Smoke Photography Materials Needed Incense sticks Lighter Black

Smoke Photography

Materials Needed: Incense sticks Lighter Black background Area with good lighting and zero breeze • Spot light for additional light • •

Starting image • This image is going to require editing – all things you know how to do! • We will be practicing this as a group • Use a fast shutter speed!

• Smoke photography step-by-step • Step 1: Get the following equipment • Black backdrop To intensify the backlit smoke, black is essential. Cheap and cheerful card will be fine. • Incense sticks Better for your health than cigarettes and they smoulder constantly and predictably. • Flashgun Your camera’s built-in flash won’t do, as you’ll need to manually backlight the smoke to make it come alive. • Tripod The outdoor photographer’s essential item is just crucial indoors, especially in this low-light scenario.

• Step 2: Use these settings on your DSLR Here are our recommended camera settings for taking a smoke photo… ● ISO – keep it as low as possible for best image quality ● File format – shoot RAW ● Focal length – around 50 mm looks natural and works best ● Exposure mode – manual ● Aperture – shoot between f/8 and f/16 for sharp results ● Shutter speed – set this for a one-second exposure ● Off-camera Flash – set it to Manual and select 1/8 of full power ● Metering – ignore your camera’s meter ● Shutter release – use a remote release or your self-timer

Hints and Tips: • To retain a good degree of sharpness in your smoke photos, use autofocus to lock on to the tip of the incense stick. • Now switch your lens to manual focus to prevent the camera hunting for focus later. Recompose the shot so that the incense is just out of the bottom of the viewfinder.