anywhere from 1/3 to 1 full stop. Each “notch” on the exposure meter is 1/3rd of a stop. The result is a nicely exposed, ivory-white polar bear, even if conditions are bright or there’s a lot of snow (figure 4).

Figure 2

Figure 3

Common Exposure Compensation Controls

Canon

Nikon

Fuji

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Figure 4

I generally will overexpose my polar bear photos by anywhere from 1/3 to 1 full stop. The result is a nicely exposed, ivory-white polar bear, even if conditions are bright or there’s a lot of snow.

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Figure 5

Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting Let’s face it: the environment in which polar bears thrive, the Arctic tundra, can look like a bleak place. It’s somewhat of a desert, in fact. However, with the proper guidance and imagination, these types of landscapes can be works of art. They lend themselves very well to the dramatic—dramatic lighting and dramatic coloration. Mix that with the fact that Churchill’s tundra is home to an extraordinary number of Polar Bears each fall, and you’ve got the ingredients for astounding wildlife and landscape photography (figure 5).

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Your main toolkit items here are a) exposure compensation and b) white balance.

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Figure 6

Exposure Compensation It’s tricky to do this in-camera, as you can only review your results on a rather small screen. However, deliberately experimenting with exposure in the field will give you the highest quality photos, rather than relying solely on post-processing editing. As an example, say you’re in Churchill and have a gloriously dramatic scene in front of you—a stretching, barren, Arctic desert. Try two shots you may not normally take: one photo underexposed by two full stops and one photo overexposed by two full stops.

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1. Increasing or decreasing by two full stops creates a dramatic change in lighting, and no doubt you’ll see the effects on your screen, no matter how small the display. Review your photos, and chances are if a dramatic change in lighting yields positive results, it’ll be one or the other… either over or under exposing. Usually not both. 2. Next, try taking another photo, this time further exaggerating the effects of the photo you liked (either the under- or overexposed shot). Go three or four stops in the direction of your choice.

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Although this might result in “wasted time,” two out of three attempts you’ll find a surprising number of times this actually creates a wild effect that is just gorgeous. What the camera perceives as “too dark” might be just right, as you can tell from this picturesque scene in figure 6.

Deliberately experimenting with exposure in-camera, in the field, will give you the highest quality photos, rather than relying solely on post-processing editing.

White Balance The other toolkit item is your white balance. Notice how in figures 5 and 6 there are drastic warm and cool colors in each of them? The first shot of the polar bear walking away is very warm (yellow) and the figure 6 shot of the three polar bears is very cool (blue). This has to do with the white balance spectrum, and you can control it in your camera by dialing in a cool white balance (daylight white balance) or a warm white balance (cloudy white balance).

However, you can be equally rewarded in many of Churchill’s arctic landscapes with the warm tone of a cloudy white balance, as you can see from the stand of spruce trees in figure 9. In figure 9, with the proper white balance, the camera helps capture and emphasize the golden light as the sun lingers in the clouds before nightfall.

You can also change this after the fact in Lightroom using the white balance slider, as shown in figure 7. As another example, see how figure 8 has a soft blue hue to it? I love emphasizing blue tones in polar bear photos, as it makes both the bears and their environment look a bit “icy,” which seems appropriate.

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Figure 7

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Figure 8

Figure 9

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Final Thoughts on Exposure and White Balance Polar bear photography requires special considerations in terms of lighting. On one hand, you need to compensate your exposure to accurately represent the bears’ lovely white fur. On the other hand, you may wish to get creative with your photography and use your camera’s white balance and exposure meters to add brilliance to the landscape. These tools and techniques stretch back to the early days of film photography, when warming and cooling filters were key parts of your Arctic camera kit, and dodging and burning were essential techniques in the darkroom. Now, these creative controls are at your fingertips both incamera and through post-processing software, and Churchill’s polar bears are the perfect subjects to practice and perfect your photographic and artistic vision.

QUICK RECAP Understanding underexposure and overexposure allows you to get better lighting incamera rather than relying on postprocessing.

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When photographing polar bears, overexposing the photos compensates for the camera’s tendency to darken snowy and white scenes.

Get creative with exposure and white balance in order to create dramatic and artistic effects in polar bear photography.

