Heat haze ruins sharp images, and you might not even realize it’s happening. You can have the best lens, perfect settings, and great timing, but if you’re shooting through too much turbulent air, your images will come out soft. Wildlife photography is especially vulnerable to this problem, and if you’re shooting at long distances, the effect is even worse.
Coming to you from Brent Hall, this useful video breaks down what heat haze is, how to recognize it, and what you can do about it. Heat haze—also called atmospheric distortion—is caused by temperature differences in the air, creating a rippling effect similar to looking through a hot road in summer. You don’t need extreme heat for it to happen. Even on mild days, shooting over open fields, water, or long distances can introduce enough turbulence to degrade image sharpness. A shot might look fine on your camera screen, but when you zoom in, you’ll notice soft edges and a smeared texture.
One of the biggest factors is distance. The more air between you and your subject, the worse the effect. Hall demonstrates this by comparing images of birds shot at different focal lengths and distances. A harrier taken at 1120mm looks soft, despite a fast shutter speed and correct focus. In contrast, a closer subject shot at the same settings appears crisp. Shooting in the middle of the day, when the sun heats the ground and creates rising currents of warm air, makes it even worse. The best solution is to get closer, but that’s not always possible.
If you have to shoot in bad conditions, there are ways to minimize the impact. Hall recommends stopping down your aperture by one or two stops to improve sharpness, using burst mode to increase your chances of getting a clearer frame, and taking advantage of editing tools like AI sharpening. He also shows how shooting in shaded areas or waiting for cooler times of day can significantly reduce distortion. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Hall.
