Need help with lighting and some other stuff

[TheGenericusername]

Hey guys im having a problem. I found a cool idea to try it might be fimiliar to you all, its coulured smoke. link http://sensitivelight.com/smoke2/ its taking pictures of insence smoke and then changing it color in PS, but im having trouble. first i dont know how to position the light to get the smoke to show up really visible, next i cant get it to focus on the smoke, im using a sony cybershot, i only have a film SLR so i want to use the digital before i try it on film. So any ideas as how to make this work?? please help I'm on christmas break and i need some new ideas to help pass the time.

 

[bango707]

generally when you are shooting any smoke or any type of atmosphere you will need to backlight it. I would try a hard source maybe 3/4 back adjust as needed. If you front light smoke then the light will end up bouncing back into the lens and cause some unwanted flares and fogging.

 

[Big Mike]

You pretty much know where the smoke will be, so you should be able to pre-focus...or at least focus on the source of the smoke.

As for lighting, I've never tried it...but Bango's advice seems like it would work. Once you get the camera and smoke set up, you can experiment by moving the light source around.