A slight draft causes incense smoke to drift to the right as the stick nears the end of its burning.
Update: I digitally enhanced the photo to artificially reduce graininess. Check out how I did it in my report.
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Get Wet – Luke Collier
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Flow Vis Guidebook
- Introduction to the Guidebook
- Overview 1: Phenomena. Why Does It Look Like That?
- Overview 2: Visualization Techniques
- Overview 3: Lighting
- Overview 4 - Photography A: Composition and Studio Workflow
- Overview 4 - Photography B: Cameras
- Overview 4 - Photography C: Lenses - Focal Length
- Overview 4 - Photography C: Lenses - Aperture and DOF
- Overview 4: Photography D: Exposure
- Overview 4 - Photography E - Resolution
- Overview 5 - Post-Processing
- Clouds 1: Names
- Clouds 2: Why Are There Clouds? Lift Mechanism 1: Instability
- Clouds 3: Skew - T and Instability
- Clouds 4: Clouds in Unstable Atmosphere
- Clouds 5: Lift Mechanism 2 - Orographics
- Clouds 6: Lift Mechanism 3 - Weather Systems
- Boundary Techniques - Introduction
- Dye Techniques 1 - Do Not Disturb
- Dye Techniques 2 - High Visibility
- Dye Techniques 3 - Light Emitting Fluids
- Refractive Index Techniques 1: Liquid Surfaces
- Refractive Index Techniques 2: Shadowgraphy and Schlieren
- Particle Physics: Flow and Light
- Dilute Particle Techniques - Under Construction
- Particles 2: Aerosols
- Particles 3: In Water - Under Construction
- Art and Science
- TOC and Zotpress test
- Photons, Wavelength and Color
52 Comments. Leave new
Great saturation and demonstration of flow, very calm and pleasant to look at. However, graininess is distracting from the flow.
Art: Very serene feel, just as an incense should. The light from the burning stick is nice along with the detail in the flame.
Flow: The flow of the smoke over the whole photo is cool. Especially since there are two distinct paths the flame took.
Technique: Great focus, plus the grainy effect makes the smoke look more like particles.
Art : I feel like the image is very calm
Flow : the smoke is very visible with black background
Tech : Even a particle is very visible. well-focused!
I wonder what this flow would look like if you could zoom on the smoke/incense stick interface.
Art: This image is truly artistic. Uncluttered focus on the flow and source of it. The red heat is lovely to see as well. You chose your composition wonderfully.
Flow: Excellently represented.
Technique: Wonderful capture in terms of focus and thought, try experimenting with a lower ISO.
This picture feel and texture is beautiful. It very clearly illustrates the phenomena. The focus looks good.
Cool image and I think you chose a good point to frame around, centering around the smoke with the actual stick only in the corner. I see that the smoke has some coloring that I am not sure should be there, like the red, blue, and green pixels. I am not sure if this has been enhanced due to post processing but it may take away from the physics of the true colors.
Excellent contrast between subject and background, subject is framed nicely such that the eye is drawn along the smoke towards the source. Image exhibits some grain, could consider changing lighting to reduce this. Clear visualization of smoldering combustion.
Sweet composition. The flow is captured well. There’s a little noise in the smoke. A lower ISO and/or some noise correction would really help capture the silky smooth incense smoke.
– Artistically I think the intent is clearly visible as the smoke is the subject of the photo.
– The flow clearly illustrates phenomena that is creative and unique in smoke, one of a kind in a sense
– The photographic technique was designed well, the lighting was set up to direct light toward and with the smoke
Great image. The visualization of flow is perfect in this image. Possibly having a larger image of the flow could enhance the impact of the picture. The lighting and the background suit this picture well.
The black background highlights the smoke of the incense well, the high temperature is shown at the base and the shot has good composition. The ISO seems like it could be a little high but the image isn’t too grainy.
I like the slight bit of red in the smoldering material. It is a very nice contrast to the black and white in the rest of the image, while not distracting from the flow of the smoke. The smoke itself is a bit fuzzy. I wonder if you could experiment with different focal lengths or post processing.
The smoke coming from the incense is a cool shape that draws the observers attention from one side of the image to the other, from the end of the smoke trail to the actual combustion region. This image does a good job of showing the air flow around the incense with the leading edge down by the combustion region and slowly rising due to the warmer air rises through the colder room temperature air. The focus is good, the image is cropped well, and the contrast between the well lit foreground and the very dark background is very well done.
Great composition. The wind flow is very evidently shown by the trail of smoke with good focus and light exposure
The slight breeze blowing the smoke makes a pleasing and smooth fluid profile. Did you try adding any extra forces on the fluid besides the breeze?
Art: Smooth smoke flow is satisfying
Flow: Very interesting wave-like flow
Photo Technique: Nice simple composition, doesn’t feel cluttered
Art is beautiful and impact. I like your composition and the photographic technique used was successful in capturing the flow. I think the image could improve with a lower ISO/stronger lighting to achieve the same image but with less grain.
I loved how background color is black to vividly show the flow of smoke. There were no distracting elements. I believe this picture was very detail oriented. Luke captured highlights he wanted to see very well.
Some great lighting and visuals! I also like the sharpness that was added, maybe tone down the sharpness just a tad bit so that the smoke feels more fluent and smooth.
-The image is dramatic and interesting.
-The flow is clearly illustrated.
-The focus seems slightly off.
I like the contrast of the dark background to the smoldering incense. The flow is the most interesting piece of the photograph, it is nice that the majority of the photograph has the smoke trail. The technique is great, there is no distracting background and the lighting of the subject is good
The two different lines of smoke that are coming off of the incense stick form an awesome plume of smoke that is very pleasing to the eye. It would be interesting to know if there was some sort of noticeable draft in the room at the time. This image is very grey and black, perhaps editing the image to make the color range more diverse.
