Photographing smoke.....

[jks]

Hi,


Can anyone share a few tips on how to nicely photograph smoke?? be it coming from a lit cigarette [ i want the smoke to appear in those somewhat wavy lines rising from the cigarette [:)] ] or those billows od smoke rising from hot food.


will look forward to hearing from you

[Ralph]

Sounds like off camera lighting is your best partner here. Theoretically, you could position your off camera light to an angle that would refract light on the smoke particles - just like how rave parties illuminate the scene with lasers and smoke. Alternatively, slow shutter speeds would make a nice trail.





My 2 cents.

[Colin]

What he said.


I lean towards the faster shutter speeds vs. time lapse, unless you like having a hazy cloud.


Pay attention to lighting, but also background. Smoke in the light is pretty... light. Dark backgrounds (at least behind the smoke) allow you to see the smoke well.

[travischance]

I'd recommend positioning your cigarette against a dark background. I shot the attached tripod mounted, manual focus & 430EX mounted on the camera. I bounced the light off the ceiling & used a remote shutter release.


Exif (Manual mode @ f2.8 for 3.2seconds). The original was a little flat so I added a blue filter in CS4. I hope this helps.


http://www.travischancephotography.com/Simplistic-Composition/SimplisticComposition/Project-3652010-01-1010/762508458_iuddM-M.jpg

[crosbyharbison]

If you're going to be doing tripod based work with a stationary subject I would experiment with your flash's stroboscopic (or repeating) flash mode (I know the 580 ex II has it, not sure about others)