A Little Holiday Smoke

When I do have spare time I love to create abstracts like these by using colored gels to shoot through smoke.

So much fun, very unpredictable, and absolutely beautiful.

These are a selection of some of my favorites. The whole gallery can be seen here.

I like them very much.

Very nice, now we have to know what you were smoking.

Hi Don,

He he he. The smoke was from unknown sources. Don't ask, don't tell.

Those are very unique and creative

That's simply amazing!
Could you let us know how you did this?

And your gallery is awesome too!

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, folks.

As far as doing a video goes.... not likely for a few reasons.

1. I shoot with a D700 and there is no video.
2. The studio has been cleaned up and set up for other shoots.
3. I simply don't have the time.

BUT, I can write a simple 'how to' but no promises on when that will be posted.

Robert Mitchell said:

Thanks for all the wonderful feedback, folks.

As far as doing a video goes.... not likely for a few reasons.

1. I shoot with a D700 and there is no video.
2. The studio has been cleaned up and set up for other shoots.
3. I simply don't have the time.

BUT, I can write a simple 'how to' but no promises on when that will be posted.

Click to expand...

I can't speak for Robert's technique, but you can find some on You Tube.

Here is a link to a creditable source that can get you started.

Smoke Photography made simple - week 62 - YouTube

Hi Rick,

Thanks for posting that.

The only differences between what Gavin is doing and how I do it is that I use a strobe with a built-in modeling light, a 10 degree spot grid, I meter the light and the background so I don't have to chimp or rely on the very misleading LCD display, and I pre-focus at f/11 or smaller apertures so that there's no reason to focus (or miss focus) on every shot. I also use combinations of colored gels to produce multi-colored effects.