first try at smoke photography

[timputtick]

just thought i'd give a go… obviously had to put some unrealistic interesting colours in on photoshop, critique please?


1)





2)




3) before you ask why this is pink, it looks like a flamingo so it had to be done!

 

[KmH]

You did pretty good for your first time.

I recommend you keep the incense stick out of the shot. Be very careful to keep light off the background.

You can crop the photos. Make the photo a negative to change the background to white, which is why you take care to keep light off the background. I us e afelt material because it really absorbs any stray light.

Here is yours cropped, rotated, and made a negative. As you can see your background was not completely black, because the background in the negative has some color to it;

I used 2 incense sticks to make this one;

 

[KmH]

I forgot to mention, you can use more than 1 color, and/or you can color only parts of the smoke:

Droid

The Arbor

The Rose

Or add some graphics/text;

 

[timputtick]

thanks, yeah i only had a black piece of card handy. Thanks for the tips
i'll try again soon and post the results

 

[timputtick]

wow!.. they look really good, how did you get the two colours in the smoke? thanks

 

[KmH]

It looks like the shift key on your keyboard is only working part of the time.

Copy the background layer, or make a new blank transparent layer, and set the blending mode to 'Color'. Select a soft edged brush of the appropriate size, and a foreground color you want to use. Apply the color where you want it with the brush.

Again, a black background is very important, kind of like making the appropriate capital letters when you type a post, or the brush strokes will show on both the background and the smoke, making a half-assed looking piece of work.

 

[MrsLittle]

Awesome!

 

[gsgary]

Or you can gel the light
Lady in Red

Or Lady in Blue

 

[MelissaP]

Wow so neat, timputtick. I think they look great KmH yours are amazing as well-love the rose!