Guide to bird photography

Introduction:

As many of you know by now, i am obsessed with bird photography and i can easily say that 99% of my shooting is birds. this obsession began about a year and a half ago when i took my first shot of a bird (a pigeon of all thing) and ever since that shot, i have spent most of my free time chasing birds and trying to get the best shots that i can of these amazing creatures. as time progressed, i have learned more and more about how to create a good image while at the same time, i learned that photographing birds is probably one of the hardest things a photographer can do and that in order to get better, you have to really push yourself to the limits (both physically and mentally). you see, in contrast to most photography genres, avian photography is affected by almost every variable you can think of. the clothing that you were, your physical location, the angle of the sun, the weather, the wind, the height of the grass etc.. all can have serious affect on what you can and will shoot.

Everything about bird photography is dynamic so the only way we can make sure that we do come home with a few good shots is by being ready and be willing to really walk the extra miles. and yes, often times you will have to do some crazy stuff to get the right shot like sitting in the blazing sun for hours, laying on the ice, crawling in the mud and even get into the river only to get a single shot of a bird that you have never seen before.

Even though it is hard to get the right shot and we often have to suffer for it, i can honestly say without a doubt that once you do it and get a chance to really see nature at its best, there is nothing better. i often find myself starring in awe at the sight of an amazing bird or just speechless when i see what these creatures do. so in order to save you some time or at least give you some idea on what it is like, i have decided to put together this guide.

Ethics!!!!!!!!:

There is a reason why i decided to open with this section. all too often we get so wrapped up with getting the shot that we forget that when we do any kind of wildlife photography, we are going into the home of the creatures we are there to shoot. another thing that we often forget is that birds are very sensitive and one bad decision can cause serious harm. for example, there is nothing more amazing than to shoot parents feeding their young but in order to get the shot, some people are willing to get very close to the nest which will often result in the parents leaving the nest and leaving the young ones to die.

As much as i love a nice image, i can tell you right now that no shot is worth disturbing the subject. always use common sense and do your very best to be invisible in the field. do your best to enjoy the birds without them knowing that you are there. in times of nesting or mating, stay as far away as you can so they can do what they need to do and even if you don't get the shot, at least you can enjoy the fact that nature remains undisturbed.

Gear:

I really hate to talk about gear but i do feel that it is VERY important in this case so i will make an exception. let me start with something that i am sure you all heard before: "reach is king". even though this line seems like a complete BS, it is actually very true in the case of bird photography. the main reason for this is because unlike humans or pets, birds are really skittish and will often disappear the second they see your shadow. another reason is because there is nothing better than seeing a full frame filled with a small bird which you simply can not do with a 24-70 or even 70-200 in most cases (no peter, a duck or a goose is not a good example). however, before you leave this thread cursing me for crashing your dreams of becoming the next Arthur Morris with a 70-200, let me give you hope again. there are many ways to overcome the lack of reach even though again, it is better to have the reach in the first place. by using good tracking skills, blinds and being patient, you can get VERY close to the subject. i recently shot some kingfishers in Israel from a blind and i swear that my 500 was WAY too long, a 70-200 would have been perfect!!!

now that we got the reach issue out of the way, lets talk about the more important items that can help you with your mission. the first thing that i will talk about is blinds. a good blind will allow you to become part of nature which in turn will allow you to get really close to the birds. there are many different kinds of blinds and the one you should choose depends on how far you want to go and what type of shooting you do. i personally use the kwikcamo blind which is just camo fabric you throw over yourself. this blind is VERY portable and flexible so you can use it while standing, sitting and even laying on the ground. another blind that i just started using is the doghouse blind which is just a camo tent that allows 2 people to sit in it and shoot through a window. this blind is fantastic if you plan on setting up and staying in the same place for many hours. another advantage to this blind is the fact that you are very comfortable in it because you can sit down with your tripod at a ready position.

both blind do really work and will allow you to get shots that you wouldn't be able to get if you are just standing there all exposed.

here is a shot i took from the doghouse blind:

another important piece of gear that i like to use is my bean bag and more recently the skimmer. the bean bag is a great cheap way to get a stable portable platform and will allow you to get sharp shots even when you are shooting from the ground, your car or even just shooting on a fence. the skimmer is a great little tool that allows you to do ground shooting while still allowing you to move freely on the ground. the reason why this is so important will be explained later but for now, here is a shot i took from the ground using the bean bag:


of course, there is also the matter of lenses, bodies, flashes, tripods, monopods and a thousand other pieces of gear but i will leave that to the gear section of this gear forum

