I used a smoke machine and fabric on this recent collaboration with Emily Pocock, a young Brighton musician, to create atmospheric imagery for her music. Emily also has trained in dance, which added great movement to the shoot. I made a playist of music she liked in advance, so she had a good atmosphere to work with.

I used 2 x Arri 800w as backlights and placed the smoke machine in the middle. Occasionally using a 3xAstra LED light above the camera to fill in a little. To help control the smoke, the windows and doors were always closed and I placed 2x black poly boards either side of her to add negative fill, also to keep the smoke closer to her.

In the edit, I added +25 clarity and +25 texture to the smoke so we could feel it more. I offered Emily a variety of grades and she settled on these two.