Another Smoke Photo Tutorial

[Red Dragon]

Well, here is my setup:

Nikon D7000 / SB-900 flash off camera mounted on a tripod / black background / A desktop lamp to help camera get the focus (yes, I use autofocus )Incense...patience

I shot this adjusting camera in manual mode, F11, 1/250 , I don't use a tripod to get different angles and distances. Try and error!

Flash at the lateral, off camera (scheme below) and with some kind of piece of black paper attached on it to block the light reaching the background. The desktop lamp can be placed at the opposite side and it's just used to illuminate the smoke and help camera getting the focus faster. It's important to have too much light on smoke ! I shoot with ambient light,because the one that comes from flash it's stronger so there's no need to be in a dark room.



After some shots, I do some basic corrections,colors and crops in LR3. No Photoshop at all.

Well, I think that's it. I don't know if I can post an Youtube video tutorial of another guy. It's very nice and much easier to understand that seeing my poor scheme If there's no problem I post the link here.

Feel free to ask any questions. Good Luck !

[JPN]

This is my first attempt at smoke photography. I did not have a black background so I plased the flash behind the incence sticks aiming it upwards to the ceiling. My shot is not as impressive. Can it be that different incence sticks create different smoke effects or is it the position of the flash or post production.

Regards

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by JPN

This is my first attempt at smoke photography. I did not have a black background so I plased the flash behind the incence sticks aiming it upwards to the ceiling. My shot is not as impressive. Can it be that different incence sticks create different smoke effects or is it the position of the flash or post production.

Regards

Sorry, but I can't see your picture

[JPN]

Sorry I uploaded the picture as an attachement but it does not seem to work. Is there any other way of getting pictures on the stream

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by JPN

Sorry I uploaded the picture as an attachement but it does not seem to work. Is there any other way of getting pictures on the stream

Why don't you post on Flickr (or other photo site) and send the link?

[JPN]

I inserted the image from facebook. That seem to have worked.

[IMG]

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by JPN

I inserted the image from facebook. That seem to have worked.

[IMG]

Hi! Now it's ok!

Well, I guess it's only missing light and a slight better focus. I'm not a professional or expert in this kind of photography,but it's important to know what's your setup. Maybe, if you use a black background (a put a piece of cardboard) with lateral flash would help more. Also,let me know what settings you used on your camera,like aperture,speed,ISO and so

BTW, Did you use any PP ? It's important to apply some crop and cleaning parts of smoke not desirable

Anyway, it's not bad at all...my first ones were really bad

[JPN]

Thanks for the response. I think you are right with the focus. I used manual focus but obviously did not get it spot on. The other settings were: F18, 1/125 and ISO 100. I did no post processing. I will definately try this again with a better prepared setup e.g. background, focus and f-stop.

[sourav]

I had clicked this when I had a P&S
I had used flash though.

EXIF:
Model: Canon PowerShot A470
ISO: 80
Exposure: 1/60 sec
Aperture: 9.0
Focal Length: 6.3mm
Flash Used: Yes

[Red Dragon]

Originally Posted by JPN

Thanks for the response. I think you are right with the focus. I used manual focus but obviously did not get it spot on. The other settings were: F18, 1/125 and ISO 100. I did no post processing. I will definately try this again with a better prepared setup e.g. background, focus and f-stop.

Just some tips: Try increasing speed to 1/160 at least! I use 1/250 or more,since smoke formations are very fast sometimes/ I don't know what camera and flash you used, but try to put a litle more power on strobe because you can see there's some parts of the smoke dark/ Use a desktop lamp to illuminate it! Why? It will help your camera get focus (I shoot handheld with autofocus ) and will not take over the flash role since light that comes out of strobe is much more strong/ You can also try the common way of focusing on the incense's tip/ It's important some PP.../Let's see your next photo!

All the best.