Fire - Sort Of

[Chris Calohan]

First photographic foray after my heart event and it is kitsch at the very least but it was also something I'd never done and thought it would be fun to give it a try.

Light painting is generally done with flashlights on a subject area as a prelude to a Milky Way shot, or to emphasize an architectural feature, but in this instance I was using sparklers and steel wool spinning. Two of the three images are composites of two sessions with either spinning steel wool balls on fire or simple sparklers and the third, a single shot of 30 seconds with the spinning steel wool burning like crazy.

Yes, it's silly, and sophomoric but damn, it was fun!

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Wow! Those are fantastic!
They are all, good, but my favorite is the second.

Do make some more of these (but don't light yourself on fire!)

[MattBurt]

Yeah those are nice. Good to see you getting back at it.
I have used sparklers before but never done the steel wool thing although I totally would.

[John R]

Wow! Those are fantastic!
They are all, good, but my favorite is the second.

Do make some more of these (but don't light yourself on fire!)

I agree!

[francois]

Wow! Those are fantastic!
They are all, good, but my favorite is the second.

Do make some more of these (but don't light yourself on fire!)

#2 also gets my vote but what a nice set.

[Chris Calohan]

#2 was the fun one though I really enjoyed doing them all. We all wore protective glasses and clothing and kept spectators at a safe viewing distance. For the steel wool shots, just take a metal kitchen whisk, stuff it full of Grade 0000 steel wool, tie a short cord (18 inches to 2 ft in length) to the whisk. Light with a grill wand and start spinning.

Contrary to what you might read and contrary to what the guy I was shooting with, I used f/11, 25-30 seconds, ISO 160 and .67EV (only because I forgot to zero it out). He shot at 5.6, 20 sec ISO 100. I went with a greater DOF so the composites had room to breathe, so to speak and to ensure I had a deeper glow factor.