DIY Photography's "How I Took It 2012" Contest
Burn, Baby, Burn.
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| "Ale zemsta, choć leniwa, nagnała cię w nasze sieci;
Ta karczma 'Rzym' się nazywa; kładę areszt na waszeci."
- Pan Twardowski
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| Why be a bookworm when you can be a firefly? |
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| "You was hot as hell, until hell froze over." -Down With Webster |
Well, hi there, everybody! My
name’s Basia, and today I’ll be giving you a few tips, tricks, and ideas for
how to get the most striking photographs with the least amount of danger. The
theme we’ll be focusing on today is fire photography. In the above shots I
used time, depth, proximity, and camera angle to make these pyro displays as
safe as possible, while still having a striking effect. I realize that a lot of
this could be done much easier in post-pro, but where’s the challenge in that?
My motto is to do as little in post-production as possible. Let’s take a look!
The best part about still
photography is that everything is captured as an instant in time, so it looks
like it happened all at once. I begin by coming up with an overall concept, then
individual representations of said idea, and finally planning how to safely make
those representations a reality. I got inspired for this first shot by seeing
all the steel wool, long-exposure shots, and thinking, “it would be really cool
if we could turn that fire circle into a fire funnel, and have someone rising
out of it.” So I did exactly that; made a long exposure of a fire tornado, then
stuck someone in it, so it looked like they were rising out of the flames. In
the final shot I opted out of using steel wool for two reasons: the first being
that I wanted a close, low-angle shot, and was afraid of the damage the sparks
might do to my camera. The second reason was that the steel wool, although
cool, didn't look very much like fire, and to get the right brightness of the
streaks, I’d have to go over the same path a few times. So, actual fire, with
its powerful flames leaping up erratically, seemed like a better option. I
managed to get the fire around myself by making a fireball (jeans sewn into a
ball and soaked in lighter fuel), attaching it to the end of a metal (we destroyed one plastic broomstick) broomstick via
hairpins, setting a 12 second delay, a 30s long exposure, lighting up the fireball,
and spinning with the flaming broomstick as soon as the shutter clicked, slowly
lowering it. Make sure you have a few fireballs and extra lighter fuel on hand,
as shots may need to be taken more than once (we ended up going through 3 of
them). This allowed me to make more precise circles than I would on a chain, tighten
them as the flame descended, and control it at a safe distance from people and
equipment.
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| My broomstick after the fireball and Ajay's wrath. |
In total it took us three hours to
get this shot, and we ran into a number of problems along the way. First off, it
was shot with a Pentax K100D, 18mm focal length, 30 second exposure, ISO 200,
f/8. The lighting setup was really rudimentary as well; two incandescent bulbs
in 8” silver dishes on either side of the model, powered by a car battery
(student budget means LOTS of improv!). These were left off while making the
fire tornado to minimize ghosting, and turned on in the last two seconds, with
the model posed, to make sure they appeared completely still. The little
ghosting that did happen due to the fireball I decided to keep, as it added to
the surrealism of the shot. The low ISO meant that, when we tried to light our
model after the tornado, 2s was not long enough to properly expose our model.
In the final shot, as seen below, we spent 15s making the tornado; I dropped
the broom between my feet, then stood still for 15s, in the light. It certainly
helped that my assistant Ajay was there to count the exposure out loud, and
turn on the lights after 15s.
Another problem we ran into was the
light from behind me (streetlights two soccer fields away) shone through while
I was spinning. This made my belly invisible in the final shot (One way to
make yourself invisible!). We ended up clamping 4m of black matte cloth onto
the fence. Having a low camera angle meant that the spiral was more defined as
well, and gave the model a sense of power. Lastly, we took this on a frigid
November night, and the ice-cold condensation provided further protection
against accidentally starting a fire (it also meant frequent sittings in the
car to warm up and stop shaking). The final shot turned out better than we
expected. Post-production, all it needed was the shoulder restored, and some
colour and clarity correction, to make it look like I was rising out of the fires
of hell. Instead of darkening and cropping out the background as first planned,
I chose to leave it in for the shock factor. It gives the impression that such
a nightmarish, “here -to-collect-your-soul” reckoning can happen in the most
down-to-earth of places, at anytime, anywhere. Using long exposure and camera
angles, you can make someone look like they’re emerging from flames, when, in
fact, they flames were gone long before they got there. This surreal image of
fire in motion looks dangerous, but, in reality, posed very little actual
danger.
