When the weather gets cold, it comes with many challenges to photographers and their equipment. Like drained batteries, frostbit fingers and harm to your precious camera. Cold weather photography is a totally different job than in hot weather. However there are some simple solutions to most cold weather problems, they may not be the ones you would ever think before.
Exposed Skin
When it is cold outside, we always wear a coat, but we often forget about our faces and hands. Face and fingers of a photographer are the most endangered in cold weather, too often a photographer will take off the gloves when control the camera shooting. Danger is not only the cold air but also chilly wind which may cause frostbite even if the air temperature is not below zero degree.
Fingers are a little more troublesome than face. You can wear a oral-nasal mask without affecting your shooting but heavy gloves will bring you the fear of dropping the camera and difficult managing the controls, which leads photographers to forgo gloves altogether.
This will make you fingers numb and a fast frostbite. When the weather is freezing cold, there is danger that your finger may be frozen to the camera shell and then you are stuck. Frozen wound can be very annoying and some may cause permanent joint cold injury and it hurts when around humid air.
Wearing two pair of gloves may be excellent, one pair of which stay inside. And the thicker pair outside. You can hand the cord on your neck then take off the heavy pair to control the camera. So this will cut the danger of getting wounded and keep up with ideal images.
Slipping
When in cold weather, most surface can be frozen to ice. Photographers may not pay attention to the ground where they are standing while they are focusing on a subject. So be aware of where you are stepping and wear antiskid shoes in order to avoid falling over.
Aging Batteries ?
When you first shoot in cold weather, you are gonna be confused at your sucking batteries as they lose their charge so quickly and you might start to worry about the aging problem. Actually this phenomenon is normal cuz the electricity which is provided from some chemistry weakens as the temperature goes down if you are carrying chemical batteries.
Then taking a backup battery along seems necessary. Lithium batteries are good choice to begin with since they are better at holding a charge. You can keep the backup batteries in the camera bag or other relatively warm place where is not too warm to cause condensation when they are taken out to equip the camera.
Condensation
Condensation is a very serious problem for photographer, it is water forming on surfaces where can be significantly warmer or colder than the air around it. It is similarly when your pair of eyeglasses fogging up when temperature changes quickly, so does the lens. This is it, when temperature difference between your camera and the air reaches a certain degree, there comes condensation.
To avoid condensation, you can bring your camera through these extreme temperature changes by sealing it inside a bag containing air the same temperature as your camera is getting used to. This is a basic way that any condensation forms on the bag instead of the camera surface as the camera gradually get close to the new temperature.
There are some hidden condensation causes. One source of condensation is the photographer him/herself. If you breathe on your camera, it fogs up. When you focus on your subject, try to hold your breathe and turn away your face when exhale. The heat from you eye can also cause condensation when you do the view finding job. If the viewfinder fogs due to the body heat, it is an inconvenience which matters not so much as the fogged lens does.
Just a reminder that condensation can also form inside the camera. The moisture connecting the electronic parts can freeze when it is so cold, and when it does, that is the beginning of a nightmare.
Wet Feet
Feet can become damp when you stand in the snow and some snow fall into your shoes. Wet skin is a great danger in cold conditions. There’s also a way to figure it out, keep spare socks in your bag always for emergency and a piece of towel for the drying job.