Is smoking good for dancers

[Luffy]

Was playing with the tripod and flash last night after seeing an artical on taking pics of smoke in a mag recently. When I downloaded them this morning this one reminded me of a lady dancing

[edddie_veddder]

Any tips on taking smoke photgraphy?, i've tried before with limited success!.

[Luffy]

Just stuck camera in tripod and set to manual 1s at F8


Set up a black background and position smoke source (I used and incense stick) about 3 feet in front of it
Focus on tip of incense stick and lock focus
Black out the room

set flash to about 1/8 power and trigger flash manually when the shutter is open I found it best to hold the flash at one side and below the smoke pointing it up at about 45 degrees

take plenty shots there is a lot of luck involved

[dazza74]

I bought "Digital Photo" mag as well yesterday. Looks to me on your picture you've also got close to a number "8" in shot with the way it's formed.

[Tobers]

Nice! I saw the same article and the pics look lovely. Looks like you've mastered it pretty well there!

[Luffy]

Tobers It looks ok here but I still have some work to do on the technique. That is a crop and its almost full size so no good to print. I need to get the background further back I was a little cramped for space with this and its only about a foot back but we live and learn.

[philaitman]

I havent read the mag article but I had fair success by adding a snoot to the flash to direct the light. I also set flash to about 1/8th power I think.

Luffy's is better than mine I think.

1/640 @f4 50mm

Colors from an overlay layer in Photoshop.

[Luffy]

I wouldn't say that they look good to me

Nice ones

[Paranormalist]

Luffy & philaitman
I think these are excellent.

[philaitman]

Actually I've just remember what I used for a snoot. I was having bother with the flash lighting the background too much and making it visable, probably because the room wasn't dark enough and I wasn't far enough away.

I spotted a sea salt tube (You knwo the big blue ones) in the recycling box, low and behold it fits perfectly over the head of an SB600, it now resides in my photo bit's and bobs box.

[ksten]

I've heard pringles packets make good snoots too.

Luffy & Philaitman: I like your smoke images. It's interesting to see what you can find in the photographs.

Cheers.

[vulkan75]

very abstract...I like em

[richard plumb]

how do you get the swirls in those? They look very regular. do you have to be careful about moving the air around?

[philaitman]

Originally Posted by richard plumb

how do you get the swirls in those? They look very regular. do you have to be careful about moving the air around?

Lots and lots of failed shots and very gentle waves of the hand to create 'very slight' movements of air. It's amazign how little you have to move to make the air move.

[dazza74]

Wonder whether you could use a "Giotto" rocket to provide some air blowing