Forums > Social Discussion > Photography Tips

Posted: 5th Nov 2012
Get a tripod if you don't have one already lol.

Try to get an idea of how long it takes for the person to go through one iteration of whatever pattern you're trying to capture, and set the shutter speed to match that. ISO and aperture don't really matter too much unless you're experimenting with flash as well, so just play around until you get something that you like. It'll be different depending on the amount of ambient light, other light sources, and how bright the flames are. In general the brightness of the fire will vary as the burn progresses, so you'll have to make sure the photos are still turning out right, and adjust the settings as you go.

You can also use flash, (synced either to the shutter opening or closing - don't really remember what the terms were) to get a still image of the spinner while still getting the fire trails. If you're doing that you'll also have to find the balance between getting the still of the spinner and the amount of the fire trails that you want to capture. The longer your exposure, the more blurred or washed out the image of the spinner is likely to be, but if the exposure is too short the flash might cause the surrounds to be too bright to see the fire trails well.

Aside from that, not really much to it besides playing around and taking lots of pictures with different settings.

Hope this helps!

"If all else fails, immortality can always be assured by spectacular error."

Posted: 7th Mar 2013
Actually ISO does matter if you're not wanting noise or ambient light. I try to keep the ISO as low as possible so there is minimal noise.

Always use "so's your face" and "only on Tuesdays" in as many conversations possible