For Information Only...

No artistic shots tonght - just a piccy for the benefit of Annie and anyone else whomight be interested - which shows my smoke shot setup.

Actually I think I produed better images squashed downstairs in the utility room but where-ever I do them the setup is the same.

I think it's all fairly self explanatory - black background as far away as feasible to avoid light spill. A flashgun off to one side and I taped a sheet of card to the far side again to avoid light spill onto the background. Main room light off and a light on the other side so that I can actually see the smoke to focus on it. This light is slight overkill but it was handy :)

Having experimented with that big light both on and off I've come to the conclusion that it's fine to leave it on all the time - it has no detrimental effect on the final image unless you're allowing too much to spill onto the background which could be a nuisance.

From then on it's a case of sitting and waiting for the smoke to go swirly. I usually have the shutter speed at 1/160 - aperture tends to vary but generally ends up around 5.6. Stick to manual focus so you can adjust when the smoke swirls out of position. A tripod isn't really necessary but I'm lazy and like to sit down while I do these - it's not the quickest project.....

Any questions? or indeed corrections or alternative techniques?