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Figure 10

CH A P T E R 2

CREATIVE COMPOSITION nathab.com/polarbears • 800-543-8917

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2 • CREATIVE COMPOSITION

Composition is one of the most critical elements to great photography. Whether you’re photographing polar bears, Arctic landscapes, the streets of Churchill or museum exhibits, the better your composition, the better your photo. We put these tips together specifically to help you compose your polar bear and Arctic landscape photos, but they could easily translate to photographing lions in Africa, penguins and sea lions in the Galapagos, or your own kids on family vacations!

Photographing the Entire Scene The first question to ask yourself when composing a photo is “what is in my scene?”. Today, with our amazing telephoto capabilities, it’s tempting to use our telephoto zoom power to “fill the frame” with polar bears—and maybe not even the entire bear, but just the face. That is, getting “the big shot” like in the previous photo, figure 10. These are, of course, spectacular shots, and they’ll create some of the big “wow” moments of your album as you reflect on your adventure and perhaps show your images to friends and family.

Resist the urge to delete! The reason this is so important is that we are rarely satisfied with these types of “wide,” landscapeheavy photos when reviewing them on the camera’s digital display.

However, I want to take this opportunity to remind you to zoom out now and then to ensure you are capturing the entire scene when special wildlife moments present

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Figure 11

themselves. When you have a truly magical encounter with a polar bear, remember to deliberately zoom all the way out, so that you also get plenty of photos showcasing the polar bear in its habitat. These images will tell the full story of your Arctic adventure and put the bear into context, as shown in figure 11. This recommendation also comes with a warning: resist the urge to delete! The reason this is so important is that we are rarely satisfied with these types of “wide,”

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landscape-heavy photos when reviewing them on the camera’s digital display. In such a small image, the bear will likely appear as only a small dot on the screen. And I get it— how can you be enamored with an animal if you can barely see it? Well, after years and years of photographing polar bears, trust me—some of the best photos are those where you see the entire scene, but this won’t be apparent until you’re able to view them on a full-size computer screen.

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Following the Rule of Thirds This is perhaps the single quickest way to elevate your photography. Simply follow the rule of thirds and watch how much better your photos become! If you haven’t heard of this rule before (or haven’t read up on it for a while), it’s worth a few minutes on our online Composition page for the full explanation. However, in short, the rule of thirds breaks your scene into three sections top to bottom and three sections left to right—like a tic-tac-toe grid (figure 12).

Figure 12

Your mission is to use elements of the landscape to divide your scene into thirds. Sometimes you can do this vertically and sometimes horizontally. Not every scene has components that can be broken down by thirds both horizontally and vertically, so I usually suggest to begin by putting strong lines (e.g., the horizon) at those thirds. Then, if you see a dominant change in, say, vegetation, put that transition line on a third, too. Take a look at figure 13 and visualize how you’d break this scene into thirds. It’s up to you what parts of the scene you put where. The rule of thirds doesn’t say that the horizon should always be at the upper third or lower third—simply, it just should be at one of the thirds. Now let’s see how a ruleof-thirds grid would fit over this image (figure 13).

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Figure 14

If you’re feeling confident about this general concept, try going one step further and use the four intersections to place your subject. For instance, rather than putting the polar bear in the center of the frame, try offsetting and positioning it where one set of the horizontal and vertical lines meet. See how in figure 14 the bear is precisely in the bottom right intersection? And if the bear is looking either left or right, be sure to leave the open space of the frame in that direction (to the left, in figures 13 and 14).

Exaggerating Composition Rules are meant to be broken, so while I always advocate that you start with the rule of thirds, there are times that I deliberately break it. I mainly do so when exaggerating composition to showcase a grandiose scene. Take figure 15 of a mighty polar bear looking rather tiny on the vast rocky shoreline of the Hudson Bay. If my goal is to showcase the vastness of the landscape, I’m going to deliberately place the bear outside of the intersecting lines of the rule of thirds, thereby exaggerating the scene (figure 16). The polar bear looks small in this perspective, which is exactly what I want to accomplish in using this technique.

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Figure 16

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Leading Lines Finally, we must talk about another compositional tool we have, which is the use of leading lines.

The basic gist is to use a somewhat prominent line in the landscape—a “leading line”—to help direct your viewer’s attention to what you want to showcase in the photo. This line can be natural, like a tree trunk, river or mountain ridge, or it can be manmade, like a trail, a road or a railing.

