JulieCortens

smoke

Playing with incense today

Playing with incense today
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Canon EOS 5D Mark III

settings

Aperture f/16.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200

upload_date

Jan, 2015

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Same photographer See all Behind The Lens

Came for a visit while we were eating lunch.

The stairs of the St Augustine Light house.

Five year old grand daughter was visiting so I had to try out this outfit bought in Plymouth last year.

Worth getting up for the sunrise in the rain.

Minus 40 Celcius and minus 50 with the windchill. One shot and back to the running car. The South Saskatchewan River

Behind The Lens

Location

This smoke was taken in my office against a black background. This is incense. Smoke is amazing when you can see it through the camera's eye!

Time

Any time of day!

Lighting

Lighting for this photo is simple. I had a relatively dark room with a dark background. I had one desk lamp left with a daylight bulb in it shining directly onto the smoke. My office smelled pretty good but I kept the ceiling fan going to prevent the smoke detectors from going off. All you really need is enough light to light the smoke. It was placed within several inches of the smoke as it rose from the incense stick.

Equipment

I used my Canon 5d Mk III and a desk lamp with daylight bulb. A tripod for sure just makes managing the incense easier but not crucial given the shutter speed.

Inspiration

I have taken photos of running water and decided to experiment with smoke. I was amazed with the movement and symmetry and the beautiful swirls with each shot. The colours are amazing too. These are things the eye does not see until the motion is frozen.

Editing

Yes I sharpened parts and softened others and accentuated some of the colours but not a whole lot of processing. I like to work in Photoshop for this kind of post processing but Lightroom can easily do these tweets. I cropped too.

In my camera bag

Canon 5D Mk III and a whole bunch of lenses. A couple of speed lights and a Gary Fong light diffuser. To many batteries and CF cards.

Feedback

You would be amazed at how easy this shot is. Directional light from two cheap lamps - even one lamp will work. Keep the ISO low because this kind of photo can easily generate noise which really takes away from the smoothness of the smoke. My iso was 100 for this shot. I used a 50 mm prime lens - sigma I shot at 1/200 at f16. Try taking these photos in bursts - high speed continuous shutter. The variations will amaze you.

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JulieCortens

JulieCortens

smoke

Playing with incense today

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow JulieCortens

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