Playing with fire isnt always a safe thing to do but it does give you a chance to create some interesting photography. But seriously don't play with fire. To get these shots we, safely, lit some incense in order to create a source of smoke. For a stand and backdrop we used a small product table with black cloth ( a product table is not required any table top will do). For our light source we used the Sony HVL 58 off camera to create the highlights of the smoke.
Focusing is the tricky part but a tip for those of you interested in taking some pictures of smoke; use a pencil or a ruler, place it in the middle of the smoke this will allow you to auto-focus and then switching to manual will allow you to maintain a sharp focus on the smoke. As smoke moves with the air flow of a room it is a good idea to re-focus when there is major shift change in the smoke. Shooting tethered will allow you to check each shot and the focus. In the studio we shoot tethered into Adobe Lightroom on our MacBook Pro.
We took many images and plan on taking many more. Smoke photography takes time and patience, specially when the air flow changes direction on you, but is a lot of fun. Check out out last photograph. Very simple post production and the look is amazing. If you decide to try out smoke photography post it on your facebook page and tag us, www.facebook.com/maiphotography , we would love to see your work.
