• Protect your camera and lens from rain, waterfall mist, or salt spray with a rain sleeve. If you don't have one, keep a plastic grocery bag or shower cap in your camera bag for emergencies. These take up little space and weigh next to nothing. 

• Most camera backpacks are water resistant and will keep your gear dry with some rain, but if you think it might pour, having a dry bag is a good idea, and most have a strap so you can wear it like a backpack. 

• When it is bitterly cold, your camera batteries will drain a lot faster, so make sure you have fully charged spares, and keep them inside your coat to ensure they have life left when you need them. 

• Lens wipes and small towels are good to have on hand to keep your lens free of rain or even salt spray. Keeping your lens hood on your lens will limit the amount of rain drops that hit your lens unless it's raining sideways, but if that is the case, it's probably time to find shelter. 

• Tripod weights will help keep your tripod stable on windy days. If you want to save yourself the weight, pack a small cloth bag with cinch ties in your camera bag. When you need to add some weight to your back, just put some rocks in the bag and tie it to the underside of the tripod.

Layers: I have a habit of dressing in layers when it is cold. I'm a big ol baby about the cold and this usually works for me. The rules of layering are: 

• Thin and light, moisture wicking base layer 
• Wool or Polyester blend mid layer
• Warm jacket layer 
• Waterproof layer

Seal Rock State Beach, OregonThis is one of my new favorite beaches in Oregon. It had great tidepools, wildlife, and interesting rocks to photograph. This evening was mostly overcast as a winter storm was rolling in, but it made for some nice cool toned photos.

As I mentioned in part 2 of this series, there is a subject for every type of weather condition. Being adaptable to the conditions can mean the difference between having an enjoyable experience that you will repeat in the future and in getting some quality photographs.  

• If it is overcast, choose subjects that will work well with that type of weather, like macro or wildlife.
• If it is snowing, go for big landscapes or intimate details. 
• If it is raining, consider looking for reflections, the sky, or black and white compositions. 
• If it is foggy, trees are your friends, as well as wildlife. 
• If it is windy, embrace the motion for abstract or artistic compositions.

  Canadian Geese in fogI took this photo at a nature preserve near my home that I am able to walk to every day. Winter conditions transform this location, making it a great spot to revisit because you can capture something new every day.

Metering for snow: Your camera's meter will automatically expose the snow to be middle gray. To keep the snow white, set your exposure compensation to +1 or +2.

White Balance: Snow tends to read on the blue side of the color spectrum. You can control this with your white balance settings. Try setting it to the flash setting which is intended to compensate for the blue light emitted from the flash. If I am shooting a landscape, I will often try several different white balance settings to see if there is a particular effect I like. 

Low light situations: Rain, overcast, and fog can all create low light conditions that can result in underexposed images. Good ways to combat this are by using a tripod so you can lengthen your shutter speed (allowing more light in), by turning up your ISO (to give you greater sensitivity to light), or by using a wide aperture to let more light into your lens.

Noise resulting from high ISO's has been much improved in recent years so you can get away with shooting at 1000 ISO and up without major impacts to quality. So - if you don't have, or don't want to drag around, your tripod, this is a good option. 

Long exposures: Capturing motion blur or compensating for low light conditions may require longer exposures. You will want a tripod for these, but long exposures can result in some really cool effects you just can't get on a sunny day.