Flash photography tip: Combine colour filters with smoke

Thursday 19 December 2024, 14:28 by Elja Trum | 2,091 views | 1 comment

This article was translated from Dutch with the help of AI. Read the original.

When you use colour filters on your flash, the colour naturally appears on everything the light shines on. If you aim the flashes with colour filters at your model, the colour will only be visible on your model.

Danien - f/9, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 72mm
You can make the photo more interesting by adding smoke in your studio. The coloured light also reflects off the smoke itself. This suddenly means you can see much more of the coloured light around your subject as well.

Use a smoke machine to place the smoke behind your model and in front of your flashes. This often works best, but do experiment with smoke and flash light from several directions too.

Yana-Meau - f/9, 1/160s, 100 ISO @ 70mm
It is therefore worth using colour filters in combination with smoke. The smoke makes the colour visible, allowing you to colour in entire areas. It also strengthens the colour that you see on your subject.

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About the author

Elja Trum is the founder of Photofacts and online photography course website Photofacts Academy. He has been writing about photography since 2006. Elja is also the author of (Dutch) books on composition, black-and-white photography, flash photography and portrait photography.

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1 comment

Kees Verwaard wrote on Tuesday 24 December 2024 at 11:03 | reply
I would like to do that too, but I don't think a smoke machine in the house is such a good idea. There are also other solutions using water vapor, but I haven't found anything with a good capacity yet. Any ideas?
Translated from Dutch.

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