# Playing with Smoke



## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

I finally managed to find somewhere that sells Joss Sticks to give this a go.

Here are a few first attempts but there are limitless possibilities and combinations possible. Need to work on keeping the detail in these though.

Comments welcome.


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

A Few More




























Some good PS practice here.


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## johnnyguitar (Mar 24, 2010)

Love it. How did you set up the shots/lighting?


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Held the Joss sticks vertically in a tap wrench. :lol::lol:

Focus on the tip of the joss stick then shove the lens into manual so it doesn't hunt. Then wind your tripod up so the stick is out of shot. I was at about 150-180mm i think (it was dark).

Using M mode, set a 1" exposure and about f4-8 i used f8.

You need lots of height on your joss stick. as the flash was held behind and below it.

Set your cam on timer, when the shutter opens, manually fire your flash. I was actually on the lowest possible setting to avoid blowing the smoke :lol::lol:. You can do that later in PS if you want.

If you want some interesting shapes in your smoke, tap the table top just before you fire the flash.

I can go through the PS steps but tomorrow as i'm off to bed.


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## npinks (Feb 25, 2008)

great photos

In the first 2 of your FEW MORE post, they look like animals
1st been a frog (slightly angry looking)
2nd looks like a pair of seahorses


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

npinks said:


> great photos
> 
> In the first 2 of your FEW MORE post, they look like animals
> 1st been a frog (slightly angry looking)
> 2nd looks like a pair of seahorses


My missus said the same about the 2nd. I can see a pair of jumping Dolphins.

It's like a big Warshack test :lol:


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Nice photos there mate, I really need to get myself a tripod so I can do some shots like these.


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Oh, i'm glad you're about.

I owe you a thanks. My camera bag arrived today and it is awesome for £21.50.


Tripods can be had quite cheaply. Mine was £15 (ebay). I'm not taking pictures in a force 9 very often or at super macro (or zoom) so it does the job.


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## butcher (Sep 3, 2010)

Gruffs said:


> Tripods can be had quite cheaply. Mine was £15 (ebay). I'm not taking pictures in a force 9 very often or at super macro (or zoom) so it does the job.


My son keeps nicking my old one, so I picked one up in ASDA for a tenner. It's not the smoothest running thing I've used, but for the price it's pretty solid and certainly does the job. Nice and weighty too, which isn't a bad thing unless you're lugging it around for miles. In fact it's pretty much just as good as the other one that cost £30.

Like the smoke shots. Keep meaning to do this myself, and I've been trying to think of shots I can take around the house, so there's my evening planned :thumb:


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Sorry, trying not to troll my own thread now :lol:.

A bit of useful info here:

Finding Joss Sticks is a complete pain, you can get them on the net but you have to wait. Creativity can't be stifled (read this as i had a night free as the missus didn't want me to do something). Getting them from a shop is a pain.

I found them in my local Indian owned shop. I believe they are used in Hindu prayer so a available there.

Cigarettes work well too but smell worse than the Joss Sticks (not good if you are a 10 week quitter like me too).

Get cracking :thumb:


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Gruffs said:


> Oh, i'm glad you're about.
> 
> I owe you a thanks. My camera bag arrived today and it is awesome for £21.50.
> 
> Tripods can be had quite cheaply. Mine was £15 (ebay). I'm not taking pictures in a force 9 very often or at super macro (or zoom) so it does the job.


No problem mate :thumb: I've not used mine yet but it's there for when I need it and the quality is excellent.

I've been looking at the £25 tripod in Jessops but might have a look in Asda as I will only use it for shots like this or group family photos. Can't see me carrying it anywhere.

The photos above with the white background, did you put some card behind the smoke or do that in PP?


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

They are all on a black background.

In a darkened room, fire your flash behind and below the smoke so the flash is out of shot. The only thing exposed is the smoke so the rest of the image is Black.

All you do then is invert the colours in PS or similar and you have black smoke on a white background.

Then use the gradient tool(s) to put the colours in (or not). You can even over expose bits to create a gradient in the colour masks to white (or black) to show highlights.

These two are the same image but inverted.



















Adjusting the levels/curves will bring the smoke in/out to different degrees to give different effects. The first picture is quite whispy. The 2nd on the "a few more" is quite strong.

It's a good exercise in PS this as well as set-up and execution.

You don't need a tripod. Rest the cam on something steady and use the timer (10sec).


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

Gruffs said:


> They are all on a black background.
> 
> In a darkened room, fire your flash behind and below the smoke so the flash is out of shot. The only thing exposed is the smoke so the rest of the image is Black.
> 
> ...


Cool, thanks for the tips...I guess you have an off the camera flash then?


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

Yes.

Mine is a Yonguo 465 £49 one from eBay. No need for and expensive one for this kind of thing.

The 467 has a slave feature that would be nice to have but the 465 is at least iTTL.


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## buckas (Jun 13, 2008)

I like them matey, some mental patterns!

drew


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## dubnut71 (Jul 25, 2006)

Very high quality stuff mate, I have tried this and my results were nothing like this!!!!

Inspiring stuff and great PP too buddy, well done!


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## Maxtor (Feb 23, 2007)

I like! great stuff, thanks for posting. :thumb:


Maxtor.


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

buckas said:


> I like them matey, some mental patterns!
> 
> drew


Thanks mate. Not as mental as the Milky Way though.



dubnut71 said:


> Very high quality stuff mate, I have tried this and my results were nothing like this!!!!
> 
> Inspiring stuff and great PP too buddy, well done!


Thank you for a huge compliment. Now i need to get my more traditional forms of Photography up to scratch.



Maxtor said:


> I like! great stuff, thanks for posting. :thumb:
> 
> Maxtor.


Cheers Maxtor. What are the chances of this month's comp being Smoke trials? :lol::lol:


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## Gruffs (Dec 10, 2007)

One more that i think works better inverted.










A word of warning though. My spare room still reeks!


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