Smokey snowflake

[cdryden]

The cold weather got the best of me. So, since I am stuck inside I decided to take some smoke pictures and came up with this. (after a little rearranging in photoshop)

 

[sm4him]

That might just be the best smoke photograph I've ever seen!!

Or I might just be so sleep deprived at the moment that it seems that way. Either way, that is very, very cool!

Did you "see" the snowflake immediately? How long did it take you to go from the original photo to the final product?

 

[ronlane]

Very cool. I would be interested in hearing how you created this one too.

 

[cdryden]

That might just be the best smoke photograph I've ever seen!!

Or I might just be so sleep deprived at the moment that it seems that way. Either way, that is very, very cool!

Did you "see" the snowflake immediately? How long did it take you to go from the original photo to the final product?

I didn't see it right away, I was playing with it and thought about doing a kaleidoscope type effect and changed my mind once I saw it turning out to look like a snowflake. The whole thing to maybe 45 minutes to post process. Glad you like it.

 

[cdryden]

Here it the original photo, straight out of the can, converted to jpeg.

 

[Nettles]

Clever work.

 

[annamaria]

Really like this. Can you share how you did it?

 

[cdryden]

Really like this. Can you share how you did it?

Sure. It's the standard set up for smoke shots. I used a black background, incense sticks, lit the smoke from the side with a LED flash light (a synced flash would be much better, I am waiting on a e-ttl cord in the mail). I used my wide angle 16mm Rokinon lens with the aperture wide open. Turn the lights off and set the aperture as fast as you can and still get a decent exposure. Set focus on manual.
The important thing is to light the smoke from the side and not the front. (you don't want to light the background) Using a strong flash is key to getting a good image though. Mine is a bit fuzzy and grainy. Which reminds me, set your ISO as low as possible.
Then all you need to do is take a few hundred pictures! Some will be in focus some wont. The smokes moves in and out of focus so you just have to take a bunch and see what you get. Hope that helps. Youtube also has a bunch of videos explaining the technique. Just have fun with it and experiment.

 

[annamaria]

Really like this. Can you share how you did it?

Sure. It's the standard set up for smoke shots. I used a black background, incense sticks, lit the smoke from the side with a LED flash light (a synced flash would be much better, I am waiting on a e-ttl cord in the mail). I used my wide angle 16mm Rokinon lens with the aperture wide open. Turn the lights off and set the aperture as fast as you can and still get a decent exposure. Set focus on manual.
The important thing is to light the smoke from the side and not the front. (you don't want to light the background) Using a strong flash is key to getting a good image though. Mine is a bit fuzzy and grainy. Which reminds me, set your ISO as low as possible.
Then all you need to do is take a few hundred pictures! Some will be in focus some wont. The smokes moves in and out of focus so you just have to take a bunch and see what you get. Hope that helps. Youtube also has a bunch of videos explaining the technique. Just have fun with it and experiment.

Thanks a lot will have to try this. Looks like fun!

 

[sm4him]

A few days late, but…

Nominated for POTM for March.
Technically should have gone in the February pool, but an allowance was made because it was posted so late in the month.
This is why you should never post anything really brilliant at the end of the month--not enough time for someone to nominate them.