Smoke experiments

[Pol]

Re: Smoke experiments

Oh this is just great! I love it Pol!

I might be tempted to have a bash as well some time. No external flash at the moment, so will have to wait until I get one of those.

One question....got any more?

I've kept maybe 5-6 to see if they're any good for the same sort of processing but only tackled one of them so far. Capturing an ideal, artistic plume of smoke is the main challenge actually and I haven't got the one I'd really like as yet. I'd like one that rises up fairly straight then swirls off into a clean, regular shaped sort of corkscew effect. So I'll probably have another go at it some time soon.

If you have no external flash you could still have a try with some form of continuous lighting or maybe experiment with the pop-up flash and some system of reflectors. I've used paper, card, white polystyrene tiles, crinkled cooking foil over cardboard and all sort of other household bits and pieces in the past - still do at times. 7dayshop also have a selection of 5 in 1 reflector kits at a reasonable price.


Pol

[Autumn]

Re: Smoke experiments

This is a first attempt, inspired by some of the smoke images from DJN. It's not in the same league as his recent ones but hey, you have to start somewhere, eh.




Pol

Excellent Pol. Must have a go, but got a lot on atm. I love the results of the other members too. There is obviously so much potential. It is so floaty.

[devilgas]

Re: Smoke experiments - getting freaky with it

Yay - that's fantastic! Good title too!

I'm finding part of the fun, and frustration, is managing to capture an 'artistic' plume of smoke. You certainly caught one there and with the colours bang on target! (I'd be adding a 'thumbs-up' smilie here if we had one available)

Pol

pure luck pol! i was playing around for an hour, trying coloured filters on the flash units, wafting bits of card around etc, shooting at random and chanced upon the above shot.

the kitchen setup was this....



oh yeah, it won the comp

[Pol]

Re: Smoke experiments - getting freaky with it

pure luck pol! i was playing around for an hour, trying coloured filters on the flash units, wafting bits of card around etc, shooting at random and chanced upon the above shot.

the kitchen setup was this....

oh yeah, it won the comp

Wahey! Congratulations on winning the comp - well deserved too!

I agree it's pure luck what smoke swirls you can manage to capture. I was flapping paper, blowing, sticking various lengths of joss into the pot to see what happened. It's fun.

Your setup is a lot tidier than mine, which I set up close to the PC so I could chimp and check quickly. I've just called thru to my husband to come and look at yours and he's had a rummage in his infamous "bargain box" and pulled out a set of coloured flash filters - red, orange and green! Methinks the incense is likely to be burning again sometime next week so I can fiddle and faff about and see what I can get. Wouldn't it be nice to get a set of traffic lights. Highly unlikely though, eh.

I'm attaching a snapshot of my own slightly chaotic setup. If you look between the tripod head and the camera strap you can see the 'oasis filled' old yoghurt pot on an old kitchen stool. That's what I used for the joss sticks.


Pol

[devilgas]

Re: Smoke experiments

and like an eejit, i totally forgot to comment on your shot...
i really like this as the smoke is pin sharp. one thing to try with smoke shots is rotating the canvas. if you go 90 deg anticlock, you can (with a bit of imagination) see a quiff laden jimmy hill

[devilgas]

Re: Smoke experiments - getting freaky with it

set of coloured flash filters - red, orange and green! Methinks the incense is likely to be burning again sometime next week so I can fiddle and faff about and see what I can get. Wouldn't it be nice to get a set of traffic lights. Highly unlikely though, eh.

it's a whole lot easier to do it with overlays in photoshop.
the worth contest didn't allow such mods so it had to be done with light. it was only an experiment after having seen some smoke shots in a mag somewhere, but just added my own little twist to proceedings!

[Pol]

Re: Smoke experiments

and like an eejit, i totally forgot to comment on your shot...
i really like this as the smoke is pin sharp. one thing to try with smoke shots is rotating the canvas. if you go 90 deg anticlock, you can (with a bit of imagination) see a quiff laden jimmy hill

Well my neck is now twisted like a length of old rope but I can't see Jimmy Hill in there.

Not all my shots showed sharp smoke but quite a lot of them did. I was aiming specifically for the sharpest lines I could get so those are the ones I tried to capture. I'd experimented the previous day and learned quite a lot from the mistakes I'd made.

This later batch were shot using a 50mm f.2.8 macro lens. I also moved the smoke source close to the camera with a fair distance between the smoke and the black background. That enabled me to approach the shots rather like I would if I was shooting macro, or at least very close focusing similar to the way I shot that poppy in a previous thread. I think it helped give me a better chance of capturing strong lines.

Many thanks for the idea of photoshopping layers of colours too. Inspired by that suggestion I've just done a quickie process of another of the shots I kept to experiment with the colours. Here's the result so far .. it's very addictive.

It's also interesting to look at the images either inverted or not, ie with the black background.



Pol

[devilgas]

Re: Smoke experiments

now that is way cool. top job!

[Pol]

Re: Smoke experiments

now that is way cool. top job!

Thank you.

I saw cleavage and feminine curves in that one. I mentioned it to my husband, he glanced at it, grinned and told me I was off my rocker.

Pol