photographing steam

The successful photography of steam is a challenge faced in studio product photography, specifically food photography, which can be solved by a variety of strategies. These strategies include careful creation of heavy steam when photographing the food and manipulation of food photos in Photoshop to create the illusion of steam. Both methods, when done correctly, can result in realistic, believable photos of steaming food and drinks.

            Ideally, photographing steam should take place in a studio environment. The main reason for this (besides the obvious reasons, such as available additional lighting) is that steam needs to be created in an environment in which there is no breeze. The air should be turned off and, if applicable, the windows should be closed. If there is any movement of the air, the steam may move in an unwanted direction. In fact, the movement of the air in the room is so important that the photographer should ask others in the room not to walk by product that is being shot or breathe in the direction of the steam. If all of these precautions are followed, the steam will rise naturally, and without unnecessary movement in any horizontal direction.

            Another important set-up step is to be sure you are photographing on a dark background. In my trial, I wanted a white background because the food I was photographing was breakfast food and I thought a white background would be more appropriate for the morning. However, when we were finally able to get some photos with steam, the background appeared gray, allowing the steam to show up. While it is acceptable to photograph white foods, such as eggs, on a white background, it is not possible to photograph steam. The difference between the two is that eggs have a defined edge, allowing light to hit them in a manor that shows their shape through shadowing, while steam does not have a defined edge and is semi-transparent.

            The third set-up technique is the use of a backlight. Without the backlight, you cannot successfully incorporate steam into your photograph. The light from the backlight coming through the steam lights the water particles, causing the steam to really pop. In fact, two backlights can be used, one off to the left and the other to the right. One of these lights can be designated the main light while the other can be designated the steam light. The steam light should be at about the same height as the food from which the steam is flowing. That way, the light doesn’t affect the food as much, but aims directly at the steam, affecting the lighting of the steam appropriately. The steam light should not hit the food or drink or the background. Only the main light should be used for lighting the food itself, but the main light must still come from behind the subject. As for the intensity of the light, you must work with the lighting on a trial and error basis. Shoot the steam and adjust the lighting and metering as you go.

            One final set-up technique is to be sure that the steam appears from behind the subject. If it appears in front of the subject, the subject will be in a haze. This is not ideal, especially if you are intending to sell the subject being photographed. The subject should appear clear and in focus and should not be covered by any distortion or fog from the steam.

            After your set-up is complete, you must create the steam to be photographed. There are a variety of ways of accomplishing this. Choose the method that works best for your budget, available tools, and convenience. It’s important to note that steam is not equal to heat or smoke. In terms of heat, the object you are photographing (in my case coffee) does not need to be hot to create steam. The steam can, and probably will, be created using an external source completely unrelated to the subject you’re photographing. Also, be sure to remember that steam is not the same as smoke. Smoke is a different color than steam and is made of different particles. While smoke is made up of small particles of ash, gases, and water vapor, steam is water vapor only. This causes smoke to appear a whitish color, while steam appears simply transparent. For this reason, smoke should not be used as a stand-in for steam for photographic purposes, because it makes the photo less believable and unrealistic.

            Several methods for creating steam include a steamer (often used for reducing wrinkles in clothing), a “smoke cookie” (which can be purchased at a photography specialty store), a modified cappuccino machine, or a very hot, damp cloth. Any of these methods will produce realistic, believable steam.

            The solution I used when creating steam was to fill a container with very hot water, straight from the microwave. Then, I used a coffee pot with ice cubes to “pour” the cold air from the ice cubes over the container of hot water. When the two temperatures of air met, this produced the steam, which was able to be captured. This method was found after quite a few trials, but did eventually create steam when the above techniques were followed.

            One additional trick that can be used to make your shot look realistic is to spritz the food with water, because if the food truly was steaming, some condensation would form on the top. Small detail such as this really make your shot believable and make the steam appear to be coming directly from the product.

            Don’t get discouraged when attempting to photograph steam. It is a very unpredictable thing to photograph and is very difficult to control. If you find that it is too complicated to photograph steam, there are other ways to add steam to the photo digitally. Using Photoshop, the photographer can use a number of tools that will enable them to create realistic illusions of steam.

            To create steam in Photoshop is really fairly easy. First, open the photo to which you want to add steam. Make sure the photo is in RGB color mode. Create a new layer and call it “steam”. Using the steam tool, creating a curvy shape that looks similar to the shape the steam will make in the end. Make sure that use close your path. In the Paths palette options menu, choose the “Make Selection” command. Check the “anti-aliased” box and set the feathering to 5 pixels or more. Be sure that the steam layer is selected and fill the now-feathered selection with white. Click anywhere outside the path in the Paths palette to make the steam path disappear. Using the background eraser tool to paint holes at random in the cloud of steam you have just created. The more holes you create in your steam at this point, the more transparent it will be in the end. Make sure to use a small-soft edged brush to create these holes. Now, apply the “Motion Blue” filter. Adjust the distance to simulate the amount of diffusion you want to apply to the steam. The more distance you use, the more diffusion will be apparent in your steam. Adjust the angle of the Motion Blur to change direction of diffusion. This should be in agreement with the movement of the steam (usually up). Set this layer’s blend mode to “Overlay”. This will cause the steam to fade into the background. You will need to make adjustments to your steam that cannot be quantified in this paper. Use the “Free Transform” tool to rotate and/or stretch the steam shape to look more realistic. Duplicate the layer, if needed, to make adjustments to the blend mode. You may also reduce the opacity of any of the steam layers you create to make them less apparent.

            In my case, I had a photograph of steam, but it needed to be added to my photo of my product as a composite. In order to do this, I added copy and pasted the photo of the steam into the photo of the coffee and used the techniques listed above to fine-tune the appearance of the steam.

            This may seem like a lot of complicated steps just to get a simple thing like steam, but steam is really a very important part of food and drink photography. A steaming plate of food makes the mouth water more than a static plate of food. Steam provides a dynamic movement to the photograph. A steaming cup of coffee makes the person thirsty. In terms of advertising, steam is the difference between an okay photo, and a photo that produces results in the form of interest and purchase.