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Smoke Photography and Smoke Art
October 5th, 2008 in Inspiration | 107 Comments
by Tim Mercer and Smashing Magazine Editorial Team
Photography is constantly reminding us how wondrous and beautiful the world we live in truly is. It often urges us to take another look at the ordinary things around us in a new light, revealing a quiet beauty in even the most mundane of objects. More specifically, smoke photography, with its alluring images of ghostly wisps of smoke, shows us that we don’t have to look very far to find this beauty.
In this edition of our Monday Inspiration series, we present 60 examples of beautiful smoke photography and smoke art: a round-up of some of the best examples of photos and artworks where smoke dominates. At the bottom of this post are some links to tutorials on creating your own smoke photographs, as well as other resources on the subject.
35 × Elegant Smoke Photographs
Magicnikon
Dry ice was put in the bottle to get this great image.
Alberich Mathews
Wonderful fantasy image.
Corica
No HDR in use.
StarGazer
Smoke from a small piece of dry ice looks like a mini-hurricane.
The smoke that’s produced in explosive interaction with electricity: [via]
Lamont Hardy
Experiment with a lightbulb’s filament.
25 × Smoke Art
Eddie Mayda
Roll-Up by Eddie Mayda. “Fluid and aerodynamics are technical interests of mine. It is so entertaining to be able to combine my technical side with a little bit of art. The forms that result from a simple stick of burning incense defy the imagination… and catching them is a sport!”
Mehmet Ozgur
Stunning image of smoke shaped in Photoshop to resemble a woman. This technique is often referred to as “smoke sculpture.”
J.Auchinleck
Great image made by layering pictures of smoke and mirroring them to make it symmetrical.
Ceekybikerboy
Blue waves of smoke.
Larry Grace
Beautifully symmetrical smoke photograph.
Per Zangenberg
This natural smoke wisp looks like a torso.
Resources
- Abstract smoke photography how-to
Great guide to smoke photography. - Smoke photography interview
Interview with a smoke photographer. - Smoke art
Flickr group. - Smoke photography video
Video tutorial on smoke photography. - Smoke Trail Art
- Artsmoke Flickr Pool
- Sensitive Light: Coloured Smoke
Pictures of ordinary smoke that have been coloured on the computer. The smoke comes from burning incense sticks and was photographed in a studio using an off camera flash.
About the author
Tim Mercer is a photography enthusiast, graphic designer, artist and blogger. His blog, digital artist toolbox, offers free resources for the digital artist and graphic designer, as well as tutorials, artist interviews, inspiration and more. (al)
Vitaly Friedman & Sven Lennartz (October 5th, 2008, 2:36 pm)
Please respect Smashing Magazine and our Smashing community. If you comment on the post, post your ideas, remarks or suggestions. All comments with “first”, “second”, “third” etc. will be marked as spam and removed.
Philip P. (October 5th, 2008, 2:51 pm)
Wow, this is an amazing collection of photographs.
I particularly like Alberich Mathews’ fantasy style photograph, Terry McCormick’s powerful shot of the train, and ubierno’s photographs.
ubierno’s in particular have a style that creates a really powerful image!
Congrats to all the photographers for getting these amazing shots!
Adam (October 5th, 2008, 2:54 pm)
Amazing. The smoke women are incredible.
Roshan (October 5th, 2008, 3:01 pm)
Cool, some really nice collection of photographs.
I like the smoke effect in images. It looks very neat and smooth. I wish I could do something like that by myself.
Thanks smashing for lots of references for good quality images. I might use few in my next projects if they are fee for uses.
Keep some of these coming once in a while. :)
Roshan
Link [www.instantshift.com]
Manet (October 5th, 2008, 3:17 pm)
I am stunned with their creative skills!
Adam (October 5th, 2008, 3:22 pm)
Some awesome smoke photos in there… there also some shots that obviously arent smoke too… like water…
Good post anyway
Web Developer (October 5th, 2008, 3:27 pm)
What are you guys smoking (pun intended)?!? Smashing Magazine - I’d rather have quality over quantity - please revert to posting good quality articles less frequently rather than the random/average stuff we’re getting these days.
Link [www.websdeveloper.com]
arthack (October 5th, 2008, 4:12 pm)
Very beautiful effect
Jidah (October 5th, 2008, 4:36 pm)
wow! the waterfall thingy is like so so cool…………
amazing!
David (October 5th, 2008, 5:56 pm)
Very cool. I always enjoy the photography collections.
