It was inspired by another photo I saw a few weeks ago, with smoke and beams of light coming up from behind the subject. When I realized I was shooting one of our Player of the Year athletes Monday, I figured it would be a good time to try it out.
Obviously I didn't have a smoke machine, so I had some junior high kid puff clouds of climbing chalk around my subject to try and give me that smokey, beaming-light goodness. Above you can see the kid got a little over zealous and stuck his hand in my photo. For my light set up, I had one light behind the guy on the floor aiming at the player's back, and a softbox to the players right and a little in front.
The results were mixed. The light wasn't really beaming through the smoke like I had hoped. At first I had a grid spot on the back light, but it didn't seem to show so well. When I took it off, it just kind of looked like the carpet was on fire or something. Before I got it on my computer screen I still thought it would be OK, but on many of the shots the particles of chalk were pretty visible. So it looked more like there were pockets of dust in the air rather than smoke.
In the end I went smokeless. To me it just seemed cleaner. I think I'll try this again some other time, hopefully with greater success and less mess to clean up. Suggestions are welcome.So the other day I got my first Christmas present in the mail from my brother, Joe. I'm guessing they are CDs. Not just because they have the look and weight of two CDs, but they came with a free Walmart.com rock music sampler CD. The note on the gifts said don't open until Christmas, but the sampler CD was fair game. Hey, I'll take new music anywhere I can get it.
I expected it to be mostly generic, boring rock. A lot of it was (Hinder? Gross...Blue October? No thank you), but there were a couple of surprise tracks that have made their way onto my play list.
Joker & The Thief.mpg by Wolfmother - These guys are a little more rock than I usually listen too, but this song blows me away. I had heard of this group before, but not any of their music. I may have to check out more of their stuff.
I Don't Feel Like Dancin'.mp3 by Scissor Sisters - I previewed this groups last CD and don't really remember being that impressed. This song comes off of their latest CD, "Tah-Dah." It's interesting. I loved it at first, got kind of tired of it real quick, then got it stuck in my head and just had to listen to it over and over to be satisfied. Auditory crack, I say.
3 comments:
Carrot top was player of the year? Amazing.
"I don't feel like dancing" is my new favorite song. And look at me, I was so moved by it, I'm posting a comment on your blog!
Yeah "I Don't Feel Like Dancing" is one of my current faves too! Also check out the Paper Faces remix if you get chance.
Anyway, just wanted to post a nod of respect for your chalk idea. We all try crazy and not-so-crazy ideas that don't work, but few people post their 'failures' for everyone to see. I make a point of doing it myself, and I always appreciate it when other people do the same. Thanks for sharing!
Incidentally you might be surprised by how affordable smoke machines are, if all you need is enough smoke for a picture such as the one you were trying here. The ones that are big enough for night clubs etc are probably too expensive for the limited use a photographer would have for them, but you can get smaller ones for about 1/3 the price of a flash! Shop around for ones that are intended for small parties and people who are only going to use it a couple of times. Others that are marketed to photographers will have the 1000% photography tax applied.
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