Halloween
Oct, 2014Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
This photo was taken in my apartment balcony using natural sunlight.Time
I shot this during afternoon, it was a overcast day and perfect for this as I needed sort of a bit dark and even lighting.Lighting
Since there were smoke involved so I made sure that the sunlight acted as a backlight to make the smoke trails visible. Also the backlight added the kind of shadows and drama I was looking for. And for this kind of photos I think an even ambient kind of light works best.Equipment
I shot this with my Nikon D5000 and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lens. And used a Victory 3080 tripod.Inspiration
I’ve always been fascinated by Halloween and wanted to create something which captures the mood and atmosphere of it, something that gives a bit ominous feeling but at the same time looks beautiful.Editing
I processed this in Photoshop CS6. I wanted to make it a night scene, and get kind of mysterious and ghostly look. First I opened the image in camera raw, made some regular adjustments like exposure, contrast, colour temperature and noise reduction. Later I increased the red of the candle using a selective colour adjustment layer, enhanced the blue tones using the colour balance and curves adjustment layers, added a vignette and finally sharpened the image a bit.In my camera bag
My Nikon D5000 and my 50mm f/1.8 lensFeedback
Well the best thing about this is that you don't need to find fancy stuffs create atmosphere like this, a few incense sticks can do the tricks. Just place it, use a backlight to make them visible and shoot. A few wisps of smoke can completely alter the atmosphere of a simple setup. And you need to use a higher shutter speed to make the capture the smoke trails. Another thing to remember is that the smoke trails are never constant and can change the direction any time with the wind. So place your setup where wind cant interrupt much.