Link [www.davidpcrawford.com]
dragoshell (October 5th, 2008, 6:37 pm)
Finally some good old smashing stuff :)
James Springer (October 5th, 2008, 7:06 pm)
Man, great set. I just got done watching a marathon of Planet Earth (Discovery mini series). I was in the perfect mood to appreciate these. Thanks!
Manish (October 5th, 2008, 7:45 pm)
That’s awesome.. Really liked Mehmet Ozgur’s work !!! :D
Manish
Link [www.dtptutorials.com]
jook (October 5th, 2008, 8:16 pm)
Респекшон!
nix (October 5th, 2008, 8:44 pm)
remarkable!
Stargazer95050 (October 5th, 2008, 9:50 pm)
Before you go AND STEAL PHOTOS, ask the photographer if you can use them.
Linking to flickr is acceptable — making illegal copies of photos and storing them on your server IS ILLEGAL !!
flickr’s TOS are pretty clear and easy to follow and I’m just asking you (and others) to stick with those TOS.
Cl (October 5th, 2008, 10:32 pm)
@ Stargazer
Wow, caps lock is cruise control for cool!
Robert Bowen (October 5th, 2008, 10:36 pm)
There are some really nice photos here! I’ve always loved fire and smoke based photography, so this is a very nice collection. Some great selections featured here for sure!
Tobi (October 5th, 2008, 11:00 pm)
Wow a great selection. I think Mehmet Ozgur’s photo is the best one. But you forgot my Link [ssilence.deviantart.com] ;)
Thanks for this article! I really enjoy photo collections like this one.
Sal Azad (October 5th, 2008, 11:03 pm)
Ibai Acevedo Larrañaga the best! awesome… really fantastikkkkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!
Muhammad Shahid Akram (October 5th, 2008, 11:06 pm)
Well itz amazing, all people done superb job, both photographers and designer, but some things are totally amazing like Paul C Anderson, Per Zangenberg, Stephan Bollinger but all done amazingly
Dylan Parry (October 5th, 2008, 11:14 pm)
Many of these pictures are of water vapour rather than smoke, but they are nice nonetheless.
MNVAMSI (October 5th, 2008, 11:38 pm)
Absolutely fantastic…
Link [pronol.blogspot.com]
Pallian (October 5th, 2008, 11:57 pm)
wow! impressive! got to do some of that for Link [timothysykes.com]
ZeroDown (October 6th, 2008, 12:29 am)
nice inspiration as always
here is a great digital art smoke wallpaper
Link [www.wallpaperstop.com]
Justin (www.DotNetMushroom.com) (October 6th, 2008, 12:33 am)
Smoking Hot :-) Great Post for a Monday Morning inspiration !!
Link [www.dotnetmushroom.com]
Lavrenty (October 6th, 2008, 12:49 am)
да уж, тут не до смеха (
Targhan (October 6th, 2008, 1:09 am)
The “Smoke women” (Mehmet Ozgur) is amazing !
vashyoung (October 6th, 2008, 1:38 am)
now this is a great post !
Bang Ir (October 6th, 2008, 2:09 am)
nice effect………..
will (October 6th, 2008, 2:19 am)
haha… since when has a waterfall been smoke?!
Shaun (October 6th, 2008, 2:36 am)
I wrote this tutorial dfor shooting smoke =]
freshness (October 6th, 2008, 2:47 am)
impressive.
Klodian (October 6th, 2008, 3:31 am)
good one images but we should know this Link [klodians.blogspot.com]
delikatissen (October 6th, 2008, 3:40 am)
Beautiful!
hbos (October 6th, 2008, 4:04 am)
Remarkable artwork.
The only problem is that “water vapor” can not be classified as “smoke”.
jacin (October 6th, 2008, 5:29 am)
Fantastica recopilacion…
one more: Link [www.flickr.com]
ShyNloc (October 6th, 2008, 5:56 am)
真棒！实在是太震撼了！
Bronson (October 6th, 2008, 7:13 am)
Wow, that’s a freaking awesome collection of photography and choosing a fav is damn near impossible because so many of them are so cool.
Awesome post, thanks.
moczkos (October 6th, 2008, 7:21 am)
I’m honored,..but…
I wish You inform me next time, when you borrow my pic..:D
DesTRoyeR (October 6th, 2008, 9:18 am)
thanx BeatifuL ;)
macias (October 6th, 2008, 9:47 am)
holy smoke !!! awesome collection….
AmirHossein (October 6th, 2008, 12:34 pm)
These pics are great, anyone know how to take a picture like this? Probably a dark room and some matches and a good camera? with or with out flash?
