Smoke

[PhotoWrangler]

I had absolutely nothing to do today, and I didn't feel like smelling like fixer, so I got out the old digital camera and played with smoke.

 

[RedVixen81]

That looks awesome... would love to give that a try myself but i am new to DSLR and dont have a lot of gear.. eventually though i will take a crack at it...wonder if you could do the same with an actual smoke exhaling the smoke slowly?

 

[PhotoWrangler]

All you need is a camera and a single flash.

 

[RedVixen81]

will the regular old pop up flash work?

 

[Frequency]

i liked it...can i suggest something...since it is natural for smoke to rise up and that too less patterned, but more spread with rising, please apply the same effect on such a stream of smoke

 

[PhotoWrangler]

What?

 

[Josh66]

will the regular old pop up flash work?

When I have done this, I liked it best with the flash to the side - so, no, the pop-up flash would not be able to do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be a flash though. Any bright light should work. The trick is to not let any of the light hit the background (assuming you want a black background).

What?

I think he wants you to rotate it 90 degrees.

 

[PhotoWrangler]

I think he wants you to rotate it 90 degrees.

Oh. In that case, no! LOL I shot it with the intent of turning it sideways. LOL!

 

[RedVixen81]

will the regular old pop up flash work?

When I have done this, I liked it best with the flash to the side - so, no, the pop-up flash would not be able to do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be a flash though. Any bright light should work. The trick is to not let any of the light hit the background (assuming you want a black background).

So if i had my husband off camera with a flash light, could that be bright enough?

 

[Josh66]

will the regular old pop up flash work?

When I have done this, I liked it best with the flash to the side - so, no, the pop-up flash would not be able to do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be a flash though. Any bright light should work. The trick is to not let any of the light hit the background (assuming you want a black background).

So if i had my husband off camera with a flash light, could that be bright enough?

Yes, that should work. You will have to play around with the shutter speed to get the exposure/smoke movement you want though.

I have done it with shop lights like you would use for working on your car in the garage. A flash is definitely more convenient though.

The flash will pretty much freeze the smoke. With a non-flash light, your shutter speeds will probably be long enough to show a little motion, you just have to find a way to make that work to your advantage.

 

[KmH]

will the regular old pop up flash work?

When I have done this, I liked it best with the flash to the side - so, no, the pop-up flash would not be able to do that. It doesn't necessarily have to be a flash though. Any bright light should work. The trick is to not let any of the light hit the background (assuming you want a black background).

So if i had my husband off camera with a flash light, could that be bright enough?

Yes, but strobes light (flash) can stop the motion of the smoke, whereas with a constant light source like a flashlight it has to be bright enough to keep the camera shutter speed up.

Another issue is keeping light off of your black background, another reason the light has to be from the side.

I use a different editing method for adding color to the smoke:

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