For my first shoot in several months, I teamed up with the fantastic Kate Stofko and we headed out to a local nature preserve at sunrise with our wonderful assistant/smoke-bomb-thrower Tracye Smith. I decided to experiment with a couple new techniques for me. The first being on location flash, and the second being smoke bombs.
Overall, the smoke bombs did well as long as the breeze was going the right direction and their location wasn't too damp, causing them to go out and not release any smoke. The color of the smoke did much better in shade as sunlight seemed to make it disappear altogether unless it and the subject were backlit, which made for some amazing glowy shots! However, the bombs do not release that much smoke and are spent within about 30 seconds, so about 95% of these shots are composited in Photoshop to incorporate as much of the smoke from each bomb as possible.
The wooden prop is a bird feeder I found at Target that reminded me of an egg, which spurred the inspiration for the nature vs. nurture concept. In many of the shots you'll notice the model holding or embracing the egg, or keeping it within reach using the attached rope, protecting it from the encroaching smoke. But will the smoke corrupt...or influence a new, more colorful life? Eventually, the smoke comes from within the egg itself, proving this new life will be a bright and colorful influence to the world.
I am very happy with how this shoot turned out, and I hope y'all enjoy it as well.
:]
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