With the rising temperatures that accompany Summer’s arrival, I’ve decided that there is no better time to post an article on how to acclimate your gear to prevent fogging on your lenses when you’re photographing outdoors – these are tips for anyone photographing outside, not just nature photographers. Those of you who are wedding and portrait photographers who have scheduled shoots on humid days can apply these methods. I hope they help you and save you some hassle!First, lets begin with a quick Science lesson. What exactly causes fogging (forming of condensation) on our lenses? When humid air touches a colder surface it condenses on it. Have you ever stepped outside of your air conditioned house on a humid day and found your sunglasses fogged up? The humid air has hit the much colder lenses and has caused fogging to occur.

This same fogging can happen with our camera gear, often causing quite a bit of a hassle if we haven’t prepared ahead of time. Can we avoid fogging or at least minimize it? Absolutely. We simply have to take a few steps in acclimating our equipment before we go out to create. The colder our equipment is in relation to the outside temperature and humidity, the more likely we are to have fogging occur. So the first step would be to raise the temperature of your equipment. Before you go out to shoot, at least 20 minutes beforehand (more if your current location is quite cold) set your camera bag in a much warmer area of your home/apartment/hotel room or wherever you happen to be. If there is a particular room or area that does not have a vent, place it there. If you’re in a small space, try a closet. Many camera bags have padding and insulation which keep the items colder longer – so you can either take your equipment out or, as I often do, leave the bag open.

But what if the photo-shoot is last minute? Thankfully there are still steps you can take in avoiding the negative effects of humidity on your camera gear.

One often recommended and highly effective method is to place your camera in a sealed Ziploc bag so that it will equalize with the outside temperature. This can be very effective depending on how long the camera is in the bag – the longer you can leave it in there, the less likely you are to have fogging occur. A method which I have used many times is to set my camera bag in the passenger seat of my car, open it up, and keep the AC off for a few minutes. Another similar method, if leaving the AC off is out of the question, is to put the bag in the back of your car where the AC is not as effective.

One helpful accessory that I always keep in my bags are little packets of silica gels. They’re the tiny packets you will find in many items you purchase – purses, shoes, pill bottles, electronics, etc. Silica gel is a desiccant which means that it absorbs and holds water vapor. Silica gel can absorb around 40 percent of its weight in moisture and can take the relative humidity in a closed container down 40 percent as well. It is very helpful for us as photographers because condensation can be damaging to cameras. You can toss in a couple of bags you find around the house, or you can purchase more sophisticated packets that change color to indicate the amount of moisture they have absorbed.Before you leave for your shoot, check the weather. The higher the chance of rain, the higher the humidity outside. And, as we’ve learned, the higher the humidity the higher the chance of fogging. I use the Weather Channel phone app for detailed weather information, updates and timelines.