7 | CREATIVE
Looking for acreative project to do indoors? Have some fun with incense, suggests Benedict Brain
Capturing swirls of smoke as they curl and twist through the air is a wonderful way to create cool, contemporary photos. The beauty of this fun and easy technique is that you don’t need lots of swanky (or costly) equipment, and you can easily do it in the comfort of your home using a simple table-top ‘studio’. All you need to get started is some plain black cloth to use as a backdrop, a flashgun that can be positioned off-camera and an incense stick. The secret is to capture the swirls of smoke as they rise from the incense. This can take a bit of practice, as the movement of the smoke can be a little unpredictable, which also makes focusing tricky. Once they have gone, the patterns are impossible to replicate exactly but you can try using a small piece of paper to fan the air and manipulate the shape the smoke makes.
Your smoke shots might look a little bland straight out of the camera, so why not try experimenting by adding some colour? Of course, you can use a different coloured background, but for our main shot (pictured, right), we added multiple colours using a Gradient Map in Photoshop. The results can vary from the garish to the sublime – have a go at home by following our step-by-step guide, right, to see how much fun it can be.