Figure 17

Some leading lines can be quite obvious, like when a pathway leads directly to your subject. Figure 17 is a good example of this, as the bottom edge of the willows provide a natural line in the environment that your eyes automatically follow towards the subject of the shot. This is subtle, but it’s a nice little compositional trick to intentionally emphasize your subject.

In figure 18, one leading line is the edge of the willows, which helps push the viewer’s eyes up from the bottom of the frame to meet the polar bear’s eyes. We’re also using the lack of focus on the willows to help avert the eye so that it “finds” the subject quicker, giving it more prominence in the scene. You can see that I use the natural shoreline, as well as the vegetation, to help direct the eye towards the main subject: the polar bear.

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Final Thoughts on Composition Composition is king. Often, subtle changes in subject size and placement can make massive differences. Simply being cognizant of these factors will yield dramatic improvements in your polar bear photography. As you can see, there’s no perfect or one-size-fits-all way to use the rule of thirds, exaggerated composition and leading lines. The important thing is that you practice incorporating these compositional elements to continue to level up your photography with each and every additional technique.

QUICK RECAP A well-composed image can significantly enhance the quality of a photograph, whether it’s of polar bears, landscapes, or other subjects.

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The “rule of thirds” is a fundamental compositional guideline that leads to more visually appealing photos.

Exaggerating composition and following leading lines help create dramatic effects.

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Figure 19

CH A P T E R 3

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3 • A RANGE OF SHUTTER SPEEDS

Wildlife action can occur at a range of speeds. During a single outing on the tundra, you might see sleeping bears that hardly move a muscle, walking bears moving at a moderate speed or even running or sparring bears moving quite quickly! Understanding and choosing the right shutter speed can make a significant difference in your polar bear photography.

Default Settings Are Fine to Start With If you have your camera on an automatic setting like “full-auto” or “P” modes (“P” is for program, and in this mode the camera sets focus, aperture, shutter speed and ISO), you will likely be fine with “normal” amounts of movement, like walking or resting bears (figure 19).

The action can speed up at a moment’s notice, so you should always be prepared to set your own shutter speed.

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Two Ways to Adjust Your Shutter Speed For people with point-and-shoot cameras (or those who aren’t yet comfortable choosing their own settings), the easiest method to adjust your shutter speed is by locating the “Sports” mode on your camera—usually denoted by a “running man” icon (figure 20). This reconfigures your camera settings to prioritize a fast shutter speed. How fast? Well, that’s up to your camera, but it’s usually enough to capture most rapid movements.

By using this mode, you will be able to tell your camera the exact shutter speed you want. The camera then chooses the aperture and ISO (you may need to set Auto-ISO) necessary to achieve that shutter speed. This is especially helpful for extremely fastmoving action, like sparring bears (figure 21). You may also wish to try this mode if you are reviewing your photos and find that any of the automatic modes are not fully freezing motion for walking bears.

Figure 20

Graphic by: Althepal

If you’d like to fully take the reins on shutter speed, you can locate the “shutter speed” mode. This is usually on your camera’s top settings wheel alongside “manual,” “aperture” and a few other custom modes. Sometimes it will be denoted with an “S” for shutter speed, or sometimes it may be labeled “Tv” for “time value.”

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In general, I like to shoot at 1/1500th of a second (or even faster) when trying to freeze the motion of large, fast-moving wildlife, like the sparring bears in figure 21. However, you may wish to try both 1/1000 and 1/2000 in the moment, as each can produce different and interesting results. At 1/1000, you may still see a slight blur to movement, such that a bear’s paw may be blurry, giving a movement effect that we like to see—it adds a bit of action to your photo! And at 1/2000, you might find that the photo is even sharper than at 1/1500, depending on exactly how fast your subjects are moving.

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Figure 21

The key here is to know where to find these settings in your camera, so that you can quickly and easily change the shutter speed.

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Figure 22

When to Slow Down the Shutter Speed There is another aspect of shutter speed and polar bear photography not mentioned above that I’d like to cover. Sometimes, a deliberately slow shutter speed can be amazing for depicting fast movement. If you’re lucky enough to see two bears sparring or a polar bear running, start by taking a few “frozen” shots with a fast shutter speed. Then, using your shutter speed dial, reduce the speed to 1/60th of a second to 1/60th of a second and pay close attention to the motion blur. You may even try slowing it down further to 1/30th of a second or perhaps speeding it up to 1/100th of a second. Initially these types of photos may come out pretty messy (figure 22), but with some practice and luck, they can turn into compelling works of art.

