Marta ( @whimsicalgrateful ) had been trying to shoot smoke without an external flash... i've only ever shot smoke using a flash, and so i got to wondering what it would take to shoot it without one...
have to say it was a rather unsatisfying exercise... this was taken at a much higher iso than i would have liked, and a slower shutter speed than i would have liked, using 2 cheap ikea lamps and my super flashlight...
the end result has been messed with quite substantially in LR to reduce noise and increase contrast... still nowhere near as sharp and clean as i would like... but not completely awful (i don't think!)...
@whimsicalgrateful - hey Marta... i decided to try flashless smoke... i think it kind of works if you discount the noise and lack of clarity at the top... :)
@whimsicalgrateful no worries :). I had planned to do something else tonight, but a key component went missing so I decided I might as well play around w smoke for a bit....
Not awful at all. But yes, I think a flash, but with a "slow synch" (in "Av") or in "M" with a shutter long enough to get some "blur" of the smoke "wisps" would probably work nicely. "Rear Curtain" perhaps too to get the sharp stuff at the top? But you have much more experience than I here...
@whimsicalgrateful@frankhymus Marta - it's a flash setting... Frank - I've never tried using rear curtain for smoke shots, but my first thought is that it likely wouldn't be necessary and may be undesirable... Smoke is by nature wispy and regular flash has generally worked fine for me... I once did a long exposure of a smoke stack, and it really wasn't effective... The smoke lost all definition and was just completely muddley... Rear curtain would be slightly different of course... Perhaps I'll give that a go later this week if I have time :)
@whimsicalgrateful Technical term? Well, a rather common term. Your DSLR shutter has two curtains typically, the front one opens up the shutter and the second one closes it down. Normal timing of flash is to fire the flash as soon as the shutter is fully open - first (or front) curtain flash synch. Rear curtain (or second curtain) synch fires the flash later, just as the second curtain begins to close down the open shutter. Google the terms and you'll see what all this means. Also, we'll talk about this in a few weeks on the New Camera Settings Challenge...
I like this. I'm glad that you have shown that it can be achieved without flash. I only have my on camera flash which doesn't seem to be of any assistance in smoke photography.
@frankhymus Thank you, Frank. I did google the terms as you suggested and it was really interesting to read about the mechanical components of the camera: I totally had no idea about it all.
I do not own an external flash at this stage (my equipment is limited to a Canon 600D camera, a 18-55 mm kit lens and a 50 mm lens), so unfortunately I won't be able to try out the rear curtain setting yet. I do look forward to your next Camera savvy tutorial though. Thank you!
@whimsicalgrateful Hi Martha. Your on-camera flash on your D600 (a T3i name in the USA) has a "second curtain" flash mode. Look in the first shooting menu at the bottom for "Flash Control," the built-in flash function setting, shutter synch. You will see 1st and 2nd curtain choices. The default is 1st. "Rear curtain synch"' is the 2nd. Try it out with, say, light trails on car lights in "M" with a relatively long shutter. It's fun to see the light trails behind the flashed image of the car as the flash fires at the last possible moment.
@frankhymus Found it! I had a quick look yesterday (with lots of distractions around me) and couldn't see the function, now in a much quieter house, the function just bounced straight at me. Thank you!
Far too self-critical! This is super… can't really see the noise (and anyway noise can be a plus) and sharpness is over-rated! Do you really want 'sharp and clean' for smoke?
I do not own an external flash at this stage (my equipment is limited to a Canon 600D camera, a 18-55 mm kit lens and a 50 mm lens), so unfortunately I won't be able to try out the rear curtain setting yet. I do look forward to your next Camera savvy tutorial though. Thank you!