Attire for the field:

this is a topic that is often overlooked but that i feel is of great importance so i wanted to talk about it here for a bit. what you wear can make or break a shooting session so it is very important to understand why you need to dress in a certain way.

i recently finished reading a book called Good Birders Don't Wear White and one of the the big things they talked about is the importance of wearing cloths that do not scare the birds away. for some reason, bright colors and white are not the colors that you want to wear while out shooting birds i personally try to wear olive/ camo colored shirts and even pants but i found that any dark color would work for the most part. another BIG thing that i found is that wearing a hat does in fact work. the main thing you want to do is to become part of the scene and wearing the right cloths will allow you to do that.

even more important than the color of your shirt is your comfort and safety. like we said before, bird shooting is very dynamic and you will quickly find yourself shooting in many different terrains and what works for one will not work for the other. for example, what you wear when you are shooting in the trails or woods is probably going to be very uncomfortable when you are shooting on the beach. also, it is important to dress for the weather that you are going to shoot in and be ready for anything that mother nature decides to through at you. i have shot in -20 temps here in Boston and even with gloves, tights and everything else you can think of, i was still very close to freezing so you can see why it is very important to be ready before you get to the field. always be ready for the worst and try to cover all bases. my bag now includes an extra wind jacket, a pair of gloves and a face mask just in case the temps do drop to crazy levels. no shot is worth losing your limbs for....

Know your subject!!!:

one of the most important things that i learned very quickly is that the only way to get the shots you want is by knowing the subject that you want to shoot. of course you can count on pure luck and get a great shot but for the most part, knowing your subject will allow you to increase your chances. for example, by knowing the terrain that herons normally like or the type of marshes a Northern Harrier frequent, you can know where to look for them and where to set up. also, it is important to understand the behavior of the particular bird because it will allow you to know how to predict what they are going to do next. for example, knowing that the Northern Harrier glides with the wind and can fly in reverse will help you predict where it is going to go next. knowing that a tern will usually stop on the spot mid air and start flapping its wings right before it dives into the water will allow you to time your shot and get the image that you want.

even though there is unlimited amount of information that you can read and learn, most of the basics can be found in any birds books/guides and can be easily found on the net.

Tips for better bird photography:

Like i said before, i don't think that i am a good bird photographer. however, i do try to read a lot about the subject and do my best to get better. along the way, i have picked up some very good tips from some great photographers and i thought that i would share them with you.

1) GO AS LOW AS YOU CAN GO!!!!!!!- one mistake that we often see is that people tend to shoot birds from a higher angle which in most cases really kills an image. there is nothing better in my own opinion than shooting a birds from eye level and in order to do that, you will have to go down to their level even though it means getting dirty.



here is an image where i was laying on the ground and managed to shoot from the birds eye level:



2) don't be afraid to get dirty- in order to get the shot that you want, you will often have to go into places that you normally wouldn't want to go in. however, once you get the shot, i promise you that even with all the mud and crap all over yourself, you will still be VERY happy.

3) got up early and get back home late- besides the fact that the lighting is best in the early morning and late afternoon, birds are also a lot more active in these hours and you will have better chance of getting a nice image instead of the usual perched bird. i know that getting up at 3am on a Sunday sounds horrible but again, i promise you that when you are out there at 5:30am with great light looking at a feeding bird, you will forget all about the lost sleep:



4) Don't be afraid to give and receive critique!!!!- not too long ago, i had a signature that caused quite a stir right here in these forums. the gist of the signature was that i would much rather get no feedback than a "great shot". the reason i said what i said is because for me, critique has been what made me get better. i know that sometimes we say "nice shot" because we are trying to be nice and give the poster some words of encouragement. this is all fine but we have to look and understand what the phrase "nice shot" can do to the very same person we are trying to help. a person can post a very avarage shot or even horrible shot and when we say "nice shot", the person can take it and think to himself "i did good, i am going to try to get more great shots like this one". instead of helping the person, we hurt them by not teaching them what they can do better and in turn, cause them to get stuck where they are. don't get me wrong, i do think that encouragement is good and should be included when you provide proper feedback. instead of saying "nice shot", we can say something like "that is a very nice picture but what can make it better is if you framed the bird on left of the frame and left some space for the bird to fly into. also, i think that a lower angle can really make this shot shine". now, the next time the poster will go out shooting and comes across the same bird, he will hopefully try to implement what you told him and guess what, the bird is in the right part of the frame and the angle is lower. i know that i posted MANY horrible shots and got tons of "great shot" posts. i will admit that i did not learn anything from the posts and instead, i had a sense that i am doing a great job. then, i joined an Israeli forum and when i posted the exact same shots, the images were ripped into shreds. instead of being offended, i decided to really try and understand the comments and guess what, my photography really started to get better. through the critique that i received from that forum, i learned about the importance of the low angle, the focus on the eye, fill flash, avoiding steel eye, proper exposure of white birds and many other great things that i would never have known unless somebody took the time to really give me honest feedback on my work.

so what i am saying is that if you really want to be nice and helpful or if you really want to learn and get better, always ask and provide the critique. of course, i have seen a few people that really didn't want the critique and that is perfectly fine. what i do now in every thread is ask for the critique and hopefully i will get it. however, don't forget that even when you do provide strong critique, you need to do it in a respectable way and make sure that you are talking about the image and not the photographer.

Group f/64 was a group of photographers espousing a common philosophy. The group was created in 1932. The original membership consisted of:
Ansel Adams
Imogen Cunningham
Willard Van Dyke
John Paul Edwards
Consuelo Kanaga
Alma Lavenson
Preston Holder
Sonia Noskowiak
Henry Swift
Edward Weston
The term f/64 refers to the smallest aperture setting on a large format camera, which secures maximum depth of field, rendering a photograph evenly sharp from foreground to background. Such a small aperture implies a long exposure and the selection of relatively slow moving or motionless subject matter, such as landscapes and still life over action and reportage photography.

This corresponds to the ideal of straight photography which the group espoused in response to the pictorialist methods that were in fashion at the time.

Group f/64 published the following manifesto:
The name of this Group is derived from a diaphragm number of the photographic lens. It signifies to a large extent the qualities of clearness and definition of the photographic image which is an important element in the work of members of this Group.
The chief object of the Group is to present in frequent shows what it considers the best contemporary photography of the West; in addition to the showing of the work of its members, it will include prints from other photographers who evidence tendencies in their work similar to that of the Group.
Group f/64 is not pretending to cover the entire spectrum of photography or to indicate through its selection of members any deprecating opinion of the photographers who are not included in its shows. There are great number of serious workers in photography whose style and technique does not relate to the metier of the Group.
Group f/64 limits its members and invitational names to those workers who are striving to define photography as an art form by simple and direct presentation through purely photographic methods. The Group will show no work at any time that does not conform to its standards of pure photography. Pure photography is defined as possessing no qualities of technique, composition or idea, derivative of any other art form. The production of the "Pictorialist," on the other hand, indicates a devotion to principles of art which are directly related to painting and the graphic arts.
The members of Group f/64 believe that photography, as an art form, must develop along lines defined by the actualities and limitations of the photographic medium, and must always remain independent of ideological conventions of art and aesthetics that are reminiscent of a period and culture antedating the growth of the medium itself.
The Group will appreciate information regarding any serious work in photography that has escaped its attention, and is favorable towards establishing itself as a Forum of Modern Photography.

how to do Postcard Photography

Postcard photography is the pursuit of the perfect scenic picture. Anyone can do it. I manage to make a living from this but it's really just about being in the right place at the right time.

How To Get Clear Pictures

I have been asked many times over the years how I get such deep blue skies and clarity in my pictures.

The answer is simple: I only shoot on exceptionally clear days with great visibility.

For the clearest air, shoot in winter. The views are crisp and sharp and distant mountains are distinct. From February to May, I'm madly visiting all my favorite places, building a year's worth of stock which I'll sell during the rest of the year.

As soon as I arrive at a location, I always check the weather forecast for the next few days. I only shoot in good weather. Many times I have stayed in a hotel room for several days before the weather was right.

I spend part of my time on "bad weather" days looking at postcard racks, skimming picture books, and exploring the area. When the weather breaks, I'm ready to get working.