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The amount of blur will depend on the speed of the motion, and whether or not it looks “good” will depend on your own artistic vision.

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Final Thoughts on Shutter Speed Shutter speed is a key element to photography. Although allowing your camera to automatically choose the appropriate shutter speed can produce attractive images, when it comes to large, fast-moving wildlife, there are many times when the camera just won’t get it right. This is when you need to step in and tell your camera exactly what you want by adjusting the shutter speed. Sometimes this might mean freezing the fast motion by upping the shutter speed, and other times you may want to reduce shutter speed to show deliberate motion blur. Both techniques lend themselves to compelling photography and will become second nature after some practice and a bit of experimentation.

QUICK RECAP For pointand-shoot cameras, the “Sports” mode will prioritize a fast shutter speed for capturing rapid movements.

For DSLRs, a shutter speed mode (often labeled “S” or “Tv”) allows you to specify the exact shutter speed while the camera sets aperture and ISO.

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Use faster shutter speeds (1/1500 or faster) to freeze motion for fast-moving subjects like sparring bears.

Use slower shutter speeds (1/60 or slower) to intentionally introduce motion blur for artistic and dynamic shots.

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Figure 23

CH A P T E R 4

DIFFERENT STYLES OF POLAR BEAR PHOTOGRAPHY nathab.com/polarbears • 800-543-8917

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4 • DIFFERENT STYLES OF POLAR BEAR PHOTOGRAPHY

Polar bears are not only an icon of the Arctic, but an icon of wildlife photography all over the world, partly due to their rarity, and partly due to the extreme ecosystem in which they live. But I’m sure the biggest reason for their status as “the holy grail” of wildlife photography is their sheer beauty. Simply put, they’re incredibly photogenic! This chapter is designed to provide visual examples of several styles of wild polar bear photography. Try to capture each of these the next time you’re in the Arctic!

The “Big Shot” Let’s start off with one of the most desirable photos of polar bears: the big shot. This is the photo that every photographer yearns for, depicting the entire bear and showcasing it in all of its glory (figure 23 and 24). Figure 23 stats: f/10, 1/400sec, ISO 800, 400mm

You’ll want to shoot with a high frame rate so that as you depress the shutter button, your camera takes four, five or even more photos each second.

This bear was exhibiting fairly predictable behavior (walking) and I captured it right at the moment when it peeked up to look at its surroundings. Aside from being at the right place at the right time (which you can accomplish on a Nat Hab polar bear photography adventure), you’ll want to nail the settings and the specific timing, too.

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Figure 24

General camera settings are pretty straightforward—nothing too mysterious here! A standard aperture between f/5.6 and f/10 is great for this kind of photo, and a shutter speed fast enough to freeze motion comes in at a reasonable 1/400th of a second. ISO is dependent on the exact lighting conditions, with this being ISO 800. Another important setting is frame rate. You’ll want to shoot with a high frame rate, so that as you depress the shutter button, your camera takes four, five or even more photos each second. This allows you to get multiple photos of a given scene so that you can pick out the exact moment the bear lifts its paw and looks up to give you

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this entrancing photo. (Note: Some cameras refer to this as “burst mode.”) The other key consideration is to photograph wider than you may initially think. We tend to zoom in all the way to make the bear as big as it can be in the scene. However, this comes at a cost. If you frame the photo exactly as you want it, you have no ability to adjust the composition in post processing. This is a huge deal when it comes to moving wildlife with a variable background. Trust me, you want to have the ability to adjust composition to really nail the rule of thirds or other tactics without having to worry in the moment about perfect composition with a moving animal.

