Week 33 - August 18, 2013
Straight shot - this is how the camera with flash captures the smoke.
Smoke & Mirrors
01: Something/Someone that deceives or distorts the truth.
02:Something/Someone that distorts or blurs facts ,figures, etc., like a magic or conjuring work; artful deception; tricky inventiveness.
I hope these photos do show some “tricky inventiveness.” And yes, they are really are done with “smoke an mirrors.” I photographed the smoke rising from a stick of incense against a black background. A single flash off to the side of the subject seemed to work best and the flash was “snooted” to keep light off the background. I used my Canon 50D with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (the “nifty fifty” which is nice and sharp). ISO was 200, shutter speed at 1/60th and aperture at f/9 for most of the shots.
At left is a “straight shot” of just the detail of the ever-changing smokepatterns. Then into Adobe Lightroom for some tuning, primarily of exposure and to be sure the black parts are nice and black.
Corel Paintshop Pro X4 is where the fun happened. Some of these were copied, flipped (hence the“mirroring” part), and then layered back on themselves. Others (like the “Firebird” and “Spirit of Wally”) are mirrored and placed alongside themselves. All are colored with tools in PSPX4 and a few are reversed to a negative image (those with white backgrounds).
What I find the most fun is how they are like Rorschach Ink blots in that everyone sees them slightly different and finds images in what are really just random patterns of drifting smoke. My titles reflect what I saw, you might see something different. Enjoy!
01: Something/Someone that deceives or distorts the truth.
02:Something/Someone that distorts or blurs facts ,figures, etc., like a magic or conjuring work; artful deception; tricky inventiveness.
I hope these photos do show some “tricky inventiveness.” And yes, they are really are done with “smoke an mirrors.” I photographed the smoke rising from a stick of incense against a black background. A single flash off to the side of the subject seemed to work best and the flash was “snooted” to keep light off the background. I used my Canon 50D with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 prime lens (the “nifty fifty” which is nice and sharp). ISO was 200, shutter speed at 1/60th and aperture at f/9 for most of the shots.
At left is a “straight shot” of just the detail of the ever-changing smokepatterns. Then into Adobe Lightroom for some tuning, primarily of exposure and to be sure the black parts are nice and black.
Corel Paintshop Pro X4 is where the fun happened. Some of these were copied, flipped (hence the“mirroring” part), and then layered back on themselves. Others (like the “Firebird” and “Spirit of Wally”) are mirrored and placed alongside themselves. All are colored with tools in PSPX4 and a few are reversed to a negative image (those with white backgrounds).
What I find the most fun is how they are like Rorschach Ink blots in that everyone sees them slightly different and finds images in what are really just random patterns of drifting smoke. My titles reflect what I saw, you might see something different. Enjoy!