What's the Best Way to Capture Exhaust...

[rlriii13]

...without any light modifiers.


A friend of mine has been asking about shooting portraits of him with his dirtbike. As I rolled the idea around in my head this morning, I thought of one composition that would include the bike's exhaust plume. Then I realized that might be very difficult to capture, even with strobes and controlled lighting. We will probably be outdoors and without any light modifiers.


Does anyone have experience trying to capture such a subject? Can you offer me some pointers?

[Carlos Lindado]

Just take the pictures from a point where the smoke is more visible (I know this sounds obvious, but you can try taking the pictures when the smoke is against a contrasting background). Also, shutter speeds below 1/125 could contribute to better capture the smoke and some motion blur.


I think a polarizer filter could help too.

[ham]

The smoke/steam/whatever will appear denser the more of it you

[freelanceshots]

depends on if its a 4-stroke dirtbike or 2. For the 2 stroke mix up a small batch of gas with extra oil to get more smoke. On the four stroke you're out of luck if your looking for smoke. Smoke is a bad sign for the 4-stroke.

[DLS]

If its a 4-stroke, just add a touch of diesel fuel......that'll blow smoke[:P]


Well, better not......might be bad for the valves.....


FWIW, sometimes I've found exhaust is a bitthicker/whiter just after start-up when compared to a warm motor.


Good luck!


Damian

[clemmb]

Have the sun behind for back light.


I was also going to say add oil to the gas but other beat me to it. LOL[]


Mark

[rlriii13]

Backlighting with the sun was my initial plan.


And, I

[ham]

Cold air temp will increase the condensation in the air (as well as heat-haze I think).


Will be interested to see how you do.

[jimr]

Add it after the fact. Get some photos of the exhaust against a plain background and under your lighting control - then just adjust the scaling, angle, fade and overlay in the image to make it