Smoke Art

Photographing smoke has been on my mind for a long time! When I first saw the surreal images captured by photographing burning incense sticks, I really appreciated their fluid nature, how unique each one was and how calm they made me feel. I have wanted to re-create these photographs from the moment I saw them and a couple of days ago I found myself with a spare couple of hours on my hands so I gave it a go.

The movie above brings the images together with a beautiful piece of music - Uluru by Steve Gibbs.

PLEASE WATCH THE MOVIE FULLSCREEN IF YOU HAVE 3 MINUTES TO STOP - IT MAY PROVIDE FOR YOU SOME MOMENTS OF SPACE.

Set up is pretty simple. Nikon D700 with a 60mm 2.8 macro attached at around 250th sec @ f11. Illumination came from 1 gridded Sb800 camera left at about 1/4 power.

If anybody wants to try this technique, I found a really straightforward article at this link.

Hope everybody had a great Xmas and super New Year - here's to a bright 2010!