What is Smoke Bomb Photography?

You’re here because you want to do some smoke photography huh? Great! Smoke bomb photos are amazing what they are pulled off correctly. This article will go through common questions on Smoke bombs to get you setup for your next photoshoot!

Smoke Bomb Photography, What is it?

Smoke bomb photography has to do with shooting with smoke bombs or smoke grenades. These smoke bombs come in a variety of colors. Depending on the brand of smoke bombs you can get they can come in purple, green, white, black, grey, orange, blue, yellow, pink, red or a combination.

These smoke bombs last around 30 seconds to 80 seconds. Smoke bombs have been popular on social media sites like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and professional photography websites.

Smoke Bombs can be used in different settings such as portrait photoshoots, senior photoshoots, wedding photoshoots and more. Smoke bomb photoshoots are very fun to do if done correctly.

Where Can You Buy Smoke Bombs?

Now that you want to start, where are some places that you can buy smoke bombs? A few places to start looking include Amazon, Ebay and Online Retailers. They can range from $3 to $12 per smoke bomb.

I would make sure to look and buy the colors you would like to use based on the outfit and the location and style you would like since the smoke bombs can get expensive.

Smoke Bombs last about 30-80 seconds as stated before. It is a good idea to buy a bundle of smoke bombs. This pack of 10 smoke bombs on Enola goes for $65.00

Ebay

Searching on Ebay “smoke effect” or “smoke bomb” gives the best results. I have also found that smoke bombs on Ebay sell faster.

Thes smoke bombs are shown with wedding photographs. These smoke bombs sell for about $3 to $24.

Amazon

Amazon has a limited amount of smoke bomb variety. However Amazon has some options from around $13 to $79.99.

https://www.amazon.com/Colorful-Pull-Ring-Smoke-Tube/dp/B081YHBXVD/ref=sr_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=smoke+bomb&qid=1605600506&sr=8-3

Some websites also have a longer shipping duration from two weeks to four weeks. Make sure to look at this before ordering your smoke bombs.

Where to do Smoke Bombs?

Once you have ordered your smoke bombs a good idea is finding the location where you want to shoot. This can also be done before ordering to coordinate the colors as well.

You can either look for outdoor places that are more private and where you can set multiple off without bothering others too much.

Some good location ideas may include outside in an open park, a forestry, railroad tracks, out in the country. You want something that is open to see the smoke.

Location Ideas:

Forests

Railroad tracks

Fields

You can go on sites like Google Maps and Google Earth to find open areas near you. I would also suggest searching open parks, finding railroad tracks or finding lots of trees. Then go in person and check the location out in person.

In most states letting off Smoke Bombs should be fine. However be aware of natural areas. We will assume that they are legal in the place you are taking photos. If they are not, get in contact with your local police department and let them know beforehand of the idea and ask for permission beforehand.

You do not want to plan to do it in an indoor place. Indoor locations may stain the area, or turn on smoke alarms.

Another tip would be to look at websites like Pinterest and Instagram for inspiration for locations. Think out of the box as well where normal portraits would be taken. Location is also dependent on the look you want to create and the time of day you are taking photos.

How to Shoot Smoke Bombs

Shooting at smoke bombs can be more difficult than you first think. Smoke bombs go away fast so it is important to have a plan. This includes the lighting, outfits and settings.

Lighting direction is important

Outfits should be able to match the smoke bomb colors

Settings are important to use the smoke bomb time as best as possible

The first tip is to set up the shot beforehand, recognize where the light is coming from, and where the wind is blowing. Setting up the shot means composing before lighting the actual smoke bomb. You want to use the most out of your 30-60 seconds.

Lighting and settings go hand and hand. Think of where the sun will hit the smoke bomb and your subject. Decide if you want to bring a flash or other artificial lettings to help you out.

Also find out where the wind is going. This will help determine where the smoke will go. Sometimes it’s better to know beforehand if it will be windy or not. Smoke bombs during a windy day can be fun, but difficult to control!

Make sure that the outfit you have chosen won't burn easily, this shouldn't be a problem but keep it in mind. Sometimes the smoke bombs can burn through outfits or tint the colors. I have seen this before on white outfits that get affected by smoke bombs Settings

Although settings are different for each camera and each setting here are some general tips. Try and use a middle range aperture level that is above f1.8 and lower then f12. Somewhere such as f5 will allow you to capture the detail of the smoke bombs.

Another tip is setting a high shutter speed. High shutter speeds will let you capture the smoke bombs and movement as best as possible. Use the Focal Length Rule , Image stabilization for clear photos. I would shoot anywhere from 1/60th to 1/250th or more for sharp smoke bomb photos.

Hopefully this will help you shoot your smoke bombs with these things in mind and create amazing photographs!

How to Edit Smoke Bomb Photography?

You’ve finished planning and taking the smoke bomb photos! Now how do you edit them? Well hopefully you shot in RAW to edit your photos in a photo editor such as luminar 4, Photoshop or Lightroom. I will be using Photoshop and Lightroom.

Some key things to look at when editing and deciding which smoke bomb photos to keep is having clean smoke bomb photos. If any are blurry you should find the sharpest focus ones. This can be first filtered from Shutter speeds above 1/60th (or to what doesn’t look blurry). The next part is looking at your favorites and selecting those.

On the editing in Lightroom I would look at viewing the clippings of highlights and shadows so there is good depth in both of them. Oftentimes Smoke Bomb photos may be more reliant on one over the other.

Another suggestion in photoshop is bringing up the vibrance of the Smoke Bomb through color selections. Go into selections and find the color of your smoke bomb and use a vibrant/saturation slider to quickly brighten it up.

Conclusion

Smoke bomb photography is a great way to have fun and build your portfolio! It is challenging and fascinating the types of photos you can come up with. Keep shooting!