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Figure 25

The “Wow, This Landscape Is So Vast” Shot Figure 25 photo stats: f/8, 1/200sec, ISO 200, 50mm One of the most difficult things to remember when photographing wildlife is to take some photos zoomed way out, even if you are able to optically get much closer. Photos like the one above may not be the “album cover,” but they help tell the full story of the environment and the wildlife—much more so than a fully zoomed-in photo, in my opinion. To get this photo, you should use classic landscape photo settings with a wide depth of field, from f/8 to f/11. Because you’re shooting at such a wide angle, you can often get away with a much slower shutter speed, around 1/100th to 1/200th of a second (of course, it also helps that the bear is sleeping). This permits a slightly lower ISO, such as 400 or even 200, if lighting allows.

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The key with this photo is that because you have the time to compose it in the moment, you can maximize resolution by framing it just as you want. This is much more difficult with moving wildlife, but here you can take a few extra moments to get the photo perfect in camera, rather than needing to make major cropping and composition adjustments in post processing. You should spend most of your time setting up a shot like this by picking out which landscape elements you want to feature in the photo, and there’s no perfect way to do this.

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Take some photos zoomed way out, even if you are able to optically get much closer... they help tell the full story of the environment and the wildlife.

For instance, in figure 25 we see the old Ithaca shipwreck in the distance, beautiful pre-Cambrian rocks in the foreground, and a nice balance of water and earth adhering roughly to the rule of thirds. For photos like these, I deliberately turn off rapid frame rate to avoid ending up with hundreds of the same photo. Instead, I take an extra moment to determine the right shutter speed, the right aperture, and the right composition to take several photos and then experiment with different angles and focal ranges.

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Figure 26

The “Look at That Face” Shot We often connect with other humans by making eye contact, so it comes as no surprise that we also form stronger connections with wildlife when we focus on the face. One way to accomplish this through photography is by zooming in to fill the frame with the face of the polar bear. By doing this, you can really highlight the detail of an animal few people ever get close to. Of course, this is sometimes easier said than done, as bears aren’t always within close range or angled perfectly towards the camera. But over the course of a few days photographing polar bears, you’ll likely get an opportunity like the figure 26 photo.

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Figure 26 photo stats: f/8, 1/500sec, ISO 640, 400mm Even with the eyes closed, there is still a fantastic connection to the animal here, made stronger by focusing on the face. This is what I would consider classic wildlife portraiture. And, to me, one of the main tenets of classic wildlife portraiture is to minimize distractions around the subject to help emphasize the animal you’re photographing. This can be done in two ways. First, you can (and should) have a relatively shallow depth of

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Figure 27

field to ensure the animal is in focus, but the background is blurred. I say relatively shallow because if the face of the animal takes up most of the frame, you must avoid too shallow a depth of field such that the nose is in focus, but, say, the ears are not. Or, the eyes are in focus, but the rest of the face is blurred.

underexpose the photo quite significantly while still preserving the whiteness of the bear. You have to be careful to avoid the bear losing its luster, but with practice, this can be done in a way that helps darken the environment while still accurately exposing the bear, such as in figure 26.

For this photo, I’d use an aperture of between f/5.6 and f/8. It may be tempting to photograph at f/4 or f/2.8 if your lens allow, but be aware of any sort of focus clipping that will happen to the margins of the face with such shallow depth of fields.

To perfect the shot, I also mapped the bear using Photoshop’s new “select subject” tool, then hit “X” to inverse and select everything but the subject (figure 27). Then, by decreasing the background by nearly 1 full stop, I got that nice contrast of a white bear and dimly lit background. Captivating, right?

The second way to de-emphasize the background is via lighting. This is where you can get creative. Depending on lighting conditions, this can happen in-camera, or it may be something you do during post processing in Lightroom or Photoshop. The unique thing about polar bear photography is that when filling the frame with the bear, you can manually

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This is by no means an exhaustive list of ways to photograph the venerable king of the Arctic. However, you can see how even these three examples can lead to and inspire other style variations, such as more focused action shots, different types of landscape photos featuring the bears, and ways to emphasize and de-emphasize parts of your photo to draw attention to your polar bear subject.

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Final Thoughts on Polar Bear Photography Styles There are a multitude of ways you can photograph polar bears, but we present three main types of shots here—the big wildlife photo, the wildlifein-landscape photo, and the high-detail close-up portrait. Each of these requires you to think deliberately about how to get the results you want and involves specific apertures, shutter speeds, and other creative elements.

QUICK RECAP Get “The Big Shot” and photograph the entire polar bear in its natural glory.

Wider shots not only focus on the bear but also capture the vast Arctic landscape.

