shooting steam

[doctorjames]

Hi, any general tips and pointers for shooting steam....

Im looking to capture steam coming from a hot cup of water (sounds pretty boring I know).

Equipment available:

a cold night

a77 in manual with wireless flash trigger

2 x off camera strobes

1 x light stand with shoot through umbrella

1 x small soft box

1 x reflector

lots of white card.

What I want to capture really clearly is the whisps of steam coming off the water and out of the glass.

Thanks in advance

James

[CapnJack]

I'm just guessing here- I'm no expert. I'll give this guess based on some lab equipment I use.

Try a dark background and light from the side. You'll see the "steam" from the condensed water droplets that scatter light.

[Biomech]

What he said.

If you get stuck, I'd shoot the steam on it's own against a black background and then use a photoshop layer blending mode to get it into the actual photo.

[doctorjames]

Originally Posted by Biomech

What he said.

If you get stuck, I'd shoot the steam on it's own against a black background and then use a photoshop layer blending mode to get it into the actual photo.

Yes, I thought this might achieve a better effect, as even with a snoot im going to way over expose the glass (source of steam) to get the steam exposed anywhere near right...

I didnt want to 'cheat' though, but think I may have to.

[metallion58]

Maybe you can try it this way.