Smoke photography...this time with a Point & Shoot

[benjamin_]

I was surprised at how easy it was to take smoke pictures with a proper setup, so I thought I'd challenge myself a bit and try some with my SD1000.

It was tough!

C+C welcome and encouraged :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/benjamin_/sm_1088_blue.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/benjamin_/sm_1089_fixed.jpg


Here is a pic of the setup. The camera is missing because I needed it to take the shot. ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/benjamin_/sm_how.jpg

I had to hold up the paper behind the smoke (while the spotlights were on it) to fool the camera into taking a quick exposure, focus the camera, set off the 10 sec. timer, unplug the spotlights, and set off my off-camera flash at just the right time.

Here's the camera I used:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/benjamin_/sm_camera.jpg

[haydskies]

Excellent work. The noise though, ek!

[benjamin_]

Thanks! I hear ya about the noise, but there was really nothing I could do to prevent it. :)

[haydskies]

Thanks! I hear ya about the noise, but there was really nothing I could do to prevent it. :)

I see... so no way you could've shot at 400 or 200? Was 1/100th sec necessary?
I like the blue tone...

[benjamin_]

I see... so no way you could've shot at 400 or 200? Was 1/100th sec necessary?
I like the blue tone...

I tried the lower ISO's but it didn't work. Since I have no manual controls over shutter speed and aperture, I had to "fool" the camera into shooting faster by focusing on a white sheet of paper that was illuminated by the two lamps on the table. The reason I couldn't use the lower ISO's was that I when I set off the flash with the DOF preview button on the camera, it fired the flash a bunch of times in quick succession. When I shot with slower shutter speeds, I got a kind of "ghosting" effect in the smoke.

Example at 1/15 sec. and ISO 100:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v244/benjamin_/sm_ghosting.jpg

[haydskies]

I see! Cool stuff.