Throwdown: Smoke

[David Chesterfield]

Images of smoke.

[lburgess]

Love the rainbow smoke!

[Tersha]

love these, @dchester1001!
I’m guessing you did these in a similar way to my coloured glasses, with coloured gels?

[David Chesterfield]

Thanks @tersha.
Actually the colour is added in post processing.

[David Chesterfield]

[David Chesterfield]

[Tersha]

really liking these, I’m gonna have a go…. 🙂

[David Chesterfield]

I hope you do @tersha! I look forward to seeing your images (It’s getting lonely in this challenge…)

Here’s a couple more to help inspire

[Amber Mansour]

These kind of look like anatomy to me. The top one looks like a uterus(I know probably not your intention, just what I saw), and the third one looks like a pelvis attached to femur bones.

The second one however, reminds me of my Wizard character in Diablo III 🙂

I like all of the ones you’ve done on this thread, but I like the mirrored ones the best 🙂

[David Chesterfield]

Thanks Amber.They are rather anatomical, aren’t they?

[David Chesterfield]

[Chrissie Bee]

Very cool, David.

[quasiphoto]

I like the solidity of the last one David.

[David Chesterfield]

Thanks @quasiphoto – in that one I used the PS paintbucket to change the background from black to white. I liked th effect also.

[Kent DuFault]

A different interpretation of your throwdown – “Smoke”

Smoke.jpg by Kent DuFault on Light Stalking

[Tersha]

looking ‘cool’

[Kent DuFault]

LOL! Those were my smoking days… to cool for school…

[David Chesterfield]

Nice. I like it!

[Chrissie Bee]

Good idea. I like the background shadows too.

[Chrissie Bee]

https://www.flickr.com/photos/chrissie_bee/18818755528/in/photostream/
Click for Flickr

View of the smoke from the May 2015 wildfire in San Marcos, CA. taken
about 20 miles away.

[Kent DuFault]

Wow! Cool shot. Forest fire?

[Chrissie Bee]

Thanks, Kent. Just one of the run-of-the-mill wildfires in the west. This was a particularly bad one last year.

[Tersha]

Ok David, @dchester1001, I finally started on some …… smoke and coloured lights …

[Kent DuFault]

Very nice! They almost look like dancers in motion.

[Tersha]

thanks, yes, I like the movement in them.

[Chrissie Bee]

Beautiful abstracts, Diane!

[David Chesterfield]

Nicely done Diane @tersha! I like the ethereal effect in yours.

[David Chesterfield]

[Tersha]

These are really good, David!

[Buddy]

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[Tobie]

Never thought I’d ever use this shot. Taken after hearing a thundering bang when out photographing our main cultural monument. When looking up, Pretoria was covered in smoke. We’ve discovered later on that it was caused by the implosion of a building in the middle of the city.

Pretoria Implosion by Tobie on Light Stalking

[LeanneC]

Amazing smoke photographs everyone! I am a little late to the party but I am new to Light Stalking and have been perusing past posts (I love alliteration). I was so excited to see this, David, as I have the opportunity to do this on Friday with a high school class. Their teacher has invited me to their gr.12 photography class and they are going to teach me their technique (all part of a master plan to have them ‘learn through teaching’). I get to show them what I have been doing with oil and water photos. A good trade, I think. Anyway, I am a “developing” photographer (I think I like that better than newbie, or beginner) and I challenged myself to take a photo a day in 2015. This was from day 99, way back in April. My first smoke photograph!

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[Tersha]

Impressive shot, Leanne, love it!

[yavar]

Really cool hand blender.

[LeanneC]

Thanks Tersha (what is a Keymaster, by the way?). In the original shot you can see a bit of the background and I had to edit it out. Also, I used a reading lamp for my light, as I didn’t have my external flash yet. I can’t wait to learn a better way on Friday!

[chris pook]

Pretty perfect post people! Sensibly stopped smoking Sunday. Need nicotine now but will wait while walking. (Ok, stop now)

[LeanneC]

LOL! Didn’t see this comment until just now, Chris! Awesome alliteration!