Amateur vs. Professional

The one big difference I've observed between an amateur photographer and a professional is this: when both stop and look at a beautiful scene, the amateur will take one picture and move on while the pro will take many pictures of the same scene at varying times and exposures before moving on.

Of course, the professional has more time available. But the pro knows he or she must get the perfect exposure because their job is riding on it. It's really simple: if a pro doesn't bring back good, usable photography, they won't be asked to shoot again.

Research is key to getting the best shot. Look for a high viewpoint that combines several landmarks in a tight grouping. Plan on spending ample time at your viewpoint, to get the best exposure, light, and composition.

Images That Sell

I usually shoot every good scene in both horizontal and vertical formats. When I first started out, I shot mostly horizontals, and I lost out on a lot of vertical sales. The initial cost of the extra shot is more than offset by the increased sales.

Calendar company buyers appreciate photographers who have images representing all four seasons. In putting together their calendars each year, they like to deal with as few photographers as possible.

All the stock agencies that I deal with only want digital images submitted. I shoot now with a Nikon D200 camera, and my library of over 200,000 transparencies awaits to be scanned.

Most clients now want to see only digital images. I still sell a lot of film to my clients even though it's been less and less over the past five years. So there is still some film buyers out there and probably will be for the near future. I used to shoot with medium-format as, it turned out, size does matter! I still shoot film with my Nikon F5 and Hasselblad X-Pan.

Equipment

I've been asked many times by beginning pros if it's necessary to buy expensive (i.e. 'fast') lenses. In the case of landscape photography, I don't think so. Most of your pictures will be taken on a tripod, so a fast lens is not needed. Most of my landscapes are taken at F16, F22, or F32. The only exception is aerial photography where one or two fast lenses can come in handy.
One of the most important items in a photographer's equipment is a tripod. The larger and heavier the camera, the more a tripod is needed. To get great depth-of-field, which is important for landscape photography, a tripod is a "must."

As far as filters go, I use only one -- a polarizer. This is really a great filter and, when used properly, increases the color saturation of all the hues in a scene (not just the blue in the sky, as some people think). I have polarizers for all my lenses and take them off only when they aren't needed.

Favorite CitiesSan Diego is my favorite city to photograph. I find the beauty of the landscape to be mind-boggling, offering so many beautiful and varied places to photograph.

My other favorite cities to photograph are San Francisco, Boston, New Orleans, New York, Chicago, Montreal, and Vancouver. Along with San Diego, each of these areas has an ambiance that makes it unique. I have shot these cities over and over again and still look forward to going back and doing it another time.

How to Make the Best of a Bad Shooting Situation

How to Make the Best of a Bad Shooting Situation

It was a rainy day in Paris. I was in the City of Lights, along with other members of the international photo press, for the debut of Panasonic's latest cameras. I was shooting with the new $349 (estimated street) Lumix DMC-TZ3, which the manufacturer bills as the perfect traveling companion-- pocket-sized but packing 7.2MP, a 10X zoom that starts at a wide 28mm equivalent, image stabilization, and a 3-inch LCD.
But for all that, it couldn't do anything about the rain. Every shot looked dull; even reflections on the wet pavement fell flat. Bad photos of Paris, it is possible? It seemed so.

Then Jerry Grossman of the trade paper, Photo Industry Reporter, held up the LCD of his camera. He'd taken a few images in Sepia mode, and the pictures looked much better than anything shot in color. There was a mass switch to sepia. Granted, not the most sophisticated solution, but it was an idea that helped turn this photo op around.

It's the kind of situation all of us face with our photography -- the weather, the lighting, or the subject may not be cooperating, or you don't have all the time or gear you'd like, but you still have to get good shots. What do you do? Get creative and find workarounds. Here are some solutions for situations that have the makings of photo disasters.

• The Situation:
You're suddenly appointed the party photographer.

The Problem:
All you have is a digital compact, and the tiny flash won't properly light -- let alone flatter -- the guests. Also, capturing tequila-fired red noses isn't going to get you invited next time.

The Solution:
Shut off the flash and switch to black-and-white mode. Yes, the ISO will go through the roof, but in b&w, the digital noise looks like grain. Sort of arty. And chances are, monochrome will be more flattering to all of the revelers.

• The Situation:
A friend asks for a spur-of-the-moment portrait.

The Problem:
Your subject has horribly blotchy skin.

