Basic Training: Shooting the Four Seasons (page 2)

Problem: Brrrr...

Solution: Cold can kill electronics and sap the life from batteries. A good rule of thumb: If it's too cold for you, it's too cold for the camera. If the camera's small enough, place it, your batteries and tapes in an airtight freezer bag and place in the inside pockets provided in most jackets. Sandwiched between your body and the insulation of the coat, body heat will keep things warm and the sealed plastic bag will reduce the fogging that would otherwise occur.. No inside pockets or your camera is too large? Carry a small gear bag under the coat instead. Your body warmth will warm up the camera lens and viewfinder, so be sure to let the camera acclimate to the cold before you take it out of the plastic bag to avoid fogging.

Problem: Now that I'm in my warm house, my ice-cold camera lens is fogging up!

Solution: This is normal and temporary, but should be avoided. Just as the outside surface of a cold soda can gets sweaty on a hot day; your camera lens is doing the same now it's inside a warm, moist house. Again just seal your cold camcorder in a plastic bag before taking it inside a warm room.

Before you leave your house on your next shoot, review the contents of your equipment bag to ensure they're appropriate for the weather and the subject you're shooting. With a little forethought and a few simple, inexpensive supplies, those cold winter days or steamy summer evenings may be the perfect time for shooting some very compelling productions.

Randy Hansen is a television news station Chief Photographer who has managed to keep his camera protected (but not himself) in five Florida hurricanes, a few blizzards and 100+ degree California heat waves.

There are tricks to shooting lightning, but foremost remember you and your camera are lightning rods, so be extremely cautious. Shoot from inside a garage or other large covered building. To capture lightning at it's best, set your f-top at its smallest setting, and set the iris on manual. Think of how the background will look when the strikes happen. Lightning is more awesome when there are other objects in the scene: a church steeple, a large grove of trees, over looking a cityscape. The lighter the color of the foreground object, the more intense the lightning-lit shot. Watching the first few strikes for direction and placement, point your camera with a wide enough shot to capture the strikes and your desired subject, hit "record," and wait. You have to be patient. The idea is to capture the same exact scene for at least five flashes, with nearly black between flashes. Then you can edit out the dark scenes, and cut all of the flashes back-to-back for a truly awesome video.

At little to no cost, certain supplies in your gear bag become invaluable when you're far from home and you need them the most. You may already have many of these items sitting around the house:

• A small assortment of freezer bags of various sizes (They're more durable than sandwich bags)
• Saran Wrap works as a camera rain coat
• A polarizing filter
• Bounce board or flex reflector (probably won't fit in your bag but bring it)
• Ice cooler "camera box"
• Drinking water, sunscreen, hat and towel
• Fingerless gloves for winter (football receiver, bike, or weight-lifting gloves. Leather palms will slip less than wool)
• Waterproof Gore-Tex shoes for stormy weather or sandals
• Golf shoes for icy conditions
• Hair drier, heat blowing from your car vent and even heat from a halogen light will defog your lens. (Keep an eye on the rubber parts near the lens.)
• An old, clean dry towel has unlimited uses
• Lens tissue and lens cleaning fluid
• A small "blower brush" to dust off sand particles, blow away pollen flakes, etc.
• Rubber bands to seal the bags, keep tape cases closed, and a myriad of other uses
• A compactly folded plastic poncho
• A copy of your camcorder owner's manual

Rotate, replace or resupply these items as needed during the year to ensure keep your towel stays clean from abrasive sand and you have a supply of rubber bands when you need them most.

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