Shoot smoke in a dim lit room

[mknabster]

I need to shoot people in their natural environments for one of my classes, and one of my friends volunteered for me to shoot her smoking hookah in her apartment. She has the hipee vibe in her room and shooting her in there would be ideal. So I'm planning on shooting her with her hookah, and will have the ambient light in her room as well as my radio triggered 430EX to work with. Any ideas of how I cans setup the light creatively? I was thinking about doing a halo effect with her as well as some macro views of her smoking. So basically in terms of lighting, what should i have the exposure level set at in her room on the flash. The class hasn't really taught lighting at all, but i have my equipment so i would like t use it. Any suggestions?

[whuband]

With only a single strobe and no light modifiers you might want to also experiment with other lighting sources, such as a window or light from a lamp to get a good effect. I'd be looking at an overall mood, but I can see some applications for closeups, for example; backlit lips exhaling smoke.

[mknabster]

Thanks for the recommendations, my main concern is the room lighting, since it is considerably dim as it is, and I don't want to have to use ISO if I don't need to to amp it up. But I'll give things a shot and post back. Thanks

[nathancarter]

There are some interesting smoke setups in the General Photography Talk section, in the "Post your setup and results" thread. Maybe experiment with a constant smoke source like incense, before heading over to photograph your friend.

[mknabster]

That's a good idea with the incense nathan, thanks for the recommendation

[nathancarter]

Post your results and any tips you get! One of my friends smokes and I've been dying to get her to pose for some creative shots for me.