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| Post-Photoshop |
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| Straight out of the camera |
The second shot follows the theme
of controlling fire, by portraying someone breathing a fireball into the palm
of their hand. This was a little trickier to do. The original concept was to
have the flame actually coming out of someone’s mouth. Ajay kept trying to
convince me that such an act would surely result in burn, but I wanted to push
the limit and try it anyway (boy am I glad I didn’t!). He finally convinced me
not to try it with the argument that there was no way the flame would rise
enough out of my mouth to be noticeable. We brainstormed on bettering the concept,
and eventually came up with the idea of breathing through a mask. Having slits
in the mouth though, would still burn the wearer. So, closed mask and fire on
top of it, coming out at the fireball. Now we’re good, right? Wrong. There’s a
risk of heating up the mask, or it melting or burning on the wearer’s face.
Although you can’t tell from the picture, we actually tilted he mask so that
the bottom was two centimetres away from the wearer’s lips, and put a damp
paper towel over the bottom half of their face. The shot was also
instantaneous, so we could fire off a few quick ones and quickly put out the
fire before the wearer or the mask became damaged. To shape the fire on the
mask, we used ethanol warming gel (also known as Ecoflame); it burns for a long
time and produces a nicely-sized flame. Lastly, to get the fire to point in the
direction of the fireball, I had to lie on my back with my head facing up, and
position the camera above me in such a way that it looked like I was standing
and looking up at it (it was elevated slightly above my head, tilted down).
This also minimized the damage to the mask, because the heat from the fire was
now rising up and away from it, and not heating it as much as if I were to take
the shot standing, tilted up. To get the fireball to stay on my almost vertical
hand, Ajay poked hairpins through the fireball and wrapped it around the base
of my middle finger and around the back of my hand, so it stood off of my hand. He designed it in such a way
that I could control the height of the fireball just by pressing on the wire
with one finger.
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| The fireball levitating mechanism of glory. |
This helped me get the fireball the right distance away from
my hand for safety, while still looking like it’s levitating in my palm
(pictures of the unlit fireball above). I also soaked my hand in water first,
as an extra precaution. Ajay posed in place while I set the exposure and
controls, then a 12s timer, and quickly took his place. I lit the fireball with
a lighter, then used the fireball to try to light my mask. Unfortunately the
gel on the mask refused to light, so we took another shot without the mask
completely. Although not what we wanted, the final image still looked
interesting, and kept with the idea of blowing life into the fireball. Ajay
peeked through the viewfinder and helped me angle my head and hand, and the
camera did the rest. The fireball mechanism worked so well that I could balance
the ball for a long time without it heating up. Final result and post-pro
below. Again, being on a student budget posed some problems (like a cheap
tripod where the plate that attached to the camera would not give a straight,
90º portrait, my K100D’s autofocus seized up and, with no diopter, the images
came out a little blurry, hardware lights substituting strobes), but hey, DIY
is about working around that right? Another important element of fire
photography is knowing how your flames will move, and playing to those
advantages. So, since we couldn’t adjust gravity to suit our needs, we changed
our perspective and let gravity do the work for us.
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| Finished photo |
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| Straight from camera |
Lastly, the flaming glasses shot.
If you’re going to be a bookworm, why not be a firefly instead? I really
enjoyed taking this one because it comically expressed everything this tutorial
is meant to teach you; do your research, plan, and perfect the theory before you
move on to the practical. In a paparazzi-esque style, it depicts a bookworm
looking up from her studying (because, let's be honest, real bookworms even have books with them at the bus stop), surprised, but instead of studying math or
language, she’s reading a pyrotechnics manual, and her glasses are made of fire
to show her passion for pyro. Now, I like my eyebrows as they are. I don’t
think burnt would be an improvement on them at all. So, instead of having fiery
frames sitting on my nose, I looked directly at the camera and used its amazing
ability to compress depth to my advantage. The glasses were actually 3D movie glasses lined with
cardboard, and stuck about 3cm off of my face (any less and I’d burn myself,
any more and you’d be able to see the tubes).
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| Ajay, clearly proud of his five-minute improv masterpiece. |
Again, lining the edges with
ethanol warming gel, I set adjusted the settings, raised my aperture, set the
12s timer, and sat in front of the camera. Ajay peered through the viewfinder
to help me position myself, and in the last two seconds I lit the glasses. The
timing was very challenging and took a few tries, but eventually we got the
shot we wanted. By compressing the depth with a narrower aperture, and using
the thickness of the flames to obscure any visible tube, we managed to get a
nice candid shot of a true firefly.
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| "Huh? Sorry, I didn't see you there." (processed) |
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| "Hurry up and take the picture; my face is on fire!" (original photo) |
Remember, the same safety rules
apply for pyrotechnics performances as they do for pyro photography; protect
yourself by wearing non-artificial materials, minimize any loose clothing or
hair, and always have something on hand to put out any fire that can
potentially spread. By the end of the tornado shot, the end of my broomstick,
although metal, was completely flattened from Ajay jumping on it to put out
the fireballs. Having someone around to help not only can better your images,
but they’re also another pair of eyes watching for any hazards. Each pyro
activity requires you to completely rethink the safety precautions. Of course,
it also helped to be a certified pyrotechnician. Depending on where you live, it
can take anywhere from a year to a day to get your licence. In Ontario, there
is a crash course that goes across the country every few months put on by
Natural Resources Canada, and for a minimal fee, a day out of your time, and a
short exam, you can get a licence valid for five years. The course teaches you
basic pyrotechnic safety and logistics. Not only does the extra knowledge help
keep you and your models safe, but it gives you greater legal privileges when
working with pyro (police don’t question your shenanigans when you flash a
licence and permit at them), as well as access to industry-grade pyrotechnics
(throughout the course, they kept telling us we could now legally blow up a
car, but they never told us how...).
When you’re planning your fire photography,
unless you are photographing injuries specifically (and even sometimes then),
it’s always possible to minimize risk while still achieving a great effect.
If you are not 100% confident that
nothing can possibly go wrong, DON’T DO IT. You are putting more than yourself
at risk. Yes, we could have had another model for these shots, but I knew it
required a level head and some previous experience with fire and these
substances, and I didn’t know anyone in my city with that kind of experience.
It’s important to understand that, as the photographer, it is YOUR concept and
YOUR responsibility. I would never encourage anyone to try anything that could
potentially be a risk to them, unless first testing it myself, and ensuring
that they are well prepared to emulate. Some crazy ideas may take a little
compromise, and some photo editing magic, but it’s never a requirement to
endanger someone’s life. Bottom line is, you can never be too safe.
How to stay safe:
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Time – can you use a long/short exposure to get
the same (or a better) effect?
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Depth – Can you put the subject in front
of/behind/on top/under/next to the fire instead of in front of him?
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Proximity – can you change the distance of the
model/environment/props/equipment to the fire to make it safer, and still get
the shot you want?
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Camera Angle – Can I angle this in a way to
better control the fire/model’s hair/clothes/the background?
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Extra defenses – can your model be shielded in
any further way from the flames? Can they wear something or have a prop/glass/
lake in between them and the danger?
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Learn from others’ mistakes – research, see what
others had trouble with, what can you do differently to be original/improve on their
shots? (Here’s a big one: don’t do this on a f-fr-freezing November night.
Getting long exposures is much more challenging when everyone is shivering like
a leaf. You’re better off soaking your surroundings than relying on icy
condensation, too!)
If you would like further info about the lighting setup or
the settings, shoot me a comment or message =]. I hope you enjoyed the tutorial
and are inspired to take your fire photography to the next level. Until next
time; stay safe and stay crazy!
-Basia =]
