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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> need help taking picture of a flame/smoke
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10/03/2003 07:22:35 PM · #1
My next lil project involves taking a picture of a flame. At first I wanted to take a picture of a flame with smoke trailing up; but then after some trials, i noticed that a flame doesnt make nice smoke trails until after its put out. So I tried another method of getting the smoke:

I went into my bathroom with all the lighs out and put my mini tripod and camera on the counter, with a stick of inscence sticking out in front of it. I light the inscence and let the smoke trail up. Since it was pitch black, i used a flashlight to shine light on the smoke. I was hoping to get a good clear image of the smoke on a black background, but the smoke didnt show up. I tried shining the light from various angles but still didnt work. btw this was in macro mode too.

Any ideas or suggestions?
10/03/2003 07:27:40 PM · #2
It depends on what is burning as to whether it makes a lot of smoke or not. My suggestion is to experiment with burning different kinds of materials to see which one produces the best kind of smoke. You can also do this in medium to low light with a black background, like a giant piece of poster board or cloth, and the smoke should show up quite well. Just try not to get burned :-) good luck.

T
10/03/2003 07:31:09 PM · #3
Using a tripod or a very steady surface to rest the camera on would help you get a clear shot.
10/03/2003 07:33:43 PM · #4
this has been posted in multiple sections
a cross post

i dont look highly upon that forum use

soup
10/03/2003 07:40:48 PM · #5
Looks like you need some help in posting first.
10/03/2003 07:42:42 PM · #6
Originally posted by soup:

this has been posted in multiple sections
a cross post

i dont look highly upon that forum use

soup


While I find it funny that this was posted 4 times in a row, I think I find this comment from soup even funnier.
10/03/2003 07:44:27 PM · #7
Originally posted by StevePax:



While I find it funny that this was posted 4 times in a row, I think I find this comment from soup even funnier.


....and in different forum topics ;) lol
10/04/2003 09:21:16 AM · #8
Are you trying to get the flame and the smoke in the same shot? Or are you going to combine the flame and smoke in two layers? I'd be curious about how to photograph smoke, too. Seems that a drifting subject would need more light. The tripod can keep the camera still but the smoke is still going to move.

Thought I should bump this question since it was a valid one that got lost because of your posting mistake.
10/04/2003 12:51:52 PM · #9
It looks like your already trying everything I would suggest (black background, lighting.. harsh lighting works sometimes). I tried to get smoke for my macro shot, but was very unsuccessful. I do notice that it comes up well on the lcd screen after I've taken the picture, but never really on my computer. I did get this one //www.deviantart.com/deviation/1434422/ but wasn't able to really recreate it for my macro shot. The lighting seems to be key. In the link above I used two flashlights, one on each side about a foot above the subject and shining down at about a 45 degree angle.

Message edited by author 2003-10-04 12:52:19.
10/04/2003 08:12:04 PM · #10
I think I achieved a similar shot to what you orginally described, where you had smoke trailing up from a flame, except it was slightly different.
The picture I took is here and I achieved it using a really long shutter speed, and blowing the candles out (while still taking the picture.
I used just a couple of desk lamps to light it. If you have any more questions, feel free to PM me.

Lee
10/04/2003 10:06:05 PM · #11
I've found that backlighting smoke seems to work well. Some examples (using a desklamp, from memory):









In this case it was just a matter of lighting the tealight candles, blowing them out, and then taking a picture a second or so later when the smoke came out :)

10/06/2003 03:25:18 PM · #12
Where did you position the light sources for those images? Also, where did you take that picture?
10/06/2003 07:57:19 PM · #13
IIRC, the light source was at about a 30 degree angle from the candle holder. I was trying to avoid both lens flare and lighting the black poster board background too much.

The picture was taken on a coffee table, so nowhere too touristy :)
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