The Dinosaur Hunter Series

Jeff G · Jul 29, 2018

Smoke, great set, I too think the last shot is my favorite. She looks like she just spotted a T-rex! Would have loved to see the shot with the fog but it certainly didn't take anything away from these by not having it.

adamhiram · Jul 29, 2018

I’ll leave my usual comment on your photos - great shots of an adorable subject, and I’m always blown away by your staging and props! Shot #3 is my favorite on its own, but they tell a great story as a set. I’m a little disappointed we didn’t get to see the fog machine in action!

smoke665 · Jul 29, 2018

@Jeff G and @adamhiram Thank you guys!!! A little behind the scenes just for you guys a little practice/concept test shot. Guess if the fog freaked her out that bad, the fire would have scarred her for life LOL (joke - the fire and light was post, and I'm still learning to do it right).

Lessons learned on fog

Make sure your subject is okay with it!!!!
A little bit goes a long way. Even a small cheap, Walmart fog machine will likely make all the fog you need for a studio.
It's far better to click it on and off rapidly, as it can build up in a hurry.
The fog coming out of the machine is fairly warm and like warm air it rises quickly. If you want a haze in the air then no problem. If you want a low lying ground effect fog, then the cooler you can get it the better. I used the hose off my shop vac filled with ice cubes. It worked well enough to give me about 5 mins or so of shooting before it started rising. Running it through dry ice if you can get it might work even better.
Using fog you need a helper!!! Someone who can turn it on and off, direct it, fan it to make it swirl, etc.
Even though you run the risk of lens flare the more you can get the light behind the fog the better it shows. I had a light low on the left at 90 degrees, in the space between the props and the background. Even though there was fog there, it really didn't show up.
It's amazing fun!!!!!