In a bit of a fog...

Each year we have two big high school rivalry football games. For each of these games we do a photo illustration as part of the preview prior to the game. This year I figured I would make use of one of the $20 fog machines available at Target.

I am the first to admit that I have absolutely no experience with fog machines. I discovered a few things. First of all I can tell you that the fog not only smells bad, but you can also taste it in the air and it isn't a good thing.I also discovered that it can be difficult to control just exactly where the fog produced by the $20 machines goes, especially in a well-ventilated studio.

Eventually with the help of one of the other staff photographers I managed to get a photo for the preview. I don't think I could have managed to do it without his help. He manually moved the machine around to distribute the fog as evenly as possible and get as much coverage as possible before it would disperse and be sucked out through the air vents in the studio.

I am just glad that there wasn't a smoke detector in there linked to the sprinkler system. Just what I would need, to have the sprinklers activated while shooting a football preview photo.

I lit the photo with a whitelightning as the backlight and two snooted sb-800s directed a the faces of the football players. I learned from a 'Strobist' post that Pingles potato chip cans can make great snoots, and they do. I cut off the bottoms, cover it in gaffer's tape (black) and cut an opening in the lid big enough to insert the strobe head before lining the opening with more gaffer's tape. The work great as long as they aren't containers that had the flavored chips in them. Then you get snoots with a nice aroma.

All in all I think it worked out. I can always find ways to make one of my images better and this was no exception. Live and learn.

I may have to spend some more time practicing with the fog machine. That is if it doesn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.