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Use a wide depth of field, slower shutter speed, and thoughtful composition to maximize visual impact.

To emphasize the face, use a relatively shallow depth of field to keep the subject in focus while blurring the background.

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PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS nathab.com/polarbears • 800-543-8917

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5 • PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS

When photographing in cold environments, one of the primary considerations is camera fogging. Before setting foot in the Arctic, you’ll want to determine exactly how you will prevent your camera from doing so. There’s nothing worse than encountering the perfect polar bear scene, only to find that your lens is completely fogged over!

Why the Fog? To start, let’s examine why your lens gets foggy in these situations. This is key to knowing how to best abate it. Basically, very cold weather turns your camera into a frozen metal/plastic block (we’re talking about temps below 20F). When you take that frozen block out of the cold and into a warm, humid environment (such as the inside a building, which has warmer air, people breathing and humidity pumped in through the furnace…not uncommon in dry, perpetually cold areas like Churchill), it instantly cools the gaseous water (humidity) in the air immediately around the camera to form liquid water. Remember back to 10th grade chemistry: When you cool a gas, it turns into its liquid state. That liquid state is condensation.

When it comes to your camera, a digital instrument that relies on impeccable visibility and optics, anything that accumulates on the end of your lens is bad.

Think about taking a cold soda out of your refrigerator or cooler on a hot summer day. You know how it begins to “sweat”? It’s the same principle.

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5 • PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS

When it comes to your camera, a digital instrument that relies on impeccable visibility and optics, anything that accumulates on the end of your lens is bad. This goes for dust as well as water, by way of condensation. Now, if it were just a splash of water, no biggie—take a lens cloth and wipe it off. However, the colder it is, the more supercooled your camera becomes in just a short amount of time. That also means that it takes a long time for the camera to warm up when it’s brought inside. In the meantime, it’s going to continue turning humid air into water, over and over again, no matter how

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much you wipe it off. (Well, kind of. There’s a trick to this! More on that later.) The worst case scenario is that you get condensation on your lens, and then it refreezes when you return outside for more great polar bear photography. I’ve personally had this happen when I take a break from outside photography, bring my camera inside, and then return outside in a few minutes. The condensation can actually freeze, making it even harder to remove. So, the best thing is to not let it happen in the first place.

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5 • PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS

How to Avoid Camera Fog Here are a few techniques for preventing condensation or camera fog.

Keep your Camera Outside The easiest way to prevent your camera from fogging up is to avoid bringing it into warm, humid inside areas between shoots. But that’s easier said than done! Perhaps you’re trying to save your battery life, or maybe you need to change lenses, or you’re just trying to protect your equipment from the elements while you take a break to warm up. Keeping your camera outside isn’t always the most practical option, especially on polar bear trips, but it’s worth mentioning as one of many options.

More Practical Solutions Before bringing your camera inside, put it in its case and zip it up outside, so that it’s totally protected from the ambient air.

This usually isn’t necessary when going in and out of our Polar Rovers during daytime polar bear photo excursions, as the inside/outside difference in air temp isn’t extreme.

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Then, do your very best to not open the bag until your camera has had a chance to gradually warm up. How long is gradually? Well, this is entirely dependent on how cold it was outside and how warm it is inside! Fortunately, for most polar bear adventures, we’re talking only a matter of minutes, even if temps get down into the low teens.

A Quicker Solution for Most Polar Bear Trip Conditions Let’s say there’s a situation where you must bring your camera immediately from the outside to an inside area that is conducive to giving you the dreaded fog (i.e, warm, humid, you know the drill). At the very least, if you do nothing else, be sure to put your lens cap on your camera while still outside, and do not take it off when inside. After it has acclimated roughly 5 to 10 minutes you can remove it, but only if it’s truly necessary. The longer the acclimation period the better. This isn’t a perfect solution, because in extreme temperature differentials, air will still sneak in and condense through the small openings in your lens cap. However, it will save you most of the trouble, and is a very easy solution.

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5 • PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS

How to De-Fog Your Camera We forget, we’re in a rush, it happens to the best of us. My technique when I slip up is to warm my camera lens up through friction by wiping it continuously with a clean lens cloth for a couple minutes. This isn’t the most ideal solution, but when you’re in the field and you need to be prepared to go back out with a ready-to-shoot lens (e.g., a polar bear just turned around and is back in perfect photo range), this does work. I’m sure this isn’t the best thing for my UV filter (which I always have on every lens), but sometimes it’s the only thing you can do to backtrack and fix the problem once it’s already happened.

