Smoke: A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to...

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to see what some of you can come up with.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

FAQ: How to Photograph Smoke
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-115612-1.html

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Nikonian, I was hoping for a comment or critique

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Dave Johnson wrote:

A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to see what some of you can come up with.

That is a very fancy smoke photo. I love the silky look of these photos. This one looked so extravagant that it made me think .... post processing! I realized this could be transformed into all kinds of different looks. I doubt if transformation is what you had in mind, but in five minutes I saw that the possibilities were endless. Here is just one variation in a colored pencil look. It doesn't look like smoke anymore.

Nightski

Dave Johnson wrote:

A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to see what some of you can come up with.

This looks like fun Dave. Would you like to tell us what you did? How did you get the black background and how did you light the smoke. It's a fun pic to look at.

charryl Loc: New Mexico, USA

I really like this effect. I got a very similar effect when I dropped food coloring into water. I like your method better. (It has to be easier and less messy...plus it must smell nice) After I shot my "smoke" I used the "merge" editing options in PS with other shots...in my case I experimented with flowers. The effect that resulted was as if the flower was immersed in the smoke.

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

Very beautiful and mesmerizing image, Dave. Do a series :)

naturepics43 Loc: Hocking Co. Ohio - USA

Dave Johnson wrote:

A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to see what some of you can come up with.

Very interesting image. For me, I'm distracted by the hot spot towards the bottom. Lighting must be very tricky for this type of shot. Exposure looks good to me. Just enough DOF to give it a mysterious look. Well done. I may try my own this winter.

Emm5

Dave Johnson wrote:

A few of us got together Monday and shot some incense smoke. It was lots of fun and every shot was unique. This can be manipulated using different colors to suit. I'd love to see what some of you can come up with.

Nice clarity ! Curious how much insense did you have to burn at once? Many sticks or a single stick?
Can you tell how you did this?
It came out really nice sharpness, color , clarity.

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Niconian72 posted some links for smoke photography but I'll give a n overview of what we did as well. We set the incense on a table and used a black background. We put our strobe (flash will work too) to one side, careful not to light the background. Use your lens hood to shade your front element. We shot these from about 4 or 5 feet away. I used my 105 Sigma Macro but any medium length lens will work. We used 1/125, ISO 100, Aperture about 8. You'll want to focus on the tip of the incense and recompose or use manual focus. You'll end up taking a lot of photos (all unique) and as Linda said, it's pretty easy to get a series of shots.

You'll want a room where the air doesn't move a lot. We used a fork to introduce turbulence into the smoke. Have fun.

Heirloom Tomato Loc: Oregon

Dave Johnson wrote:

Niconian72 posted some links for smoke photography... (show quote)

Aha, a fork! I was wondering how you did that. Very clever. You did a good job, would love to see more. I promise not to turn them into drawings. :P

Country's Mama Loc: Michigan

Ok people comment and critique.
Does it have impact? To me yes I find it fascinating. I love how the different shades of blue interact to create depth.
I think your technique was excellent. The exposure and post processing all add to the image.
While the idea is not unique the process that you used to get the shot make it your own.
The composition is nice though I would prefer the smoke not be disappearing off the top of the photo. I think it would have been better to have it gradually dissipating and not exiting.
Nice job with this.
Sorry, I had this page open for awhile before responding. I see that some of you have offered a critique. :thumbup:

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Emm5 wrote:

Nice clarity ! Curious how much insense did you have to burn at once? Many sticks or a single stick?
Can you tell how you did this?
It came out really nice sharpness, color , clarity.

We tried it with two but our best results came when we used one.

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

Country's Mama wrote:

Ok people comment and critique. br Does it have im... (show quote)

Thanks CM. It was fun doing these and I like the results.

Dave Johnson Loc: Grand Rapids, Michigan

naturepics43 wrote:

Very interesting image. For me, I'm distracted by the hot spot towards the bottom. Lighting must be very tricky for this type of shot. Exposure looks good to me. Just enough DOF to give it a mysterious look. Well done. I may try my own this winter.

This is one of those places where you just take a bunch of shots and choose the best. Cropping is also a useful tool here.