The Solution:
High key. That is, overexpose the shot to drain the detail out of the skin. Digital cameras not only let you use the LCD to see how much overexposure is needed as you bracket (start at a half-stop and work up), but today's sensors also are very good at holding shadow detail while blowing out the highlights in a shot. Which is exactly what you want.

• The Situation:
Aunt Rhodie cooked a delicious roast goose that everyone wants to remember.

The Problem:
The bird doesn't look as good as you hope it will taste.

The Solution:
Shallow depth of field. Go with the widest aperture you can, and focus on that gorgeous sprig of parsley atop the carcass. That's about all that will be sharp. The rest of the image will have that soft, dreamy look so popular in the food magazines from which Aunt Rhodie gets her recipes.

Backyard Bird Photography

Bird photography is one of the most challenging types of nature photography. Wild birds are often difficult to approach and they never stay in one place for long. Due to the small size and fast-paced behavior of songbirds, large telephoto lenses are often required, and expensive, fast-focusing camera bodies are usually needed. Fortunately, this is not always the case. Your own backyard can serve as a personal studio in which you can be in control of your subjects and obtain beautiful photos. This is one of the very few situations where eye-catching, close-up bird photography is possible without extravagant photo equipment. The following is a how-to guide to photographing birds in your backyard and these tips will help you achieve bird photos that you have always wanted to get, but never knew how.

Setting Up Feeders
The most important consideration in choosing a location for bird feeders is lighting. Most bird photographers choose direct front lighting for shooting their subjects. Birds have lots of color and fine feather detail and direct front lighting shows the beauty of birds in a brilliant manner. The most important thing to remember when considering lighting is to always point your shadow at the bird. This will ensure that your subject is evenly lit with no shadows.

When hanging feeders for bird photography, avoid placing them too close to your house or too close to the edge of the woods. Both these situations can block light and make it difficult to obtain stunning pictures. The best light for bird photography is early in the morning and late in the afternoon. By placing the feeders in an open area, you will have more opportunity with the best light. Be careful not to place the feeders in an area that doesn’t provide enough cover. I place my feeders about 15-20 feet from the edge of a wooded area. This gives the birds a safe area to travel to and from the feeders and provides a nice background in my images.

Fewer feeders produce more photo opportunities than many feeders. The idea is to create a food source that lots of birds are using. Choose one small feeder per food source. This in essence will create a waiting line for the feeder and force birds to perch and wait. For suet lovers, set up a separate feeding station. Digging a hole in the ground and “planting” a dead, moss-covered tree works very well for woodpeckers and nuthatches. Position the suet on the backside of the tree so it will not be in sight of the camera. Woodpeckers will often pause before and after feeding on suet, thus offering a few additional photo opportunities before departing.

Selecting the Ideal Perch
Perch selection is critical to the natural feel of your photographs. Perches should look natural and not “set-up.” Avoid manmade objects such as processed lumber, metal, or plastic. Instead, walk around your yard and find fallen twigs, small branches, raspberry or rose stalks, or wild plants bearing berries (winterberry holly or bittersweet work well). It’s very important to choose a perch that is natural for the species being photographed. Be very careful when positioning a pruned perch for photography. An obvious snipped or torn branch in a photo is not pleasing to the eye.

Think about the species that will be using each perch - you do not want to overpower the bird with a perch. For smaller birds, such as chickadees, goldfinches, and titmice, choose a thin perch, perhaps ¼ to ½ an inch in diameter. For larger birds, such as blue jays and cardinals, a perch of ½ to 1 inch in diameter will look pleasing in a photo.

Carefully position the perches close to the feeders. Remember, the fewer perches you have, the better. You want to ‘force’ the birds to land on a particular perch. Placing a perch one foot under or next to a feeder will provide suitable waiting space or a jumping-off point to the feeder for a hungry bird. It’s also very important to place the perch at the appropriate angle. A good starting point is to mount the perch vertically and then push it directly away from you at a 45-degree angle. This will ensure a profile of the bird. If you want a head-on shot position the perch at a 45-degree angle horizontal to your position.

Before you start snapping photos of birds, it’s important to look at your perch set-up through the viewfinder. What looks good to your eye may not look good through the camera. As you look through the viewfinder, make sure the background is a pleasing color, the perch is at a good angle, and there are no unwanted objects in the frame. Always keep an eye out for new and interesting perches and replace your perches often. If you use the same perch over and over, all your images will look the same.

