"Shredded Veils"

A little more colorful this time. No particular pattern caught my

attention in this one, but maybe you see something... I do like the

rich detail and sense of movement.

Let me know what you think. Thank you.

Great!...what is it? (smile)

-Allenda

I really find your type of photograhy amazing, always wondering how you could catupe blue,red or other color smoke..I know that probably, by backlighting or side backlight smoke can be seen on film or cmos, but smoke her seems of a particular substance.. Is the smoke colored or lite with colored lighting?

Keep up the good work

For the majority of the photos the lighting was esentially the same. The smoke was from one or more incense cones, and was lit from below. The "stack" from bottom up was as follows:

1. Alien Bees 800 ws strobe with barn-doors, pointing up.

2. An 11" by 14" piece of cardboard with a 7" hole in the center. This acts as a light-shield and support for the remaining items.

3. Colored gel pieces or strips between two sheets of clear acrylic. The gels are aligned over the opening in the cardboard.

4. A Pyrex bowl 8" diameter by 4" hight inverted over the gels. The bottom of the bowl is flat and about 7" in diameter. This provides a support for the burning incense and does not obstruct the light.

5. I place an opaque object about 7" wide by 5" high in front of the bowl to block all light except that reflected/scattered by the smoke.

6. This entire "stack" is located about 8' from a flat-black background. The camera is around 3' from the subject.

I use the strobe at full power so as to obtain the best DOF.

I hope this clarifies any questions you may have as to how I do these shots.