Fire photography

POSTIE22 · 29 Mar 2009

Can anyone advise me what settings are best or better (or you have used) for taking pictures of fire ie: bonfires, coal or log fires during daylight or night time ?

Borats Baby · 29 Mar 2009

Its all about experimenting.

You can get numerous different effects with different shutter speeds.

slow shutter (1/10) at night will give an afterburner type look while 1/100 or faster will freeze the fire.

Never tried in the day

Borats Baby · 29 Mar 2009

Some examples.

rgrebby · 29 Mar 2009

I took a few pics of the last years bonfires, but I never got anything worth showing anyone. I did like how the fire was frozen.

grahamc · 30 Mar 2009

I would classify it as very similar to water... soft water vs frozen water, depending on the effect you are looking for. Definitely worth experimenting to find out what works for you.

HoppyUK · 30 Mar 2009

grahamc said:
I would classify it as very similar to water... soft water vs frozen water, depending on the effect you are looking for. Definitely worth experimenting to find out what works for you.

Yes, just like water. Your eye has a shutter speed, if you can call it that, of around 1/20sec in average conditions. If you can replicate that in your exposure by adjusting f/number and ISO, then it will look fairly natural.

And like water, if you use a shorter speed it will look more frozen and spikey, while longer speeds will progressively blur the flames into one smooth tone.

POSTIE22 · 30 Mar 2009

Thanks for your help everyone !

CraigDouglas · 30 Mar 2009

HoppyUK said:
Your eye has a shutter speed, if you can call it that, of around 1/20sec in average conditions.

Where did you hear/read that? I've often wondered what the equivalent speed of the eye/brain is and i've not been able to find any info although personally I did put it in the region of 1/20-1/30 sec

rgrebby · 30 Mar 2009

CraigDouglas said:
Where did you hear/read that? I've often wondered what the equivalent speed of the eye/brain is and i've not been able to find any info although personally I did put it in the region of 1/20-1/30 sec

if you watch something on a tv or monitor with less than 20fps then you can start to see the motion is jerky. Supposidly the eye cant tell the difference between something that is 20fps+
This is why tv and films are generally filmed at 24fps or 25fps over here in the UK. (yes america is different, and yes it makes problems

)

admirable · 30 Mar 2009

Here you go, :LOL:

Meant to post this for MikeyB

Banath · 30 Mar 2009

As stated above it depends what effect your after, here's one I took last year:

EXIF:

HoppyUK · 31 Mar 2009

CraigDouglas said:
Where did you hear/read that? I've often wondered what the equivalent speed of the eye/brain is and i've not been able to find any info although personally I did put it in the region of 1/20-1/30 sec

rgrebby has explained it in post #9

DavePaliwoda · 31 Mar 2009

Somewhere around 800 ISO, 1/30 shutter speed, and wide open aperture gives nice results for the blurred look

I had to shoot at around 1/500 to freeze the flames though