got assignment taking pictures of fire dance.. any tips?

Hello,

I've got an assignment in 2 weeks taking pictures of the traditional Hawaiian fire dance.. its done with two stick objects with fire on em..The dance consists of the performer, twirling the wands at high speeds and twisting their bodies in ways I can't imagine..

So far, i've only decided to do this at dusk...

The lens i'm thinking about taking with me is my cheapo 50mm 1.8.

Don't really need zoom capabilities, but I may use my 28-70L.

Any tips? Thanks in advance.

Stan,

You probably already know this, but since you ask, I'll offer my thoughts...

My chief concern wouldn't be the low light, but rather the metering. All that fire, especially moving around so fast, is going to fool the meter. If it were me, I'd plan on metering for ambient light (if it's interesting) and using an off-camera diffused flash with a warm-colored gel. If candid is all that you're allowed to shoot, or the area is too large to cover with flash, I'd use manual WB and exposure. No need trying to freeze the action... it'll be impossible. Use it to your advantage. I don't know if the 550EX has the option, but the Nikon 28DX (designed for the D1 but perfectly compatible in every mode except TTL with the D30) has a strobe option, which outputs a burst of multiple flashes to really catch action. Again, I'd do it off-camera, a comfortable distance away from the lens, so that it doesn't resemble a flash source.

Some real creative possibilities if you can overcome some logistical difficulties. Don't forget a grey card and a hand-held meter.

M

Stan said:

Hello,

I've got an assignment in 2 weeks taking pictures of the
traditional Hawaiian fire dance.. its done with two stick objects
with fire on em..The dance consists of the performer, twirling the
wands at high speeds and twisting their bodies in ways I can't
imagine..

So far, i've only decided to do this at dusk...

The lens i'm thinking about taking with me is my cheapo 50mm 1.8.

Don't really need zoom capabilities, but I may use my 28-70L.

Any tips? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Any dress rehersals for this thing? If so, I'd do my best to get there and experiment. If not, maybe even making your own home-made torch, and suckering someone into swinging it around while you shoot...

I'd definetly do my best to go into the shoot knowing what to expect, and what the pitfalls might be first hand.

Don't know if any of this is practical for you, but if it is an important shoot, that isin't the time to be experimenting.

Just my $.02.

take both lenses,

use your 550ex on TV or AV mode and mix some motion with strobe, start early because you still need some light even though you are using a flash, you best shots will be the ones with fire streaks and arm movements and his body and face sharp and well exposed from the strobe.

the fire will fool the meter some so you might want to set the camera to spot and on the face or body.

Next shoot up a storm and be glad you never had this assignment before digital cameras were around.
Shooting film was always a mystery untill you got the film back

Stan said:

Hello,

I've got an assignment in 2 weeks taking pictures of the
traditional Hawaiian fire dance.. its done with two stick objects
with fire on em..The dance consists of the performer, twirling the
wands at high speeds and twisting their bodies in ways I can't
imagine..

So far, i've only decided to do this at dusk...

The lens i'm thinking about taking with me is my cheapo 50mm 1.8.

Don't really need zoom capabilities, but I may use my 28-70L.

Any tips? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

this is a very informal 'rehearsal' type shoot. The performer knows that this is a hard thing to catch..

I guess i'm lucky, its not every day you get to shoot fire!

Anyways,

I'm definitely gonna experience with my 550EX, one of my main concerns is how much time we have. If we start at dusk, it doesnt really leave me a lot of time to experiment.

Thanks again for all the valuble advice. I have copied and pasted to a text file so I will have a cheat sheet

Member said:

I don't know if the 550EX has the option, but the Nikon 28DX (designed for the D1 but perfectly compatible in every mode except TTL with the D30) has a strobe option, which outputs a burst of multiple flashes to really catch action.

Click to expand...

Yes it does, it's kind of clumsy to set up and you need to use an external meter (or just know the right setting).

How many flashes, and how fast would you try for that sort of thing?

If you've got a 550EX or a flash that can do it, maybe try 2nd curtain sync with a long enough exposure to get the motion blur. (2nd curtain sync puts the images illuminated with the flash at the "front" of the blur so it looks like the blurred flame would be trailing the subject as it should.) Haven't ever tried it myself but I would think it would be good for that situation.

Stan said:

Hello,

I've got an assignment in 2 weeks taking pictures of the
traditional Hawaiian fire dance.. its done with two stick objects
with fire on em..The dance consists of the performer, twirling the
wands at high speeds and twisting their bodies in ways I can't
imagine..

So far, i've only decided to do this at dusk...

The lens i'm thinking about taking with me is my cheapo 50mm 1.8.

Don't really need zoom capabilities, but I may use my 28-70L.

Any tips? Thanks in advance.

Click to expand...

Stan,

are you more interested in capturing the fire or the performer?

Be careful with the fill flash. Too much and you wipe out the fire.

When I'm shooting fire spinners or fire eaters I usually go for a shutter speed around 1/15 second. Sometimes slower. This lets you capture the flame. Experiment with the aperture if you have a chance. Maybe somewhere around f/8 with the film speed set to 100 or 200. I don't like to use a higher film speed setting because there will be a lot of black in the image and noise might really showing up more than you expect in the dark areas.

I've done this with th 550 and I just leave it on automatic to let it illuminate the subject (the spinner). But I'd do a few without the flash, too. Just let the fire do all the illumination. The effect will be a bit blurry, but it does seem to work out with the colors and the movement. If you can use a tripod, that's great. At least it removes your motion from the image.

I doubt that you will be able to freeze the fire. And even if you did, it wouldn't look natural. The flames should be moving through the image.

Most of all, shoot a lot and have fun. One of the joys of shooting fire performers is that you won't always get what you expected, but you will usually get a few "wow, that looks really neat" images out of it.

John

Member said:

Hello,

I've got an assignment in 2 weeks taking pictures of the
traditional Hawaiian fire dance.. its done with two stick objects
with fire on em..The dance consists of the performer, twirling the
wands at high speeds and twisting their bodies in ways I can't
imagine..

Click to expand...