shooting smoke?

[Joe_Gravelle]

I'm having a very difficult time getting decent shots while shooting a burning inscent stick to capture the neat smoke patters. I'm using the light coming in from my sliding glass door and a piece of black posterboard as a backdrop.

the background looks grey in the shot, the smoke is barely visible, and.. I'm not happy lol

what do I do?

I have a visa card, should I throw it at my laptop with BH's page open?

[CamDiver]

Nope, the answer is very easy. Go to an office supplies shop and get yourself some non reflective coated paper, then if set up your little arena with a slightly bowed backdrop, semi circular, put your incense stick in place and light from the bottom with flash if possible, that or get a flashlight to point vertically up through the smoke. Set the camera focus as desired and then turn out all other light sources, shoot in a dark room if possible.

That is how I managed the following:

http://i379.photobucket.com/albums/oo235/CamDiver/Smoke-Trails.jpg

You will need to crush the blacks in photoshop at the end so slightly over expose your image. Colors come from adding a gradient fill.

Cheers,
Mark.

[Joe_Gravelle]

how powerful of a flashlight are we talking here?

I have a LED flashlight that is powered by three AAA(surely not bright enough.. maybe a mag light and shoot with tungesten for WB?

I bought some black paper from Michaels.. but I dont know if its non reflective...


I am buying a 430EXII before the rebate is over but then I need a master to fire it.. soo much lol

[Joe_Gravelle]

now I think i've got it but I had to bump the iso up to 1600 so I am seriously having some noise issue..

sadness

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y74/skateboarderx24/IMG_2592.jpg

also, focusing is a pita.. I need a better light or blow $800 on a dedicated flash and pocket wizard setup...

bump that

[Josue DG]

I got this:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v701/Jdmcivic93/Pics/blacksmoke-1.jpg

With the help of this thread:

First attempt at off-camera flash - smoke (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=666715)

And a nifty-fifty, XT, 420EX, and OC-SC.

[Joe_Gravelle]

yeah, no off camera flash here..

I did go out to wal mart and buy a 500W shop light thinking that should be enough..

I guess I am related to Tim Allen or something since its way overkill(I wont return it, maybe buy a second for a light to use for a light box or something)

[v35skyline]

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=691603

a black background is not necessary. just cut the ambient light out by using whatever shutter speed within your sync limits that will allow you to do so.

[Joe_Gravelle]

yeah.. all these tutorials are using frign flashes off the cam :(

Im going to just give up until I get one of those...


I am also having difficulty with making a hue/saturation layer and being able to dodge out all the background to the smoke.. But until I get a flash I give up.. I've blown enough money today.

[Disassociation]

I have a visa card, should I throw it at my laptop with BH's page open?

I had to LOL at this :) Got funny looks at the office hehe

bw!

[drh681]

The reason the the black background is grey is your camera is overexposing.
the meter sees that black as "dark" and adusts the exposure to make it grey.

so try this,
set the exposure mode to manual, the ISO to 100, take a meter reading of the back ground and adust the camera settings till the pointer is in the middle of the scale.
Now adjust the meter reading by reducing the exposure by two stops. that should darken the the back enough to show the smoke even by window light.

and yes, you should by another bigger flash ( 430 EX or 580 EX ) and an off camera shoe cord, you will want it for other stuff too.

;)

[CarDogg13]

I used dry ice, a black t-shirt, and just the built in flash on my camera for this.

I focused the camera manually, and took a whole bunch of shots. Some were out of focus, but the ones that were in focus turned out okay.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/216/485582298_4534ffeb3c_b.jpg

[supamatt]

That picture is cool, almost like liquid as it comes out

[fotofun]

maybe this tutorial will help?
10 Tips To Shoot Smoke (http://www.shotaddict.com/tips/article_10+Tips+To+Shoot+Smoke.html)

CarDogg13, great picture!

[bunyarra]

yeah.. all these tutorials are using frign flashes off the cam :(

Im going to just give up until I get one of those...


I am also having difficulty with making a hue/saturation layer and being able to dodge out all the background to the smoke.. But until I get a flash I give up.. I've blown enough money today.

Sadly Joe, to do what you want, the off camera light source really is the main way. You could try a strong LED flashlight to the side of the camera and aimed through the smoke.

If you use a snoot or grid on the light source, your black background will stay black and need no cleaning up.

These were taken in about an hour with a gridded Elinchrom and a black cloth with an incense stick for the smoke.

http://photosignals.smugmug.com/gallery/8716472_xzxSK#576185068_tDgkU

http://photosignals.smugmug.com/photos/577416856_EWvYr-L-1.jpg

http://photosignals.smugmug.com/photos/576186355_2HDtF-L-3.jpg

[competent123]

I finally managed to do it,

i had to fix the exposure level manually since the camera auto exposure detection was flawed, it detected black as dark ( as a pro pointed out)

[lebshiff21]

Neat stuff - going to give this a go soon.

[bunyarra]

http://photosignals.smugmug.com/photos/582589068_5YJWc-M.jpg