Coloured Smoke Grenades for Photos: Tips for the Perfect Shot

Coloured smoke photography looks effortless in the finished picture and is anything but on the day. The smoke lasts a minute or so, the wind has opinions, and the colour you saw in the packet is not always the colour you get in the frame. Get four or five things right, though, and a single grenade will give you the most striking images of the year.

We sell smoke to a lot of photographers, and we’ve watched a lot of people learn the same lessons the expensive way. Here they are, in order of how much they matter.

Light first, colour second

Smoke is a screen for whatever light hits it. That’s the whole secret. The same blue grenade looks electric on a bright overcast day, soft and grey blue at dusk, and almost black if the sun is behind the photographer and the smoke is in shadow.

The best light for smoke is bright but diffused: thin cloud, open shade, or the hour after sunrise and before sunset. Direct midday sun bleaches the pale colours and makes the dense ones look flat. If you’re stuck with harsh light, put the sun behind the subject so it backlights the smoke. Backlit smoke glows; front-lit smoke looks like smoke.

Choose the colour for the background you’ve got. Blue and purple sing against warm stone, sand and autumn trees. Pink and orange work against green fields and grey sky. Red is strong against almost anything but overwhelms skin tones if it’s close to the face. White is the safe choice when you’re not sure; it takes the colour of the light and gives you a misty, editorial look.

Wind: the shot-maker and the shot-breaker

Before you pull a ring, throw some grass in the air. You want a gentle, steady breeze coming from one side, so the smoke drifts across the frame behind or beside the subject. No wind at all and the smoke hangs in a lump around the grenade. A gusty wind rips it away before the camera sees it.

Position the person holding the grenade upwind of the subject and just outside the frame, so the smoke streams through the picture. If the wind is behind the camera, the smoke will blow away from you and look thin. If it’s behind the subject, it will come straight into the lens. Move the whole set-up rather than fighting it.

Camera settings that work

Shoot in burst mode and shoot a lot. Smoke changes shape every fraction of a second and the good frame is never the one you expected. A shutter speed of 1/250 or faster freezes the texture; slower speeds give you a smoother, dreamier smoke, which suits some styles. Keep the ISO as low as the light allows so the colour stays clean. An aperture of f/2.8 to f/5.6 keeps the subject sharp and lets the smoke soften behind them.

Shoot RAW if you can. Smoke colours shift with the light and you’ll want to pull the white balance around afterwards. Lock the focus on the subject before the smoke starts; autofocus loves to jump onto the smoke and leave the face soft.

On a phone, tap to focus on the person, drag the exposure down a touch so the highlights in the smoke don’t blow out, and use burst by holding the shutter. Modern phones handle smoke better than people expect.

Timing the burn

A smoke grenade is at its densest in the first half of its burn and tails off from there. Plan the pose, the framing and the focus before the ring is pulled, then pull and shoot immediately. For a fashion or portrait sequence, count on 30 to 40 seconds of usable smoke from a medium grenade and longer from a large one. If you need more, pull a second grenade as the first starts to fade, rather than waiting for it to finish.

For couples and groups, the ushers or an assistant should handle the smoke so the subjects can concentrate on the pose. Give them a countdown so the pull, the pose and the first frame land together.

Composition tips

Keep the grenade out of the frame or hide it behind the subject’s body or a prop. Visible tubes ruin the illusion. If the person holds their own smoke, have them hold it low and slightly behind, at arm’s length, with the arm relaxed.

Leave space for the smoke to travel. Frame wider than you think and crop later. Shoot from a low angle to put the smoke against the sky. Try one frame where the subject is partly hidden in the cloud and one where they step out of it; the second is usually the keeper.

Two colours in one frame is a lovely effect if you choose a pair that blends cleanly: pink and blue, orange and blue, purple and white. Avoid combinations that are muddy to brown.

Locations that flatter smoke

Open, elevated and slightly bleak is the recipe. Moorland works beautifully: the sky is big, the ground is dark, and there’s nearly always a steady breeze. Beaches at low tide give you a pale, reflective floor that bounces the colour back into the frame. Empty car parks, industrial estates on a Sunday and long stone walls give an urban, editorial look. Woodland is harder; the trees break up the smoke and the light is patchy. If you must shoot in trees, find a clearing and put the sun behind the subject.

A word on editing

Smoke responds well to gentle edits and badly to heavy ones. Pull the highlights down a fraction so the cloud keeps its texture, nudge the white balance until the skin looks right and let the smoke fall where it falls, and add a little contrast rather than a lot of saturation. Over-saturated smoke looks like a filter. The colour was real; let it look real.

Keeping the shoot safe and clean

Hold the grenade by the base, away from clothing and hair. The tube gets hot and stays hot for a few minutes afterwards. Never put a lit or recently spent grenade on grass, on a car bonnet, or in a bag. Have a bucket of water or a metal tin for the tubes spent.

Don’t hold dense smoke close to light fabric. The dye can leave a tint on white dresses and shirts if it’s concentrated and up close. A couple of metres of distance solves this entirely.

Check you’re allowed to be there. Private land with permission is straightforward. Public parks and beaches are usually tolerated if you’re careful and tidy up but ask if there’s a warden. Never near a football ground or an airport.

Work in the open air. Smoke indoors sets off alarms, stains ceilings and lingers for hours.

Buy more than you need

Every experienced smoke photographer over-orders. Two per colour is the minimum for a shoot; three gives you a spare when the wind shifts or the pose isn’t right. Our smoke range has over sixty products, including our own medium and large ring-pull grenades in the full colour set and mix and match packs that make it easy to build a palette. Because smoke isn’t classed as a firework, it goes out on our cheaper Saver delivery, and you can collect for free from our Bradford shop if you’re local. Tell us where you’re shooting and the light you’ll have, and we’ll suggest colours that will show up.