Opaque Smoke & Background Bokeh

How to backlight smoke so it becomes opaque, and using a slow shutter speed to capture background lights as out-of-focus circles (bokeh) in your portraits. Rui was a guest at a wedding I was shooting. I loved his look, and had in mind a specific image I wanted to capture, with backlit smoke around him. Despite not being a smoker*, Rui was happy to pose for me, so we made our way through someone’s else’s packet of cigarettes until I …

Foundations: Aperture, The Pupil Of Your Camera’s Eye

The aperture is like the pupil in a human eye – it’s the hole in the lens which permits light to enter through to reach the camera’s sensor. The size of the aperture can be changed – just as a pupil shrinks in harsh sunlight and expands in the dark. A wider aperture lets more light in (causing a brighter exposure), while a narrower one restricts the amount of light that enters (for a darker exposure). Increasing the size of …