This is a photo of a smoke ring blow using a homemade rig. It involved a box with a hole cut out of it and a “bellow” made of paper on one side. The box was filled with smoke using a smoke machine. Then the bellow could be pressed expelling smoke and then released creating a backdraft that created a smoke ring. The smoke ring could be lit up using a large lighting panel and then photographed. This image shows the vortices on either side of the ring and the smoke that the ring is leaving behind. Unfortunately, due to poor lighting, the ISO and framerate settings were difficult to get right so the image is very slightly grainy. This image was the best one out of about 400 images that we took using the same setup.
IV2 || Ben Carnicelli
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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
7 Comments. Leave new
I’m so impressed you were able to capture such a perfect vortex ring, I heard a lot of other people talking about how hard it was to capture fog and smoke but this completely defies that. The only thing that could be improved upon is more lighting so you can lower your ISO.
This is a great visualization of the cross section of the ring! Good job on the focus, you can see the boundaries really well.
This is a great visualization of the cross-section of the vortex rings! I really love the diagonals of the image, I think it was wise to rotate it to the orientation you have now.
I very much enjoy the way you rotated the image. The diagonal subject was very interesting. Honestly, I kind of like the grainy-ness, it brings a somewhat warm feeling.
I really like the two diagonal lines crossing the image in perpendicular directions, I think you did a good job with the rotation.
I love how you can see the swirls going so deep into the cross section of the vortex. It shows the exact physics you were trying to capture. The choice to rotate and crop was also a great choice.
I really love the crazy organically generated shape from the smoke. At the head of the “T”, it almost looks like it has eyes from the vortices.