Smoke Bomb Photography

Last spring Mandy of Hothouse Designs invited us to take part in a smoke bomb photography styled shoot showcasing her beautiful designs in a more edgy fashion.  With a mood board including vibrant colors, classic cars, and urban wall art, I knew this shoot was going to be a fun creative stretch for us.

Brightly Colored Styled Shoot

We had never used smoke bombs before and so after a little research, we realized there were several things that needed to happen if the shoot was going to be successful.  The first was a lack of wind of the day of the shoot which needless to say didn’t happen.  Because we couldn’t really reschedule the shoot, we had to work with the direction of the wind to insure that the smoke went where we wanted it to.

4 Tips for Photography

After the first initials shots, we relocated to an area behind some buildings to insure that we weren’t burning through smoke bombs faster than we wanted to.  This proved to work a lot better.  However, when planning your own shoot with smoke bombs, here are some things to consider.

1. Make sure that the clothing your models or clients wear is ok to get stained or even slightly burnt as smokebombs set off sparks and the colored smoke stains
2. You will need lots of assistants and they will need gloves because smokebombs get hot
3. Get everything set up before you use the smoke bombs because they go FAST!
4. Protect your camera as the smoke can leave residue.  This is simple as covering it with a plastic bag.

When all else fails test a few before the shoot and check out Youtube for additional tutorials. Our favorite brand is Enola Gaye. They have multiple color options and great information videos to help beginners out. For more photography tips like this head here.