Good background, no distracting elements, pleasing picture!
Flow is understandable and interesting!
Focus is perfect!
Really nice image, I like the way you put the stick on the right and have the flow goes towards right, it highlights the smoke with the black background. The flow is very clear and sharp, good focus. I think it will be great to rotate the image a little to make the stick vertical.
This image has very good composition with how the incense stick is off to the right allowing the flow to move across the image. This clearly demonstrates the slow burn of an object which allows it to smoke more. The filter used can seem a little grainy is this due to the bright light used or was it purposeful?
The flow of the smoke in this picture was captured and looks really cool. The fact that you put the smoke in the center of the picture and the stick on fire in the bottom right was great idea to make the audience focus more on the flow of the smoke. The dark background makes the smoke and fire really stand out. The picture is a little granulated, but overall it is a cool picture.
This is a lovely use of the rule of thirds. The bottom right draws the eye and then you follow the flame across the page. It really demonstrates the flow, and the lighting is great since it is hard to capture smoke on camera.
The image looks a little grainy. In the future, changing the camera or the post processing to reduce the graininess would be a good addition.
I think the match, or woodstick or whatever, has too much light reflecting off of it, maybe darken that part of the image. Or maybe cropping out that part entirely so that the dark half of the match is sitting on the frame. But if you do that you might have to crop the top as well. I don’t know, play around with it.
Very nice set up and contrast with the black background the picture looks extremely clean
Wow! You can clearly see how the smoke is driven by the draft. It looks ghostly as some of the smoke conglomerates among certain paths and dissipates along others.
Art:
The aesthetic is so fine. Very nice quality.
Flow:
Sooo nice. You can see the different smoke concentrations form a preferred path.
Photography Technique:
Really nice focus. I like the fine ash on the tip of the incense and the red poking out of it :)
The contrast between the focus of the image and the background is really good. It allows you to focus directly on the image without any other distractions. The flow is easy to understand throughout the image.
This composition was dramatic and aesthetically pleasing. The motion of the smoke and its general characteristics are made clear due to your lighting and framing set up. You did a great job of keeping the rule of thirds in mind in order to give the flow emphasis. The colors of the scene complement each other nicely, and the lit end of the incense provides an essential accent.
This is a great image, very well proportioned. The colors agree with each other well and the flow of the smoke is very easy to see. Photographically, I think the camera settings are perfect to capture the smoke well while still showing its motion.
This is a really nicely composed image. The lighting on the smoke is beautiful and the flow of the smoke really stands out against the background. Because of the dark nature of the photograph you probably needed to use a high ISO, which does introduce some grain in the photo. Could it be possible to lower the ISO to make for a smoother texture in the smoke?
This has a really nice, ethereal aesthetic, and does an excellent job of isolating and imaging the flow itself. Though not the subject, the insence is a bit out of focus. A slightly more crisp image would go well in a frame.
Art: the image has no distracting element which i can really focus into the image.
Flow: it clearly illustrates the phenomena. Very good image intention
Photographic technique: the full contrast range is beautiful
Art: The intent of the image is clearly visible, and the contrast between the smoke and black background is very nice. There are no distractions in the image to detract from the main elements. Well done.
Flow: The smoke flow is clearly visible and the contrast highlights it in the foreground. The physics of the smoldering ember releasing smoke is clear.
Technique: Good technique, good contrast and focus.
Very well composed image and good use of fluid flow. It’s kind of memorizing to look at. The picture looks a bit grainy, maybe take down the ISO and do less post processing.
The flow of the smoke is captured well here and the outlines are crisp. It’s obvious where everything is happening in this picture, which can be hard to capture.
Art: Simplistic and mute earth tones, this is a very comforting image.
Flow: The smoke trail illustrates the slight air flow occuring in the room, since it is not a straight path.
Image: The image is in the center of attention and is well cropped and edited.
The thought that went into this image stands out to me. the positioning of the incense on the lower left of the image with the gentle smoke drifting right to left is captivating.
Luke, I thought your image selection was great. Do you know why the smoke is only coming from the top and bottom of the incense? The only critique I have for your photo is that maybe the focus could have been slightly sharper around the smoke and making the incense stick more blurry. Overall, the sinusoidal figure you show in this image is visually stimulating.
Art: the flow of the smoke is pleasing to the eye and creates an elegance effect
Flow: clearly illustrates the phenomenon occurring (smoldering combustion)
Technique: the focus is perfect on both the smoke and other subject (incense stick)
The detail you were able to achieve is awesome. However, with that detail, some of the smoke seems a little grainy. Maybe some different post processing will allow you to smooth that out.
This is awesome! Love the smoke and the framing of the photo! It’d be cool if the smoke was a little more pure and in focus! But I love where the smoke is in comparison to the stick!
This smoke is very beautiful, I like the way the smoke bends to illustrate exactly how the air was flowing in this room, and how it isn’t exactly uniform. I think you had the perfect zoom, I like how the stick is in the picture, along with the flow of the smoke.
I love this image, cropped well, and great shutter speed. I wonder if one was to lower the exposure, that they would be able to remove the hot spot on the right side of the incense.
The smoke is very distinct on the black background. Did you use the unsharpen mask tool? The image is a bit grainy and distracts from the smooth fluid flow.
I like this image. The cropping and framing help draw attention to the flow, and the contrast with the black background looks nice.
Very beautiful picture. The flow is understandable, and flow is controlled. Focus and time are good. Good idea.