The Story

I've always hated josh sticks. Horrible, dirty, smelly things, polluting the air where you least want it polluted, inside your house. It amazes me that in an age where smoking is increasingly socially unacceptable, setting light to a stick of solidified crud and leaving it to smoulder in your living room is considered a cool thing to do. I'm sure that it's only a matter of time before papers are published demonstrating a link between these indoor bonfires and lung cancer. And surely there's a fire risk in having your own little table top tinder box.

I do seem to be in quite a minority with this view though. One person that thinks they are nice is Lin. Though due to the strength of my feelings she rarely lights them. Tonight was an exception. I burned our dinner which made the house smell, so Lin had her d.i.y. arsonists kit out as quick as a flash to try and mask the smell of my kitchen mayhem. I thought that was penance enough, but I decided that it would make a good photo. I struggled in vain for ages to get a decent shot. So long in fact that I voluntarily ended up lighting two more of these wretched things. That's dedication to the photoblog cause. Never again.

The Shot

I really did struggle to get anything at all. The trouble is trying to capture the smoke. I'm now full of admiration for those old film-noir makers who filled every scene with beautifully lit billowing smoke. If anyone knows how to take such a shot properly I love to know. The trouble is, it needs to be light enough to catch the smoke but the four ways that I know of doing this all have massive drawbacks.
1. Increase the level of light in the room - but that means we loose the glow from the embers.
2. Open the shutter wider, but that narrows the depth of focus to a point where the smoke swirls are just a foggy mess.
3. Take longer exposures - but the smoke moves about and loses its form.
4. Ramp up the ISO (this is what I settled for) - but this produces a grainy noise filled picture.

Wonderful post! Thanks for sharing and congrats! davidcardona · 2010-09-17: 20:32

this made me laugh! I'm not a fan of the stuff either but I can certainly identify with getting caught up in the photography and having to light another!!! Well done result too! DancingDolphin · 2010-09-17: 20:34

Sorry about your dinner, and the ensuing trauma of lighting the incense yourself. Nice effort on the smoke. Could you have shined a narrow beam across the smoke at a 90 degree angle to the camera? Just an idea - I've never tried this myself. lgnelson · 2010-09-17: 21:26

Excellent. Sorry about the dinner, but I am sorta split on incense... I like it when it smells nice and hate it when it smells like crap and burns my eyes... smbunation · 2010-09-17: 22:47

The shot is wonderful! And I hate those sticks, too!!! Eiram · 2010-09-18: 03:51

I have to confess that as one of these socially nearly unaccepted smokers I like incenses, smelling candles and all this stuff because they make it possible that I can still receive guests in my apartment. And of course I like and made smoke photos. According to my experience Larry´s idea works best to make the smoke visible, but I never tried to set the smoke free to have a uni colored background. I will publish some of mine today. By the way I like your shot and cannot discover any noise. GKorts · 2010-09-18: 04:30

The Story I've been 5 minutes wondering what was josh sticks, since I've never known this as a josh stick, but as incense. but somehow, I came to the conclusion that you meant joss stick! Sorry about your dinner, it sometimes happens. I personally neither like or dislike them. Sometimes, There is some fragrances that I like, though there are some that are so ''heavy'' that make me feel kinda sick. Like Lin, my mom loves joss sticks. But I don't know if it is about the same propose of her. My mum (like me), believes in magic and things that can help our lives, so the josh sticks, keeps away the bad eye and other things. there are specific joss sticks for everything. so once a month, or when she remembers, I'm going to sleep and I feel that smell that is burning something. well it is a joss stick! lol The Shot I have no idea how would I take such shot. If I had a camera like yours this is what I'd try to do (though I've no idea if it would work, but for sure when i've a DSRL I'll try this out): My brother has a mobile phone which has a constant flash, which means it can be always lighting. even if i didn't have it, i could use a little lamp. i'd project the light only to the smoke, and I'd photograph it. I just don't know if this would be successful or not :P onlyricky · 2010-09-18: 05:11

Wonderful shot! wildduck · 2010-09-18: 06:10

Nice shot. farideh · 2010-09-18: 07:13

So beautiful!!! nikito · 2010-09-18: 08:19

Nice curly effect. ????? · 2010-09-18: 14:22

Well, I think it's an excellent shot! jennye · 2010-09-18: 15:01

I think it's impressive. What if you had a directional light pointed towards the smoke only to brighten it up. Love the swirls you captured. dontblink · 2010-09-18: 15:27

This is really nice shot. A josh, or joss stick, (and I have another name to call it in my native language) seems alway give me of sacred place or person.. or the mysterious life after this life... kind of. huiching · 2010-09-18: 23:14

Excellent! :) ????? · 2010-09-19: 07:43

The light is strongest close to the light source, so one way could be to have the background as far away as possible, and the light sources close to the fumes. I remember a photo I took once on film, long time ago. It can't be compared with this one in any way, but had a decent capture of steam from a cup of hot tea with nothing but a few candles close to the cup. I'm guessing it was the proximity of the light sources that made it. Perhaps screens can be used to further reduce the light falling on the background. Most importantly, find the least annoying scent and keep on experimenting. :) ????? · 2010-09-19: 11:25

I forgot to say: great picture! :) ????? · 2010-09-19: 11:31

Check these shots out! I was fascinated by these! atszabo · 2010-09-20: 10:01

Sounds like you made a good choice...the shot works!! ????? · 2010-09-20: 13:21

At your command, some info: Smoke Photography Smoke Photography made simple - week 62 jrregaldie · 2010-09-21: 16:37

Of course, I expect to see the results from your learnings ;-) jrregaldie · 2010-09-21: 16:38

How could I mis this one?? Wow, I never seem to succeed with such shots ... but yours is quite good!!! Ryana · 2010-11-15: 07:07

I don't know how I missed this either :) but it's good - I have to figure out how to try this without the migraine stick. McMommy · 2010-11-15: 07:12

It's a super cool shot! And when I saw Ricky's and he said it was "someone else' idea" I knew right away it was you. ;o) ????? · 2010-11-15: 21:40

I would have done what you did. It's a great shot and I like the graininess of it. I haven't burned incense since the 70's! :))) livelovelaugh · 2010-11-15: 22:32

cool shot, i tried the other day and couldnt get a good shot. i'll try again someday... LevonTheLights · 2010-11-21: 02:32

Tagged: josh stick burn smoke