Smoke Part 1

[RobNZ]

Tonight it was time to have a quick go at smoke.

These 2 stood out as my wife and I could see the forms pretty quickly, when reviewing the RAW files, I have then enhanced and cleaned them up a little, and used some selective colouring in one.

The Guardian

....love

The first one, The Guardian I quite like but I am not sure about all the empty space bottom left, but then again......

The 2nd, love, in my opinion is gold, I had just finished saying to my wife how cool it would be to get a heart kinda shape and sure enough 4 or 5 later "love" appeared, the heart has been selectively coloured to really draw the eye, overall though I feel the smoke is too underexposed and the insence stick is blown out on the bottom side.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

 

[Tiny]

number 2 would look a lot better if the heart wasn't colored.

 

[fokker]

number 2 would look a lot better if the heart wasn't colored.

I disagree. There is a time and a place for hating on selective colouring but I think this isn't one of them, IMHO it works well.

 

[FattyMcJ]

number 2 would look a lot better if the heart wasn't colored.

I disagree. There is a time and a place for hating on selective colouring but I think this isn't one of them, IMHO it works well.

+1 :thumbup:

 

[RobNZ]

Does anyone see what we can see in the first image, not as obvious as the 2nd but once you see it you cant help but see it.

Anyone?

 

[Olympus E300]

Does anyone see what we can see in the first image, not as obvious as the 2nd but once you see it you cant help but see it.

Anyone?

Nope...Not me. On another note, I to like the selective color in the second photo. The heart being red works for me!! Well done!

- Dan

 

[mdtusz]

I see a face of sorts in the first and because of the name, I thought of Achilles.

 

[fokker]

Does anyone see what we can see in the first image, not as obvious as the 2nd but once you see it you cant help but see it.

Anyone?

Sorry can't see it, dying to know though.

 

[RobNZ]

I see a face of sorts in the first and because of the name, I thought of Achilles.

You got it, semi profile of a face looking down to the left.

Maybe if your not seeing the full image it could be harder to see perhaps.

 

[BekahAura]

It's only since I joined this forum that I learned the term for what I had been doing in photoshop lately: selective coloring. Why does everyone seem to hate this? I love selective coloring and I think I've had some success with it (but that's for a later C&C post of my own).

I absolutely love the 2nd one! I think the selective coloring is what made the heart pop out and of course I saw it right away before reading further. The incense stick may be a little blown out, but it's not too bad, my eye was never really drawn to it because the smoke right above it is pretty bright.

When I learned what you saw in the 1st one, you're right, I couldn't help but see it myself. It looks like someone's profile.

I'm sorry I'm not being helpful, I have no advice because they are both pretty awesome! Great job on these. I've always wanted to photograph smoke and now I'm going to have to try it out.

Bekah

 

[myfotoguy]

Cool, both of them. That profile was easier to see in the smaller image.

IMO the selective coloring totally works here, nice job! Especially neat since you just told your wife it would be cool to get that shape.

 

[PJL]

I personally think the selective coloring in the 2nd photo works really well. I could see that being used in a commercial application.

By the way, where in NZ are you? I recently spent 2 weeks there and I didn't want to leave.

 

[RobNZ]

I personally think the selective coloring in the 2nd photo works really well. I could see that being used in a commercial application.

By the way, where in NZ are you? I recently spent 2 weeks there and I didn't want to leave.

We live at a place called Papamoa Beach which is about 2 hours south of Auckland on the east coast.

Further to your commercial application comment, I do intend to do more smoke and master it best I can, the idea is to find the ones with recogniseable shapes and sell them as one offs perhaps as canvases that I am already selling, there is not too much work post if you get things correct first up. I got 2 first time round with only 60 shots, about a third of which were instantly discarded, so that left 40, about 30 were interesting and about 10 that had shapes, so the odds seem good.

Random and unique art?

 

[fokker]

I personally think the selective coloring in the 2nd photo works really well. I could see that being used in a commercial application.

By the way, where in NZ are you? I recently spent 2 weeks there and I didn't want to leave.

We live at a place called Papamoa Beach which is about 2 hours south of Auckland on the east coast.

Further to your commercial application comment, I do intend to do more smoke and master it best I can, the idea is to find the ones with recogniseable shapes and sell them as one offs perhaps as canvases that I am already selling, there is not too much work post if you get things correct first up. I got 2 first time round with only 60 shots, about a third of which were instantly discarded, so that left 40, about 30 were interesting and about 10 that had shapes, so the odds seem good.

Random and unique art?

Cool - I'm sorta halfway between rotorua and Taupo. Papamoa is a really nice spot.

Would you mind sharing how exactly you did the photos? I've got a fair idea but would interested to hear your take on it. I'm guessing a fast shutter speed (up around max sync speed) and a small aperture (f/8-11) to block out most of the ambient light. Then a single strobe, perhaps with a snoot or a grid, placed low to the left or right of the camera on a high power setting to illuminate the smoke. Am I close?

 

[RobNZ]

I personally think the selective coloring in the 2nd photo works really well. I could see that being used in a commercial application.

By the way, where in NZ are you? I recently spent 2 weeks there and I didn't want to leave.

We live at a place called Papamoa Beach which is about 2 hours south of Auckland on the east coast.

Further to your commercial application comment, I do intend to do more smoke and master it best I can, the idea is to find the ones with recogniseable shapes and sell them as one offs perhaps as canvases that I am already selling, there is not too much work post if you get things correct first up. I got 2 first time round with only 60 shots, about a third of which were instantly discarded, so that left 40, about 30 were interesting and about 10 that had shapes, so the odds seem good.

Random and unique art?

Cool - I'm sorta halfway between rotorua and Taupo. Papamoa is a really nice spot.

Would you mind sharing how exactly you did the photos? I've got a fair idea but would interested to hear your take on it. I'm guessing a fast shutter speed (up around max sync speed) and a small aperture (f/8-11) to block out most of the ambient light. Then a single strobe, perhaps with a snoot or a grid, placed low to the left or right of the camera on a high power setting to illuminate the smoke. Am I close?

Heya fokker, Reporoa area? I use to paraglide down there, Paeroa Ranges, freakin awesome.

You almost nailed that, f/11 1/160th ISO 100, 18-55mm EF-S kit lens.

Single strobe off to the right with blinkers on to reduce stray light hitting BG and a desk lamp off to the left (wrapped some mailer pamphlet around the lamp shade to also reduce stray light (No.8 Kiwi styles ) so I could focus on the smoke. Hand held and it killed my back and I was a sweaty mess, lmao, rather warm here lately as you know.

This is the youtube video that helped me for this shoot.

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2d281_HoEQ]YouTube - Smoke Photography made simple - week 62[/ame]

However I think I can do it a better way. So will experiment within the next few days and see if my new idea works out, hence the title being Smoke Part 1.