Simply for curiousities sake - clouds or mist or ?

[Brownbear]

It was foggy this morning and the clouds/light on this highrise captured my eye... Are these special clouds? Mist? Or ?

I lowered the exposure in PP as the scene was very bright.



I've never seen anything like this before, and I'm simply curious. Thank you.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, I tend to apply maximum contrast to images such as these. The upper roof and sides of this structure are the meat of this image.

[Brownbear]

Thanks John. Appreciated. The scene was far brighter and less contrasty than the image posted.

All that said, I've posted it simply because I would like to know if those swirls/clouds are clouds or mist, or something I need to learn about. I've never seen this before and if I see something like this again I would like to be more prepared. I was photographing birds.

[chauncey]

Fog/clouds/mist are all water vapor and differ only by their water vapor density, how far you can see.

I have images that were taken at ground level @ 11,000 ft. elev that were clearly clouds...
but they sure looked like fog.

[Shadowman]

Thanks John. Appreciated. The scene was far brighter and less contrasty than the image posted.

All that said, I've posted it simply because I would like to know if those swirls/clouds are clouds or mist, or something I need to learn about. I've never seen this before and if I see something like this again I would like to be more prepared. I was photographing birds.

I'd rule out clouds unless this is an elevated region, most likely fog or mist. I don't know how you can prepare for either fog or mist, I usually look for a good structure, a human subject, and just push the camera as much as needed. The closer you are to your subject the better the capture, at least that's what works for me.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Christina,

Clouds, mist or fog I think what you are seeing is light reflected into it.

My first thoughts were light coming from the windows but unlikely so suspect it's light hitting the glass and being reflected back into the patchy mist.

PS, you say you shot it in the morning but Exif shows evening. Whichever, you would know from which direction the suns light would be coming from onto that building at the time, it may assist the investigation

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Chauncey... Yes, but these seem to be a very of the "special water vapour" variety... Taken from ground level, and it was super foggy.

John....Ground level at Lost Lagoon on a foggy morning so not clouds. I exposed to the right (good for fog) but I wasn't close enough (see C&C tutorial) and likely not seen on the other side.

Grahame... I think you're brilliant! I was shooting almost into the sun and it is likely reflected light onto the mist I have to figure out how to change the time on my camera... (me, I'm not so brilliant but I'll figure it out (manual)) I thought all my exif data was stripped, and as you likely now know I was photographing birds in flight and stopped to take a few shots. Thank you!

[Nicks Pics]

PS, you say you shot it in the morning but Exif shows evening. Whichever, you would know from which direction the suns light would be coming from onto that building at the time, it may assist the investigation

Grahame

What's this? A formula for telling morning from evening?

It looked to me like fog, with the light from the windows shining into it, but oddly, the shining spots don't look like they exactly correspond with each window, so maybe as Graham suggested it is reflection, but this is a bit of a puzzle to figure out by looking at this image. As for the type of mist, I don't know, I don't see fog/mist where I live, very often.

[Stagecoach]

Grahame... I think you're brilliant! I was shooting almost into the sun and it is likely reflected light onto the mist I have to figure out how to change the time on my camera... (me, I'm not so brilliant but I'll figure it out (manual)) I thought all my exif data was stripped, and as you likely now know I was photographing birds in flight and stopped to take a few shots. Thank you!

Not brilliant Christina, just inquisitive I noticed the time 'difference' on your camera a while ago and forgot to mention it, I find it's accuracy useful as I can always work out at a future date, should I wish to, the exact light angles, tide conditions etc.

Grahame

[Mike Buckley]

To understand whether they are clouds, fog, mist or something else, you would first need to understand the definitions of those terms. I'm clueless about the definitions, so I'm no help other than to suggest that you get a clear understanding of them.

[Brownbear]

Thanks Nick (UFO's), Grahame (and super detail oriented) and Mike (yes, I will look up the definitions), and to everyone who replied.

The very next foggy day we experience I will head downtown to find a glass highrise, and experiment. Likely the last foggy day of the year now that I want another. I like the swirly clouds in this image or whatever they may be.

[mknittle]

Thanks Nick (UFO's), Grahame (and super detail oriented) and Mike (yes, I will look up the definitions), and to everyone who replied.

The very next foggy day we experience I will head downtown to find a glass highrise, and experiment. Likely the last foggy day of the year now that I want another. I like the swirly clouds in this image or whatever they may be.