[LeanneC]

Learned a lot today. And working on using PS to edit some fun images. Here is my first one…

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[David Chesterfield]

Nicely done @LeanneC! I like it

[LeanneC]

Still playing. Here are two more…

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Iris

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Strange Bird

[Laurel-Anne]

An iris! I had to look twice.

[LeanneC]

🙂 These are so much fun Laurel-Anne. Almost addictive!

[chris pook]

That bottom one…. it’s a playful smoke dragon smiling…! 🙂

[chris pook]

And every time I come back to this thread I want a cigarette!

[LeanneC]

🙂 I love that we can see so many images in these, Chris!

[Robert Apple]

My daughter’s are home now and doing all the cooking, so as soon as my wife @Diana_Apple makes her next meal, I’m going to have the camera ready and you all are see some smoke.

[Paul Payton]

Can we talk technique?

How do you create the actual photo, first of all. 🙂
then in post and u using gradients and color blending layer?

[LeanneC]

David would probably do a better job explaining, as he has been doing this for awhile and I am still just learning. But I will try (and let him fill in if I miss something or if there is a more efficient way to do it!).
1.Black background, no light source other than your flash, which you need to position to the side and back of the smoke source. I used incense, as it gives off a nice steady smoke. The first time I saw it done, was in a Photography 11 course (the students were teaching me the technique) and they used a studio flash with barn doors, to get the light right on the smoke but get a nice dark background. I made my own “barn doors” and it helped a bit. Still had to deal with some of the black background in post. Focus on the tip of the incense, then re-frame your shot to get the area that the smoke will cover. I shot at f11, to ensure that all the smoke was in focus. Fan the smoke to get some interesting images.
2. I start my PP in Lr, but I am sure there are different ways to do it. I clean up the background (adjust the exposure to pop the smoke, then pull down the black/shadow). If you use “show shadow clipping” it is really easy to see spots you have missed and then use the adjustment brush, with the exposure/black set low. You are left with a nice clean smoke trail. If it has a bluish tint, you should get rid of it (I usually just turn to B&W). You can play with the highlights/clarity now or later (I do it later, as I like to see how it looks coloured).
3. I move to Ps to add colour. And I think you figured that part out. I create a layer, choose overlay and paint in the different colours. You can go to Image>Adjustments>Invert, if you want to work with the same image and have a white background. Just remember that if you have colour, it will get flipped too!

I am sure there are many ways to do this – this is the way I do it. You can duplicate and transform your images to create reflections and put them together to make an interesting Rorschach-like design. Have fun! Can’t wait to see some more images! Let me know if these instructions actually worked or if you have questions!

Here is a before (I had to do a quick one while I wrote the instructions):
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And after:
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[David Chesterfield]

You got it @LeanneC, though I don’t use lightroom (having been a photoshop user since very early days, never bothered to learn LR.)
I open the RAW image, use ‘auto’ then adjust blacks as you describe.
When I open it in PS I ‘auto level’ it, add a layer and generally use a gradient fill to add the colour (changing the layer type to ‘Colour’)

[LeanneC]

Thanks David! Love the image! Did I mention it looks like Tinkerbell? 😉

[Rob Eyers]

Just found this thread. Have to say the images are a lot of fun. Thanks for the tutorial. Does everyone use incense or are there other sources that are also good?

[LeanneC]

I’ve only used incense, Rob. There are a couple of different kinds though – the sticks and the cones. The cones give off a slightly thicker smoke, I think. You want to have a nice steady smoke. The rest is just snapping lots of shots and getting lucky once in awhile (since it is dark, you don’t really see what you are getting until the flash goes off). You will find yourself huffing and puffing to get the smoke to move and create some interesting shapes. I’d love to hear if anyone has used anything else too. Hope to see some more smoke shots soon!

[David Chesterfield]

Yeah, I too use incense cones – you get good even smoke that way.

[Rob Eyers]

Thanks guys…..takes me back to the 60’s but I’ll see if I can round some up and give it a go.

[LeanneC]

Not sure where you are located Rob, but our local dollar store carries incense.

[Rob Eyers]

Thanks Leanne I’ll look there. I’m in Ontario

[Anonymous]

Wow! All these are awesome.

[Author]

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