Studio lighting on smoke makes a spark

One fun thing to do when using studio lighting supplies is to play around with different, unexpected subjects. You wouldn’t think that smoke would turn out looking cool, but it does.

To create these fun photos, I had an incense stick propped up in front of a black background. I had my camera settings down to ISO 100 at 1/200 sec at f/16. I had a speed light set up to create the pop of light needed to brighten the smoke curls and trail. While shooting, i fanned the smoke just a little to give it some movement.

What do you think the smoke looks like?

To check out some awesome examples of this technique, go to: https://www.pinterest.com/spiderwoman78/smoke-trails/