Fired up with smoke
Jim Miller’s wireless flash technique – and pipe smoking – were followed up
with Photoshop for firework-like colours in these experimental shots
U
sing my Alpha 700, I set up
these smoke shots with flash in
the darker days of winter but
it’s something you can try any time.
Each original shot has been
cleaned up and any remaining
visible background removed. I shoot
these in a dark room with a black
background, but you can still see
details of furniture and walls before
the black end of Photoshop ‘Levels’ is
adjusted to lose this shadow detail.

My setup
The flash (a Sigma EF 500 DG
Super, similar in power and
functions to the Sony HVL-F56AM or
Minolta 5600 HS-D) was in wireless
mode and set 90° to the camera’s
right. You need to be careful about
the distance between the flash and
your smoke, or it will blow out parts
of the image. Generally I had the flash
about three feet from the smoke area.
It takes some experimenting to
get the distance and timing right.
Different flash position and angles
can dramatically change the way the
original image looks. I used ƒ10-ƒ13
with manually preset focus. I placed
a bottle on the table, and pre-focused
on it. Then I removed the bottle and
put a piece of tape down where the
bottle was. This is my “smoking zone”.
I used my Tokina 28-70mm ƒ2.8,
but any lens works fine. The subject
was about three feet from the lens.
To make smoke I have used
incense, cotton wadding, tapers
and spills (used to light fireworks).
In these cases I just used my trusty
pipe! The smoke was blown across
the focus-reference tape marker
(toward the flash) or from the top
down toward the tape. The wireless
remote works well for this, but a
wired remote would be fine as well.
Take lots of shots as the
results are unpredictable.
Processing
After the cleanup of the image is
complete (removing anything you
don’t want to see) you just play with
the image to see what works.
Take the example at the top of
page 29. I duplicated the original
layer, flipped it horizontally, set
with the blend mode of the new
layer to Screen, and then merged
photoworld 28
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