Fire Spinning

 

My brother, Joe, has recently taken up the hobby of fire spinning. To get these photos, I brought two strobes with me and put an orange colored filter over them to keep them from contaminating the orange glow of the fire with the traditional white light of a flash. I slowed down my shutter speed to allow the spinning of the ring of fire to show up in the exposure. A tripod is an absolute must for a session like this. I triggered my camera with a remote to eliminate any shake I might have caused by pressing the shutter manually. The spinning fire was exposed first, followed quickly by the flash to freeze his movements and so you can see who is doing the fire spinning. There were a few shots where the flash did not fire because I did not allow it enough time to fully recycle/recharge before the next shot. In those images, the flame is clearly visible, but his face is shrouded in darkness. I anticipated this effect, and like the effect it offers. I just wouldn't want an entire session shot this way.

Before we started shooting with fire (and before we lost daylight) I set the lights and adjusted the power on each unit to allow for the lighting effect that I wanted. I used a small strobe with a grid and orange filter above and behind where Joe would be standing. My second light was set inside my DIY strip light and placed to the right of my camera position. With the orange gel and the size of the light modifier, I had to push this flash up to full power. This also is what kept some of the shots from getting a full exposure. When the flash is set this bright, it takes longer for it to recycle. I also wanted to get the shutter speed right before we started playing with fire. Joe owns a double ended light saber replica, so we started spinning it and adjusting the shutter speed faster and slower to get different levels of light blur. We ended up in the range of 1/3 to 2/3 of a second. While that doesn't sound like its long enough, with the staff spinning it is long enough to create a full circle light blur.

Check out my favorites below including a bonus animation at the very bottom of the page: 

Bizzell Family Portraits

Family portraits can be difficult to get for anyone, but when you have a special needs adult child, it takes more preparation and careful timing. It has been years since this family have had a portrait including each family member. I was more than happy to come to them and photograph their family.

For this session I was able to set up in the basement. I prepared the backdrop and lights and brought in the dad and other children to be ready before the mom brought in the adult daughter. I stood at the far end of the room away from the family, and used my zoom lens to get up close. I started snapping away with my camera and it was about ten seconds before the daughter realized what was happening and started to shy away. She may only be in a few photos with her family, but that is an accomplishment we could only have hoped for going in to this session. Once the family photos were done, we continued to take individual portraits and combinations of the children and parents. I have added a few composites in the mix as well.

My favorites are included below: