Wire wool... No need for Macro!

Very imaginative #4 for me
 
thanks all for the comments. I really love taking wirewool shots, but always seem to have to be in them.... lol.. going to try another idea with wool and sparks this week, weather dependant. Hopefully those clear evenings hold!
 
So where are all your shots? Im planning another shoot around portsmouth this week, anyone wanna join me?
 
These pictures might appear in the press, a company has approached me and are writing an article as we speak. Heres hoping!
 
WOW - Just seen these and they are awesome, great idea and execution (y)

Do give us a heads-up if/when an article appears, I know there have been a few about the "light tube" photos a few months ago.
 
I cannot emphasise enough how much I admire these shots. Fascinating.

Very, very good indeed.

Thank you.
 
They do look wicked, just be wary of sparks burning their way into your camera, especially the front element.
 
Excellent results there ... however think I'll leave this to the Kamakaze element here.
 
Rough Edges said:
I like shots like these, awesome work..

For anyone interested here is a video by Dome Bower that you may find interesting..

http://www.youtube.com/user/dombower#p/u/107/rsWlRGPI6PQ
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that videos funny :) I like it, not sure about the sombrero though!!

Last night i was climbing around the insides of an abandoned old boat. tried to get some wool shots but am not happy with them, will be going back this week with some fresh ideas and a little more time. Might even take my video camera and make a vid while im there! :)

heres the shots i took last night, not happy with them at all, but its a work in progress! :)


stern of boat by stokes tog, on Flickr


boat graveyard by stokes tog, on Flickr


Wirewool in Boat Graveyard by stokes tog, on Flickr


In the hulks belly by stokes tog, on Flickr
 
Stokes, after seeing your pictures recently i made an effort to gather the gear needed and had a blast on wednesday night after work......
Heres part of my thread with pics.

Under construction

P1040930.jpg


Now i was a bit weary about getting burnt alive so out came the protective gear! Heres the full kit we would use. I had my overalls on which are fire retardant.
P1040932.jpg


We chose a location outside the workshop away from anything flamable and got the wirewool, swinging contraption and the 9V battery we would use to ignite the wool ready. We had already tested the wools ability to ignite with the battery and let me tell you its pretty ferocious!
After showing my mate how to work the camera etc we set up and i got the battery etc ready.
We had limited success to be fair and the wool was gone very quickly!

Attempt #1

SpinBoke.jpg


Attempt #2

I put double in this time ( a full piece as you would get for detailing) but it went wrong. I wanted to try and get the sparks to approach the camera bouncing across the floor but the circle was at the wrong angle and just looks a mess! :(

SpinBokeh.jpg


Last #2 Attempts with the last piece.

SpinBokeh3.jpg


SpinBokeh2.jpg


Now for the questions....
Can you post a photo of your device or give details of its volume/size? What size holes are in the chicken wire? I think the holes in my device may be too small.
Do you put the camera in to manual focus and infinity as we had problems with af. I had to shine a small torch at the camera from where i stood. How long does your wool burn for?
The wool we used was very fine and i think this mayve been the problem as it was down to a small cindering ball in a matter of 5 seconds!

Oh and for the record i didnt get burnt but did nearly rip my little finger off and also hit myself in the toon halls with the cage when i tried to change direction! OOF

Thanks in advance, Phil
 
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These are fantastic! would love to see EXIF data though
 
These looks simply stunning, such uniform arcs in the first picture - like something out of a Harry Potter movie :p

Rich.
 
Can I suggest running around with a cordless angle grinder and a block of steel?
 
Great pics. 1,3 and 5 are the best for me.

I've always used wirewool in stop frame animation for fire/spark effects. In Corpse Bride we used wirewool during the sword fight sequences... a really small piece attached to the swords and lit before each shot was taken. Worked great as an in camera effect rather than doing it in post production.
 
GIZTO29 said:
Now for the questions....
Can you post a photo of your device or give details of its volume/size? What size holes are in the chicken wire? I think the holes in my device may be too small.
Do you put the camera in to manual focus and infinity as we had problems with af. I had to shine a small torch at the camera from where i stood. How long does your wool burn for?
The wool we used was very fine and i think this mayve been the problem as it was down to a small cindering ball in a matter of 5 seconds!

Oh and for the record i didnt get burnt but did nearly rip my little finger off and also hit myself in the toon halls with the cage when i tried to change direction! OOF

Thanks in advance, Phil
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Hi philip.

its great to see people heading out and taking wool shots. Sorry for the delay in reply i just wanted to sit down and give your questions some proper time and thought.

Question 1 - Can you post a photo of your device or give details of its volume/size? What size holes are in the chicken wire? I think the holes in my device may be too small

My cages size change quite regularly, but recently ive being using the cage size below. the holes in the wire are just about 1cm square, so pretty small. From looking at your photo they are slightly bigger?


Wool cages by stokes tog, on Flickr

Question 2 - Do you put the camera in to manual focus and infinity as we had problems with af. I had to shine a small torch at the camera from where i stood.

I put the entire camera into manual and use manual focus. I use a stone, leaf or something that is easily identifiable on the floor where im going to spin and then get someone to either shine a torch at the lens, or hold it above their head and shine it onto their body, so that i can focus the camera in.

This site has other methods of focusing in the dark

One thing to remember is the potential size of the spray, depending on the type of photo your going for you need to think about how far back the camera is, at the moment i am trying to bounce wire wool off features, as to change the "flow" of the spray.

Question 3 - How long does your wool burn for?

This depends on the amount of wool i use, i rarely fill the "cage" entirely and have found that the key to a nice "spread" is to take the wool and pull it apart, almost like you would with cotton wool. You can pull it apart, and i tend to do this to make the wool ball twice the size it was. This seems to give a more even burn and spread.

To answer your question specifically, ive had wool burn anywhere between 20-40 seconds. I use the finest wool i can find, i think this gives brighter and more "streaks"

One thing to note as we are going through winter is that the wool really does get affected by the temperature and damp. Always keep your wool in the bag it came from, and if possible re-seal it using a bit of duct tape. Some nights the wool can be a real mare to light, and just doesn't want to play. generally these are the damper colder nights.

I tend to vary my exposures between 8 - 30 seconds depending on the effect im looking for. If im just looking for a "big spread" photo and im shooting from 20 metres away then i will exposure up to 30 seconds. Alternatively if im trying to light or show a feature (like a ruins) i will shoot closer and exposures for say 8 seconds, but boost the iso to show the feature... or do multiple exposures and stack them.

I hope this answers your questions and if you have any more let me know. im planning on doing a tutorial for the forum, but am not sure if there is a need?
 
Buttkicker said:
I may of missed something along the way in this thread but how does wire wool burn?? are you dousing it with something

seriously impresive shots
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No just drop in a 9v battery (square type) an the sparks will fly:)
 
Have to say i like the look of your chain better as mine is too heavy and nearly chopped my little finger off when it binded! :puke:
Phil
 
i got that chain from "the range" cheap as chips, though i wouldn't spin a much bigger cage on it as its quite lightweight stuff.
 
Finally got to play at this last night, however my daughter hhas misplaced my card reader so I''ll post pics as soon as I can find one!
 
for this one i used one, i used to spin poi... miss it! going to order a nice new set when i get paid :)
 
no worries :) I love cathedral poi, best burners out of all the styles. I used to have a lovely set of snake poi, they were just lovely :)

Think im going to have to get some for sure!
 
stokes said:
like Marc said, or use a lighter... :D (battery preferable)
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Hi guys,

Great images and i am so going to have a go at this!:clap:

Just to understand the lighting of the wool part, do you just use a battery to ignite it and then put the battery to one side? Sorry to be dim, but is it dangerous to leave the whole battery in the cage whilst the wool burns?

Thanks

Tracey
 
its nice to see lots of other wirewool photos appearing on the site :) Ive been working on my wool stuff, and will be posting some more photos soon.

Think i might also do a tutorial :) Not that it is difficult lol
 
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