Desirable Camera Equipment

Most birds that visit feeding stations are quite tame and will tolerate a human very close to their food source. A lens in the 200-300mm range (especially when combined with a digital camera or teleconverters) can produce frame-filling images with these cooperative subjects. Using a tripod will greatly aide in obtaining sharp images. It will also allow you to set the camera to a certain point on a perch so you will be ready when a bird lands. Always remember to pre-focus on the perch to cut down on the time it takes to obtain focus.

Being comfortable is also important. Sitting low in a lawn chair with your camera set up in front of you decreases your profile substantially and will allow you to photograph for extended periods comfortably. Movement is your biggest foe when it comes to birds. If you’re using a short telephoto lens, a bag blind or some camouflage material draped over yourself is also a good idea.
With a little strategy, backyard bird photography can be very rewarding. It is a unique form of wild bird photography and by following the advice above, you can be on your way to producing appealing, natural looking bird images. Do not be afraid to experiment with different perches and set-ups - the more variety you have with food sources and perches, the more species you will be able to photograph. You will be amazed by the interesting songbird images that you can produce in your own backyard!

What exactly is metering?

In the segment on exposure, photo enthusiasts learnt about Canon's built-in multiple metering systems for its EOS AF 35mm SLR cameras and the right way to use them to achieve correct exposures.Metering modes like the multi-segment Evaluative, Partial and Spot, have their own unique way of reading the reflected light off the subject and then calculate the exposure based on the metered light readings.

Most photo enthusiasts will not face any problem understanding what the various metering systems are all about, more so if they are already Canon EOS camera users. But the newcomers, who have just started to learn about photography, may not understand them and know very little about what exactly metering is in photographic term.

Photography is all about using light. You use light to make photographs via the lighting available. The lighting can be from any sources like natural light, available light, artificial light or from studio strobes and flash guns.You need light to expose the film and to record the image you have visualised. The camera body controls the timing for the light to expose the film via the shutter button which triggers open the shutter curtains. And the camera lens controls both the aperture and the image quality by determining the amount of light required to enter and expose the film through the optical elements that also form and focus the image.

But how much light does one need in order to make a photograph? That will be determined by the camera's built-in metering systems or by using a hand-held incident light meter which is used to measure the amount of light that is reflected off or fell on the subject.Metering, then, is about measuring the existing levels of lighting so the right shutter speed or aperture values can be set to obtain the correct exposures - to let in the right amount of light needed to strike the film and form the image.

A meter reading can be something like this: 1/250 sec. at f/11 or 1/500 sec. at f/8.0. It has to be noted that to get the right meter reading for a given exposure, the camera's built-in metering system have to know what type of film speed is in use.For example, if an ISO 100 film is used, the metering system will calculate the exposure settings based on the current lighting situation to ensure the right amount of light needed to expose the film.

If an ISO 100 film is used to photograph a scene at dusk, the camera's built-in meter will recommend an exposure of 1/60 sec. at f/4.0 in order to get the correct exposure value. If the film used is an ISO 400 film for the same scene, the camera will then recommend the settings to be at 1/60 sec. at f/8.0. This too, will depend on which shooting mode the camera is set.All EOS cameras are designed to base their exposure readings on the shutter speed set by the photographer when used in the Manual Exposure or Shutter-Priority AE modes. If the camera is used in the Aperture-Priority AE mode, the exposure readings will be based on the aperture set by the photographer. The exposure will then be at f/4.0 with a shutter speed of 1/250 sec for the dusk scene when shooting with an ISO 400 film.

How To Photograph Smoke

Here’s a pretty cool abstract photography article on how to go about photographing smoke. I don’t know what I’d ever do with this but you never know, it might come in handy one day. Photocritic.org interviewed Graham Jefferey, of Sensitive Light, and talked to him a little about how to get the smoke just right, lighting techniques for getting that really “cleanly” lit smoke, digital manipulation and some things that inspire him.
Graham points out that he doesn’t actually take photographs of smoke, he uses the smoke as a tool and his photographs are more about manipulating the tool in such a way he can capture and impressive photo. He uses different lighting techniques to capture those really cool an interesting effects.
If your into photographing absracts then you’ll find this article useful, even if your not playing with smoke. Check it out, it’s worth a look. If you have any thoughts or suggestions let us hear them.