Smoke photography setup
I' d forgotton how messy the whole process of creating an article was! but here goes, anyway.
SMOKE PHOTOGRAPHY
Who says smoking is bad for you? try some of this in a small room and you will soon feel relaxed!
Equipment:
camera - yep, fraid so. If you aint got one read no further!
Remote flash unit - preferably two
lots of black card
A non reflective black background - I use either a laptray which has black cloth underneath or and old black t-shirt. If you want to get REALLY professional and spare no expense you can buy some black cloth from your local market for about 99p.
A torch or source of light with a concentrated beam. i use a Pringles tube with a lamp shoved inside it.
Some incense sticks or cones. A box to hold cone or stick holder. Don't matter what scent, just ask for smokey ones.
OK? so far, so good?
heres the piccies to help explain further if any needed.....
remote flash unit set to half power -i use two of these set at 90 degrees to the smoke column
wirelesss trigger for the flash units -fits to camera hotshoe
little box to hold smelly cone. Box has holes in lid so can use either open for a single column or closed to dissipate the smoke a little.
the whole setup as it looks - very basic but it works.
the main thing is to avoid ANY stray light whatsoever hitting the backdrop. thats why there is so much black stuff around.
here i am using the underside of a laptray as the backdrop.
the smoke box is placed as far away from the backdrop as possible to ensure the light is concentrated on the smoke and to lessen chance of stray light hitting backdrop.
there is black card shielding the flash units from the backdrop.
i have also placed a couple of black paint trays on the table to minimise any light reflection from the table. One day i will get round to painting the tabletop black !
the Pringles light....... below shows what it is for.
it is not to provide extra lighting.
as you are manually focussing, you need to see the smoke in a dark room. the pringles beam shines directly at the smoke column enabling you to focus in the dark.
this photo was taken with wide angle lens just to demonstrate. The lens i use for the actual photos is 100mm so all the camera sees is the smoke and the backdrop.
some results below.
you can get some great effects by creating an inverted layer, saving it, and then adding colour, saturation, contrast etc.
camera settings for all the photos:
1/160 sec
f9
100mm fixed lens
iso 200
spot metering - not that it matters i dont think
manual focus
more examples can be seen on the Smokin blog:
http://cn.myfinepix.com/blog/55737/408963
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good instructions i think but i dont have a remote flash and this seems a good reason to go out and buy some pringles llol
my blogs
http://cn.myfinepix.com/blog/138
Extreme entry
http://cn.myfinepix.com/compet
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Thanks for compiling and sharing how you did it Dave ~ interesting to see other people's perspective on photography and the insight how you achieved the results. Fascinating colours, tones, patterns and contrasts. Thanks for your lovely comment on my 'Burning Desire' incense stick. I can still smell it even now..Such a sweet smell. Makes a change from water droplets though I must give that another go sometime when I'm not flying off on my hols. Thanks for compiling and sharing
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Hello Dave
Thanks very much for putting this together, as you say, it does look easy but, I think you are knocking yourself a bit there looking at your results. I guess that now you have done it a few times, it has become easier but you did go to the bother of setting up and experimenting to get them like your final shots. Bloomin good work I reckon.
Thanks again for the initial shots and then this follow-up article. Brilliant.
Steve
My gallery: http://cn.myfinepix.com/gallery/117
My Photoblogs: http://cn.myfinepix.com/blog/117
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I saw an tutorial in a camera mag at the tail end of last year involving a smoking chilli pepper and fully intended giving it a try, I was intending to practice taking pics of smoke and getting that right before adding the chilli pepper at a later date. Your tutorial looked right up my street till I realised I don't have remote flashgun or manual focus on my camera so that's me snookered, I shall have to be content to look at your fantastic results.
Dave
PS I do have lots of black T shirts and a fondness for Pringles though LOL
http://cn.myfinepix.com/gallery/265388
Upload to IHC Challenges Tutorial
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LOL.
i hate pingles but the wife chomps her way thru them.
It is virtually impossible with onboard flash as you also light up the backdrop.
remote flash is the way to go ! Not just for smoke, either. i use it on most photos that need a flash.
Even helps with long distance shots that your onboard flash wont reach.
i did try with coffee beans but not spectacular. Will have to try a pepper or some other high contrast object.
web http://www.wix.com/waterdropphotos/tabletop
http://www.flickr.com/photos/by_davidi/
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Now looking at getting some off camera flash guns, If I was you I would certainly have a go at the pepper or chilli, the bright red makes a superb contrast against the black.
Dave
http://cn.myfinepix.com/gallery/265388
Upload to IHC Challenges Tutorial
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i got a tomato.
that will have to suffice until the sunday shop
hot tomato - -would that work?
web http://www.wix.com/waterdropphotos/tabletop
http://www.flickr.com/photos/by_davidi/
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I have the hippy incense cones and camera, but unfortunately not the rest of the equipment, let alone technical ability or patience to try it.
Interesting stuff though. Well done.
http://www.myfinepix.co.uk/competition/entry/467757
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wow, when you see as set up its a lot simpler than it looks (when you just look at the photos)
I dont have a remote flash, but probably will one day, thanks so much for sharing!
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wooooooooooooooooow ... but what is the settings when you take the pictures ??
And the pic are pretty good .... good work