HOW TO SHOOT A FIRE

It was a long winter evening. We were sitting with group of friends in a mountain hut. Arrival of next friends was expected in following days. It was freezing, so we needed a fire to make the hut warmer. The supply of wood was sufficient and the fireplace lit the room. I didn’t plan to take my camera out this evening. But I did.

For fire photography two things are important: quick shutter speed (to avoid blurry image) and underexposure (i.e. darkening - to make flames stand out). Different cameras offer different options how to achieve it: manual mode, shutter priority, exposure shift, darkening… I would not be afraid to try even a compact compact or a phone, the result could be interesting. In my case I used DSLR & manual mode, switched to live view to see which parameter is needed to be changed. I fixed ISO to 200 and aperture to 4.5 then changed shutter speed to 1/800 sec which worked for me. I forgot, it’s fine when there is dark around but that’s obvious.

Flames are still changing. That makes each photo unique.

Take care of equipment. And yourself - naturally. Your face is covered by camera, not the lens. On the other hand, we don't buy equipment to keep it in a box. While shooting in a desert, conditions are harder.

If you like wine, you can bet on the bottle that the first photo will fail. Then I would suggest to take ten to fifteen photos and select the best one. Fire photography has one big advantage. Each photo is original. You can’t take two same looking photos. It’s difficult to predict how each one will look like. Surprise, you know. And the result is abstract which is fine because art is based on some uncertainty. It defines art. Later you can crop an interesting flame. Change its color in Gimp or Lightroom and have a fun.

If fire, water, smoke, or other element appears in a photo, it often works. Fire is a symbol of art. Fire is an art itself. Have you ever photographed a fire? What was your flame? Share on twitter.