Smoke - my first attempt

brvheart

Hello everyone -

I have wanted to do this for a long time and tonight I had fun doing it. I did run in to one issue - the black back drop (felt) was not true black. After the light hits it, it shows it's texture and some white/light color. I tried to fix this in post. One other issue was sharp in focus images - I think it is okay for a first time, but I will listen to your CC before I decide for sure.

Dogdots

The last one is my pick. How did you get it do look like that? Looks like a Kansas tornado

brvheart

Hi Mary -

That was just pure luck, while taking them you just lightly blow or wave your hand to disrupt the air and see what happens

Dogdots

brvheart wrote: »

Hi Mary -

That was just pure luck, while taking them you just lightly blow or wave your hand to disrupt the air and see what happens

Isn't 'pure luck' great

brvheart

Love it

kithylin

brvheart wrote: »

Hi Mary -

That was just pure luck, while taking them you just lightly blow or wave your hand to disrupt the air and see what happens

A friend of mine once told me on ICQ that photography is 20% skill 80% luck.

brvheart

Wise person

gtucker

These are awesome I love the color treatment, I did this one in my hotel room before an event...cigar smoke gets super thick so it photographs really well.

brvheart

Thanks Tucker

gtucker

As far as the backdrop, black foam board 3-4 feet behind your smoke would do the trick just fine, what kind of lighting did you use? position?

brvheart

I used a lamp on the right side to illuminate the smoke and a channeled flash on the left with "blinders" on it to focus the light.

Darren Troy C

Place a wide, salad-type spoon about an inch above the plume. You'll be amazed at the results! Use manual focus, shoot lots of frames and learn to spot the segments you're after instead of shooting everything that's there. Not sure what your subject-source was but incense both works well and leaves the area smelling quite nice.

brvheart

Thank you for the ideas Darren - I will give that a shot next time

And yes, I used a cinnamon/apple incense stick

Darren Troy C

Try again and let's see what you come up with!