Photographing Smoke
June 21st, 2009 by user: Jason [23]
What attracted me to smoke photography was the way you could create something amazing without loads of expensive equipment. I will try to break up each part of the photography process to make it easy to follow. There is a chance I will break this into two parts: The Photo and The Editing.
The Photo
Setup

The setup for taking the photo is pretty simple. You only need a few basic supplies to capture a great photo. This is what you will need:
- Camera (I know, I know…)
- Tripod
- A black background. Now this does not have to be something amazing. I have seem photos of people setting up a full studio set, when its not necessary. I used a $2.00 matte black foam board, but I have seen people use a stretched out black shirt, which will work just as well.
- A light source. The best light source is an off camera strobe or speedlight. I used a canon 430ex with a Pocket Wizard attached to fire it. I have read that a desk lamp or some other constant light source will work, but I have yet to try it. If you don’t have Pocket Wizards you can always use a sync cable. If you don’t have something to fire you flash of camera, this would be the one thing I would suggest buying. Besides making this process so much easier, it will always open up a new world of photography.
- Smoke, of course. There are plenty of ways to get smoke, but the best way is by using incense. It has a steady burn, its thick, and it smells.
Now to put the peices together. I set everything up on my kitchen table, leaning my black background board against something. About two to three feet in front of my background I have my incense. Incense is cheap, so buy a pack and a holder. I placed my camera on a tripod at the end of the table, only a few feet away from my incense. Try not to put your camera right up against the smoke, because I can’t imagine that is good for your camera. Use a zoom lens or a good narrow prime lens. I used a 17-50mm lens, which might be kind of wide, but its the lens I like, so get off my back.
The flash is the most important part of the process. I have read about people putting their flashes or strobes under glass tables, at an acute angle, and other weird spots. What I did (and what seems to be the standard) was put my flash on a crappy tripod at 90 degree angle from the camera, pointing towards the smoke. Something that could become a problem is not controlling the light from its source. If you light source is hitting a wide range of objects, it could splash onto your background, which would not make it black. What I did was narrowed my flashes light burst to 80mm and added a snoot to it. A snoot is a way to control where your flash is going. You could go out and buy one of these for your flashes, but lets be honest. You’re cheap. Its true, but so am I. I took a cardboard box, cut out a big square and wrapped it around my flash to get the size and shape right. I then cut it up, taped it together, and put it on my flash. Your flash or light source is whats going to be stopping the action. You’ll be shooting it either complete or almost complete darkness, so this little bit of light will be just enough to freeze the smoke.

Taking the Photo
Okay, so you’re pump. I know, its exciting. Calm down, though. Now we have to take the photo. This is how I went about setting up my camera and flash.
Focusing - It sucks. Its hard to do in complete darkness, so this is what I did. I set my camera to a narrow aperture, around F.10. This allows more of the photo to be in focus, which helps when the smoke starts to blow a foot forward and back. To focus I lit the incense and manually set my focus. You could also use your auto focus, then switch back to manual, to make sure your camera does not try to re-focus. Of course, I did this with the lights on.
Now with your focus ready to go, turn your flash on and take a few shots. You light meter on your camera is useless. I set my camera to the maximum sync speed my flash allows, which is 1/25o. Now, turn the lights off and keep taking photos, adjusting your flashes power until you get something you like.

The trick to this is to just keep taking photos making adjustments as you go along. Keep an eye on your flash, don’t let it spill on to your background. Once you start getting the image you like, blow the smoke around a little. Grab a spoon and cup some of the smoke. Play with it and have fun. Hopefully, this is easy to understand. If you have any questions send me and email, leave a comment, or talk to me on twitter.
Send me some of your photos, I would really like to see them. After I let this sink in for a while, I will post a blog explaining how I go about editting the photos. Have fun and send me some photos.



