I tried once to do the same thing but with fishes and in a Macro mode
you can see the result at Link [amir97522.blogspot.com]
Brentspix (October 6th, 2008, 1:39 pm)
i appreciate the inclusion of my smoke picture. i would just like someone to ask first.
Geshan (October 6th, 2008, 7:25 pm)
Great shots, very good post as usual.
Link [geshan.blogspot.com]
chetan (October 6th, 2008, 10:20 pm)
More available at Link [hiddenpixels.com]
jyl (October 6th, 2008, 11:22 pm)
Really nice stuff I really love the exploded bulbs!
I’ve tried that once (Link [www.pixeleyes.be]) but I really amazed of the creativity of some of those shots!!
Slebe (October 7th, 2008, 2:15 am)
Add this one to the list Link [www.flickr.com]
trcwest (October 7th, 2008, 12:58 pm)
great stuff liking all of them definately like the ones near the top… the one that stands out the most is the one that is the just lit match and the other is teh girl on the beach smoking..
great work
Link [trcwest.com]
jHill (October 7th, 2008, 2:26 pm)
so beautiful!
Mohammad Moniruzzaman (October 8th, 2008, 12:50 am)
A very impressive collection.
But you should ask permission before you use any image from a flickr member. It’s very sad that a magazine like u are certainly aware of photographers rights, but don’t follow them.
Apart from this, I really admire this collection.
dash (October 8th, 2008, 3:41 am)
another smoking plane; i love the cosmos series by Stargazer!
ellathinks (October 8th, 2008, 5:21 am)
this smoke Link [www.frankluna.com] is awesome ! I found it unique and beautiful…this is one of the great art that I have seen…keep it up!
MSOnWired (October 8th, 2008, 5:33 am)
Love the Alberich Mathews design. I really like the smoke becoming part of her dress. Great work.
onwired.com
Per Zangenberg (October 8th, 2008, 8:24 am)
First off, let me say that I DID give my permission to use my images in this article. I was however dissapointed that Tim only showed the one photo. Especially when seeing some of the other photos shown.
If you liked the one shown here please check out Dancing Woman, Link [www.zangenberg.net]
and Pregnant Woman, Link [www.zangenberg.net]
Lumendipity (October 8th, 2008, 8:44 am)
As some other photographers have already stated above, glad to be in the list (3 times), but it would have been better to send a message to each of us that you were planning this, or at least when you posted this article..
Anyways, you can see more of my stuff here in my Smoke Photography Gallery .. for some how-to information, check my Blog posts on Smoke Photography..
Will Cook (October 8th, 2008, 9:30 am)
I’m flattered that you chose to use my pictures in you on-line publication, and that you gave me credit for them.. I am, however, a little disappointed that you choice to post them without my verbal or written consent. If you look closely, you will see that all of my Flickr photos are copyright protected. Always let me know in advance. Much appreciated
Will Cook
Will Cook (October 8th, 2008, 9:32 am)
Feel free to continue to post the two pieces you chose for this article, but in the future get my permission first
Will Cook
Василий (October 8th, 2008, 1:55 pm)
Молодец автор!
Mellik Tamás (October 9th, 2008, 2:43 am)
Stunning collection, here is two of mine smoky pictures Tibet, Lhasa - Jokhang Temple , and the other one Tibet, Lhasa - Jokhang Temple II
Lukas (October 9th, 2008, 5:31 am)
Great work, beautiful foto… :)
My smoke fotos…
Link [fotarts.pl]
Lion5859 (October 13th, 2008, 9:20 pm)
真是太帅了，有点云里雾里了，呵呵
diaaghanem (October 14th, 2008, 3:47 am)
coool
design (October 15th, 2008, 3:50 am)
Oups, I totally did not see what I was supposed to see in picture #1.. Not right away, anyway.
:|
Marguerite (October 23rd, 2008, 10:01 am)
Nice pixs. However, I prefer to see added elements with smoke. Thanks for giving me an idea. I’ll take a snapshot of a pile of burning newspaper articles that I’ve saved from the “BAILOUT BUST”. A slow burn capturing pieces of the smoking headlines and photos as the Dow flirts with history! (tee hee) I just love to play with FIRE on paper. In my opinion, the element of danger when dealing with smoke (fire) is what makes the artwork come alive.
patricia (October 30th, 2008, 10:27 am)
Amazing Pictures. It makes me want to change from black and white photography to color/digital. All these pieces of work has given me a new thought to what i can shoot.Thanks.
sam (November 11th, 2008, 9:12 pm)
great work