The intro to this section calls it a place to relax and talk about "other things" so here is a bit of an essay I did a while back on something totally out of the box for me.

Another photographer put up a few of these and got me really interested in trying out a few for myself. I wanted to try it with a fog machine, but that didn't work out.

The things that come out of the smoke range from just beautiful to just plain creepy and everything in between.

The basics of my set up are:
Black Velveteen BG about 10 feet beyond the source of the smoke.
Two remote flashes with colored gels (though with PS you can start with white smoke and make it any color you want). One positioned to the side and slightly angled away from the BG. The other, I move around, but I think I like it right at the bottom of the smoke shooting upwards.

Typically 1/30th with -3EV flash. Aperture varies.

Here is a series I shot a while back and worked on last night.

The original shot doesn't look like much:



Then the result after a selection, rotation, clean up of stray color and some targeted dodge & burn.



And finally, because I'm never finished playing, a little more dodge & burn plus a bit of playing with the smudge tool starting at a wider brush and narrowing down to "add a little something" Do you see it?




I think I'll title the result "Torment."

A couple more that are not necessarily related to one another.


Smoke Kills:



The Wizard:



Hope you like them,
jim