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5 • PREVENT CAMERA FOG IN COLD ENVIRONMENTS

Final Thoughts on Camera Fog When photographing in cold environments, you often run into the problem of lens-fogging. This has everything to do with the temperature and humidity differential between cold, dry outside air and significantly warmer, more humid inside air. The best way to beat fog is to avoid it altogether by either leaving your camera outside, placing your camera in its bag before bringing it inside, or at least putting your lens cap on outside and keeping it on while inside. If you do encounter fogging, wipe your lens in a circular motion with a clean cloth for a couple minutes to let the friction warm it up.

QUICK RECAP When possible, keep the camera outside. If bringing the camera indoors, put it in the case before entering the room and refrain from opening the bag until the camera has a chance to warm up.

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Keep the lens cap on the camera while inside and remove it only after a short acclimation period.

If fogging occurs, warm the camera lens through friction by continuously wiping it with a clean lens cloth for a couple of minutes.

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CH A P T E R 6

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6 • WHAT’S IN MY CAMERA BAG

Having the right gear is key to maximizing your success photographing polar bears. While bigger DSLR or mirrorless cameras aren’t entirely necessary for great photography, many photographers do choose to bring these, as they typically produce the sharpest and highest-quality photos. Thus, I’m going to use this chapter to discuss the various lenses and accessories one should consider for the best polar bear photography.

Wide-Angle Zoom Lens You really can’t go anywhere without this “walking-around lens.” This is your standard landscape and travel photography lens—generally ranging from 18–55mm for crop frame cameras to 24–105mm for full-frame cameras.

A wide-angle zoom lens is essential to have for landscape photos of the tundra.

This type of lens isn’t going to get you super close to the animal, but they are essential to have for landscape photos of the tundra, along with general travel photos to help you document your polar bear adventure. It’s a must-bring lens in my opinion.

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6 • WHAT’S IN MY CAMERA BAG

Zoom Telephoto Lens This is an essential category of lens for polar bear photography. Amazingly, on our Nat Hab polar bear tours, we can often get quite close to these massive animals. Or, should I say, we position our Polar Rovers to allow the bears to come close to us. They often walk right across our path or come up to the vehicles for a closer look. Nevertheless, a telephoto is vital for great wildlife photography, no matter the distance.

1.6 times due to the smaller “crop” sensor. Thus, if you’re shooting on a crop-frame with a 300mm lens, that’s actually more like a 450mm.

While the bears may get closer, a solid rule of thumb is to assume you’ll be photographing from at least 25 to 50 yards away. It’s always best to think conservatively when planning your camera kit.

Thus, it’s really a balance of lens size, cost and versatility.

My go-to is something like a 100–400mm full-frame equivalent. This means that if you have a crop-frame camera, you’ll usually be able to multiply your focal range by 1.5 or

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However, there’s an old adage with wildlife photography that rings true: you never really have enough zoom. Even if you lugged a 600mm or 800mm along with you, there will still be shots you just can’t quite get.

A lens that gets me to the 400mm range is about ideal. However, companies like Nikon, Sigma and Tamron are coming out with stellar 200–500mm and 150–600mm lenses. These are wonderful “safari lenses” and will certainly do great in the Arctic on a polar bear photo expedition. We’ll talk about those next.

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Super Telephoto Lens The aforementioned 200–500mm and 150–600mm lenses are technically super telephotos, but because they have a nice zoom range, I don’t really classify them as classic “super telephotos.” When I think of super telephoto, I’m thinking more of the big prime lenses, like the 300mm f/2.8, 500mm f/4 or even the 600mm f/4 lenses that the big camera manufacturers make. Although these are amazing lenses, they come with a formidable price tag attached and they’re not for everyone. However, if you have one of these (or are thinking about

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purchasing or renting one), you certainly won’t be disappointed. When it comes to light on the tundra, you generally aren’t too limited. There is typically a decent amount of daylight, even with abundant clouds as winter weather begins to roll in. However, those maximum apertures of f/2.8 and f/4 make for wonderful portraits of wildlife, hence their appeal. A super telephoto is worth bringing if the price, size or weight doesn’t rule one out.

