Capturing a beam of light

[olleorama]

I have this weird idea. I wanna capture a beam of light. Like the huge soft light coming in from a window and not only being able to catch the light falling on subjects inside, but the actual beam of light as it comes in. You often see these kinds of lighting in cinematography, is it possible to do with still photography? I have tried to catch head lights from cars, really hard, only possible to do in fog for me. How would you go about? I had this weird idea about adding some kind of dust or maybe smoke from a smoke machine to be able to do this, but I want it to be a bit even.

 

[ic-racer]

Fog machine.

 

[olleorama]

Ok, will look that up.

 

[markbarendt]

If you were in a slot canyon in AZ you would use a handfull of dirt.

At the house baby powder or flour might do the trick.

 

[zsas]

Klainmeister took a great photograph of a Kiva and it has a wonderful light beam, check out his Gallery uploads for "Kiva", that what you are looking for?
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

 

[JohnMeadows]

Incense does a good job of this (our church uses a lot of it, and it really picks up light shafts).

 

[munz6869]

In theatre - a cracker or Hazer... (like a fog machine, but an even mist that hangs in the air, rather than puffs of smoke)

Marc!

 

[markbarendt]

If you do go the flour route don't use much and don't do it near a flame.

Flour dust at the right concentration can ignite/explode. Think grain elevator explosions.

Cooks make bread next to the stove and kick up a bit of dust without issue but http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust_explosion

 

[johnielvis]

so you want to see smoke??? I was thinking just intensify it wilth local bleaching in the darkroom...you can fix all them old photos too--and let's face it---you ain't gonna be lighting smokebombs or using fog machines somewhere public

the bleaching would actually be pretty easy to do without too much experience--jst dont color outsde the lines....use tape or a ruler to guide the bleach in straight line outlines from the window...you can make like a "bleach pen" out of an old fountain pen to draw a bunch of narrow bleach beams in there...just make sure you miss a few beams and you get that "shadow in the beam" effect

I'd stay away from anything but something benign for "smoke".....maybe use ddry ice? or boiling water on a towell if you absolutely need the smoke in the room--that would sure work if it was cold...even them fine mist aerosol humidifiers can work if you can get it close enough....just dont' wanna damage the surroundings is the thing...and anything that smokes these days you're gonna be explaining why you brought the"bomb" into the library to the officers answering the call

 

[olleorama]

In theatre - a cracker or Hazer... (like a fog machine, but an even mist that hangs in the air, rather than puffs of smoke)

Marc!

Yeah, this sounds something like what I'm looking for.

 

[olleorama]

Klainmeister took a great photograph of a Kiva and it has a wonderful light beam, check out his Gallery uploads for "Kiva", that what you are looking for?
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

His photos are indeed good example for what I'm looking for, but softer. Thank you.

 

[TBN]

Light up a some candles, and then blow them out.. that should do the trick !