Forums > Social Discussion > photography

Posted: 2nd Apr 2011
Im abit of an amateur photographer, what im going to say is to shoot once total darkness has fell and use external lighting to illuminate your subject. Either that or use rear curtaining which is where you use a long exposure to capture the light trails and then a flash fires at the end of the exposure to frame the person in the photo so you can see the performer. Alot of cameras dont do curtaining (unless your lucky enough to have a DSLR *sigh*) so I go for the long exposure or the ambient lighting.

Out of curiosity take a look at my Project365 tumblr and let me know what you think?
https://projectthreesixfiveeleven.tumblr.com/

fire is alive. it lives and breathes. it consumes and destroys. but we control it and live with it, we are fire dancers

Posted: 2nd Apr 2011
I really like March 22, March 7 and jan 12

Originally Posted By: Paddington BearIm abit of an amateur photographer, what im going to say is to shoot once total darkness has fell and use external lighting to illuminate your subject. Either that or use rear curtaining which is where you use a long exposure to capture the light trails and then a flash fires at the end of the exposure to frame the person in the photo so you can see the performer. Alot of cameras dont do curtaining (unless your lucky enough to have a DSLR *sigh*) so I go for the long exposure or the ambient lighting.

Out of curiosity take a look at my Project365 tumblr and let me know what you think?
https://projectthreesixfiveeleven.tumblr.com/

Life is a circus as some may say...

Posted: 2nd Apr 2011
Thanks Zanev. I have alot of favourites but everyones taste is different

fire is alive. it lives and breathes. it consumes and destroys. but we control it and live with it, we are fire dancers

Posted: 3rd Apr 2011
Hello hi Here's my 10c worth on the subject...
The first question really is what camera are you using, and does it have a bulb function?

Paddington Bear is right about ambient light and the great thing about fire is that it gives off the most amazing light, unlike flowlights which give off virtually no light at all. Certainly not enough to illuminate the person who's spinning them.

Useful equiment to have when doing this kind of photography:
Tripod - essential
Hotshoe flash - semi-essential / very useful
Cable or remote shutter release - Also very useful

You HAVE to have a tripod when attempting night time photography because of the length of time that the shutter stays open.

I suggest setting your flash (if you have a hotshoe) to rear-curtain sync, camera to bulb and using a cable or remote shutter release hold the shutter open for anywhere from one to five seconds...

Fun things to try... if you have hotshoe, set your camera to 10 seconds, grab your hotshoe and run around the fire dancer, firing the flash at them from different angles. You may need to photoshop out a hand or two afterwards from the flash.

At the end of the day the rules are:
Long open shutter - a good couple of seconds at least.
Camera firmly in place and not moving... The rest is trial and error. I've been taking photos at fire in the park, some have come out very successfully, others not so much. Just experiment and have fun

Posted: 3rd Apr 2011
P.S... Paddington... March 30th and March 28th... Wow...

Posted: 3rd Apr 2011
Slave flashes can also make for some interesting effects.

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland

Posted: 5th Apr 2011
Props to ash3s for explaining in more detail what i was trying to get accross. Dont have the most experience in this field as I only own a P&S. And also thank you very much Ash3s I love the card shot

fire is alive. it lives and breathes. it consumes and destroys. but we control it and live with it, we are fire dancers

Posted: 5th Apr 2011
Ha ha, glad I could be of assistance
These were my first Fire in the Park photos. They're not great, used no flash at all... but they show the ambient light thing quite well.

Ash3s Fire in the Park Photos

Posted: 5th Apr 2011
Another thing that occurs to me: try to avoid major lightsources directly behind the subject. Because the exposure is long, something like a street lamp looks really bright. You can see it top left of centre in the first of the Flickr set from Ash. As you can see, the street lamp has really lit up the trees more than would probably be wanted.

Of course, this is often unavoidable, but it is something to be aware of (you may want to shift just enough to put the light behind the spinner's body or put it out of the way and you can hopefully crop it later).

'We're all mad here. I'm mad, you're mad." [said the Cat.]
"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.
"You must be," said the Cat, "Or you wouldn't have come here."
- Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures In Wonderland