It might save time to scout a subject out on a clear day and return when it becomes foggy

[JohnRostron]

Looking at the orientation of the first and third 'cloudlights', the first seems to be pointing back to the top window, and the third one to the third window (even though it looks nearer the fourth window.

My guess is that these two lights are from directional lights in the rooms behind these windows, the top light shining straight out, and the one in the third room shining downwards.

John

[Stagecoach]

My guess is that these two lights are from directional lights in the rooms behind these windows, the top light shining straight out, and the one in the third room shining downwards.

John

It's an interesting one John, assuming it is lights from the windows I'm surprised that we then do not see anything on all the windows to the right of these.

I think there's a good clue at the very top of the block

[Brownbear]

Hi John,

Thank you for sharing. I hope that you are not correct only because it likely means that it will be impossible for me to find fog clouds to photograph.

Aside for anyone who is interested.

Definition of Fog from Wikipedia...

Fog is a collection of liquid water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth’s surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term “fog” is typically distinguished from the more generic term “cloud” in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated locally (such as from a nearby body of water, like a lake or the ocean, or from nearby moist ground or marshes). Fog is distinguished from mist only by its density, as expressed in the resulting decrease in visibility: Fog reduces visibility to less than 1 km (5/8 statute mile), whereas mist reduces visibility to no less than 1 km. – Wikipedia

Different types of fog

http://education.nationalgeographic....ia/fog/?ar_a=1

Looking at the orientation of the first and third 'cloudlights', the first seems to be pointing back to the top window, and the third one to the third window (even though it looks nearer the fourth window.

My guess is that these two lights are from directional lights in the rooms behind these windows, the top light shining straight out, and the one in the third room shining downwards.

John

[Brownbear]

Hi Mark,
Sorry, somehow I forgot to reply. Indeed I will do just that, yes, it will save me time, as well as pass the time shopping for shoes and the latest in spring fashion.

On that note... Grahame all I need to do to work out the date is subtract 12 hours from my exif data.

It might save time to scout a subject out on a clear day and return when it becomes foggy

[Manfred M]

Christina - my first reaction is that what you are seeing are lights shining into the fog.

The way that we see a "hot spot" and then see a drop off in light level is pretty consistent with that effect. Fog / mist / clouds have varying density, so areas that are denser will reflect more light and less dense areas will transmit more light (i.e. less reflection).

[Brownbear]

Thank you for sharing.

So you're saying that I'll likely be wasting my time if I try to find what I thought might be very special clouds created by reflected light (from the sun) or just some special way that the sunlight filters through fog and mist? The only reason I took this photo was because I love cloud formations and I thought I'd discovered some type of special cloud that I might be able to find again under similar circumstances. (:

Christina - my first reaction is that what you are seeing are lights shining into the fog.

The way that we see a "hot spot" and then see a drop off in light level is pretty consistent with that effect. Fog / mist / clouds have varying density, so areas that are denser will reflect more light and less dense areas will transmit more light (i.e. less reflection).

[Manfred M]

Thank you for sharing.

So you're saying that I'll likely be wasting my time if I try to find what I thought might be very special clouds created by reflected light (from the sun) or just some special way that the sunlight filters through fog and mist? The only reason I took this photo was because I love cloud formations and I thought I'd discovered some type of special cloud that I might be able to find again under similar circumstances. (:

That would be my guess. I suspect artificial lighting because of the various angles that the light seems to come from. That is not the way sunlight behaves; where one would expect the light coming from the same direction.

Not having been there when you took the shot makes determining the cause a lot more difficult, but it really does not look to be solely a natural occurance from what I can tell.

The metadata attached to the file suggests that the image was taken at just before 7:30PM; so that would definitely suggest an artificial light source.

[Brownbear]

Thank you. Truly appreciated.

I have to set my clock on my camera to the right time. It was 7:30am, or actually I thought it was a little after 8am by the time I took this pic. The sunrise here is at 7:20am. Nevertheless dark enough that folks would have inside lights turned on, even at 8am.

That would be my guess. I suspect artificial lighting because of the various angles that the light seems to come from. That is not the way sunlight behaves; where one would expect the light coming from the same direction.

Not having been there when you took the shot makes determining the cause a lot more difficult, but it really does not look to be solely a natural occurance from what I can tell.

The metadata attached to the file suggests that the image was taken at just before 7:30PM; so that would definitely suggest an artificial light source.