Forums - smoke trail | MyShots.com

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mondo

Photographers

Forum posts: 2

Age: 36

#1150 2007-10-13 04:25 GMT

Does anyone know how to take a photo of cigarette smoke - I have seen a picture i want to recreate on canvas - its white hazy smoke on a dark burgandy/chocolate background (very abstract) but its expensive & I want to create my own. Sorry Im new to this site so am still trying to figure my way around it so hope this gets on the forum.

AndreyG

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#1152 2007-10-13 16:42 GMT

BG - if you use natural sunlight - you can leave a small opening and the room itself will work as a BG. then you have to decide what do you want with the smoke - if you want everything in focus - tripod and f11, if you want some 3D picture f2.8 and up. to make a smoke is a difficult tusk, if you do not want a cigarette to be seen - better take aromatik things, the smoke is thicker, just remember - you have around 10 min, then the air is not clean and you have to ventilate the room. Better to have another person helping with the smoke. Light is better to have 90 degree to your shooting direction, and polarizer is a good help. Not very easy thing - you will have a million of technically OK, but dull pictures, but finally - you wil get it.

IONclad

Members

Forum posts: 58

Age: 41

#1153 2007-10-13 17:13 GMT

I have had good results lighting from directly overhead, but if you want the smoke to be sharp you will need a flash. Sunlit smoke is good, but it's harder to make the smoke stand out due to the higher ambient light. This kind of photo is often the 'try and try again' kind. Lucky we have digital gear, with film it was a NIGHTMARE.

"help, help, I got ions all over me!"

IONclad

petite

Members

Forum posts: 4

Age:

#1318 2007-11-20 06:57 GMT

I got a fairly decent picture of smoke by just using the auto settings on my camera (Nikon D50) and a dark background. It's fairly crisp and worked for my purposes. My equipment isn't that expensive, so it can be done with just a good set up and a little perserverance. You know what you need, so just get the right background color and shoot until you get the right shot.