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X-factor Lenses What’s an “x-factor lens”? In short, an x-factor lens is something that’s not critical for a particular photo expedition, but it’s really nice to have. You may only use it for 5% of your shots, but it could get you one of your favorite photos of the trip. You know, it’s the x-factor! For photographing in and around Churchill, I absolutely love my “nifty fifty,” which is a 50mm f/1.4 prime lens. It’s a great lens for cultural photography, and having that shallow depth of field is really effective for getting a little artsy with your images. Another x-factor lens to consider is a fast ultra-wide lens. This will come in especially handy if the northern lights should appear. They are generally quite rare to see at this time of year, primarily because of the standard cloud cover in Churchill during the fall. (Winter is the best season for northern lights photography in Churchill.) However, if they do come out, and you’re an avid photographer, you won’t want to miss them! For aurora photography, I usually like to aim for something like a 16–35mm f/2.8 lens (full-frame equivalent). However, if you don’t have something that is both fast and ultra-wide, I always prioritize the ultra-wide aspect first. That is, go for something like a 17–40mm f/4 or a 10–22mm f/4.5 vs. a 24mm f/2.8. Don’t bother with a 35mm f/1.4, as you really need the lens to be ultra-wide to capture the brilliance of the aurora.

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Wide-angle zoom lenses for landscape shots. Zoom telephoto lenses for capturing bears from a distance. Super telephoto lenses for wildlife portraits. X-factor lenses like a fast prime or ultra-wide lens for creative photography, especially for rare occurrences like the northern lights.

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Batteries and Memory Cards Because of the cold, batteries drain quicker in the Arctic than you may expect. Plan to keep a couple extra batteries on you, preferably in your pocket, as that helps keep them warm. And you’ll of course want to have plenty of camera memory. If you’re lucky enough to see polar bears sparring, it’s a great time to put your camera on burst mode or on video mode, both of which use lots of memory. Plan on taking 500 to 1,000 photos a day if you’re an avid photographer!

Tripods For most polar bear photography, a tripod will just be in the way and cumbersome to deal with. It’s far more preferable to shoot handheld, or to brace your lens on the window of the Polar Rover rather than setting up a tripod inside the vehicle. Trust me, it’s just a hassle. However, if you have a massive prime lens, like a 500mm f/4 or 600mm f/4, you may have no other choice than to use a tripod due to their size.

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The main reason you may want to bring a tripod on the trip with you is in case the northern lights appear. You simply cannot hand hold for the 5 to 15 seconds needed for a proper exposure! I know it’s a lot of extra weight and space for something you may not use during the trip, but again, if the lights show, you’ll be so happy you have one.

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My Recommended Camera Gear Packing List ☑ Wide-angle zoom lens

A 24–105mm works brilliantly (or an 18–55mm on crop-frame).

☑ Zoom telephoto lens

A 100–400mm is ideal, but a larger 100–500mm, 200–500mm or 150–600mm is also great.

☑ Super telephoto lens

A 600mm prime lens is wonderful, but it’s also large, difficult to maneuver and quite expensive. Not necessary, but nice to bring if you already have one.

☑ X-factor lens

I usually bring a 50mm f/1.4 and a 16–35mm ultra-wide lens with me.

☑ Tripod

Since you’ll likely only use this if you get the opportunity to photograph the northern lights, a small travel tripod is fine.

☑ Batteries and memory cards Bring plenty!

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Final Thoughts As you’ve now learned, polar bear photography extends far beyond just pointing and shooting; instead, it’s a very deliberate point and create process with boundless opportunities. You’ll find the camera settings and modes mentioned in this guide available on most cameras, even if they’re sometimes labeled differently. Even most smartphones let you control for many of these factors, so no matter what you’re shooting on, you can use these techniques to get stunning polar bear images. For more in-depth guidance, you may want to consider joining one of our specialized polar bear photo adventures, where you’ll get on-trip photo instruction from skilled photographers who are also expert naturalists and guides. You’re sure to return home with a memory card full of favorite photos and extraordinary memories.

We hope you enjoyed this Polar Bear Photography Guide, and we hope to see you out there!

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Polar Bear Photography Guide