Shooting smoke trails...
A couple of nights ago Matt (of Disenchanted Photography ) and I spent a couple of hours in his garage with the intention of experimenting with lighting and off camera flash.
We actually ended up shooting smoke trails for four hours and had a ball!
The experimentation with flash position, ISO and shutter speeds was very beneficial and I got alot out of the shoot.
The first (mainly black) images that I’m showing here are pretty much off the stick.
They have been converted into jpeg via Lightroom and have had the blackness darkened, a little noise reduction, contrasted and thats it.
I’ve even left the little specks of dust and flying embers on the images!






Here are some that Matt has used his post proc skills on…
Matt has the “clear gif” setting on, so I could not copy in the larger images…





I must admit after spending just a short amount of time on post prod myself I personally found an artful beauty in these type of images simply by converting them to monotone and tweaking the contrast.




...and to finish off, those of you who know me well know that lately I’ve been hypothetically looking for Aliens… Well I think I found one…

Peace and Hugs! :D
salsbells69
WICKED~!!!!!!
Melissa Kirkham
Love your alien Paul… These shots are great
Erin Lyall
They look FANTASTIC Paul! I love them!!
Rosalie Dale IPA
OK out with the joss sticks – these are stunning Paul!!
George Lenz
you guys did a great job… the effects and shapes are great….try expermenting with gradients to see what colors can pop out…
Nicole Goggins
awesome work!
transmute
Really cool.
You guys have been smoking shoot trails for sure…
Sarah Moore
Totally wicked…love the monotone ones!
SnowDog
Paul the last ones that are B&W are the most amazing!! Great work!
Holly Werner
Very cool Paul.
Stephen Colquitt
I have always wanted to try this kind of shot PLV. Thanks for the journal!
Lesley Hill
Wow, well worth the experimenting in the garage! Takes you back to playing with fire and fireworks on bon fire night! I was the only girl in the street so…..
Jess Andrews
Fantastic!
animo
artful beauty indeed – these are stunning : )
bodymechanic
i just luv the rythmn u capture and the shear simple beauty that unfolds!!
it touches the inner pyro in us all!!
i wonder if there is sum sort of science devoted to the fingerprints of smoke trails???
Paul Louis Vil...
Thank you so very kindly salsbells69, Melissa, Erin, Rosalie, George, Nicole, Chris, Sarah, Randy, Holly, Stephen, Leslie, Jessica, animo and bodymechanic! :D
Woodyk2
Top stuff…brilliant.
Kylie Reid
These are fantastic Paul! thanks for sharing.
Caroline Gorka
Woo!! Excellent !
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so much Woodyk2, Kylie and Caroline! :D
Lindsay Knowles
Awesome
Lisa Defazio
I think everyone has said it for me Paul – these are indeed awesome. I see an exhibition of these. Great stuff.
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks heaps Lindsay and Lisadee (Noooooo, exhibitions are off the horizon at the moment… and you know why!!!) :D
Helen McLean
Brilliant work guys!
Lisa Jewell
Very cool and Very Beautiful…….
These have such a fractal quality to them…
Darryl Beer
Sheer brilliance!!
Paul Louis Vil...
Thank you so much Helen, Lisa and Darryl! :D
Rebecca McLean
Wow Paul!!!!! 4 hours very well spent indeed!.................now where did I put that incense I had????? :oD
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks heaps Rebecca! :D
jack01
Brilliant work. love the alien, would love to try but dont have a garage .LOL
Jodie Johnson
amazing result for such a simple set-up, well done!
Disenchanted
You got some fantastic results there Paul… we’ll have to do it again soon mate.
Maybe water drops next time? haha
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks heaps jack01, Jodie and Matt (Sounds like a plan to me!) :D
Reg Lyons
Tried this a few years ago but the results were nowhere as good as this. Great stuff Paul!
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so much Reg! :D
mawaho
My favourites are1 and 4, mainly due to the sharpness of the image.
Liv Stockley
This is great… :-)
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so much mawaho and Liv! :D
Mugsy
This is incredibly painstaking but so rewarding….well done guys!
aglaia b
wow so love all the experimentation involved here.
from the setting up of the camera to get it to work magic for you, to the chemical reactions involved with obtaining those wicked coloured smoke trails, to the little post production tweaks.
all amazing and tis all smelling beautiful!
I must admit after spending just a short amount of time on post prod myself I personally found an artful beauty in these type of images simply by converting them to monotone and tweaking the contrast.
those versions are screaming for a death metal bands cd artwork for sure! ;
)) xoxlove this work guys! ;
shayne2011
I had a play with shooting smoke a tear ago – it was fun but a bit limited. :)
shayne2011
p.s. typo, ‘tear’ = year :(
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so much Mugsy, aglaia b and Shayne! :D
Lori H
I’ve been experimenting with smoke myself, I want to capture a five headed dragon incense holder just right. This is very inspiring! I hope to have something half as good up soon!
joolz
very very cool
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so very much Lori and joolz! :D
marika
Hi Paul,
what smoke was off?
Paul Louis Vil... replied
We just used Inncense sticks… from the two dollar shop! :D
Gottography .
I love getting lost in simpliCity, am I relating? :)
Barry W King
These are incredible Paul….I love these
excellent!
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks heaps Gottography and Barry! :D
Rachel Hofton
wow! these are awesome! Love the alien one! Amazing work!
Paul Louis Vil...
Thanks so much Rachel! :D
rjcolby 28 days ago
Cool stuff Paul. I too have been know to smoke in my garage… I usually go for a week at a time… Love the inverse and mono, look. I used color filters to get colors in the smoke.