How to photograph sparks - Part 3

For this picture I have used a separate flash unit to add some details to the man’s face. Compare this shot to the one shown in Part 2. That was taken without flash.

The technique I use is desperately simple. If the shutter speed is set to ‘bulb’, or is slow enough (perhaps 1/2second or less), there is no need to connect the flash to the camera by any means – cables or infra-red. You can even hold the flash in one hand, point it at your subject and fire it manually just before you close the shutter. So – open the shutter - fire the flash – close the shutter. This is the way Victorian photographers worked over 100 year ago when they used flash powder… yes, I know, I’m an old git. The technique works just as well today with your electronic flash and digital camera. But the makers of hi-tech gear will not thank me for telling you.

The flash has lit the man’s face. I set the flash to ‘manual’ mode and put it on half power. This was just about right, taking into consideration the flash to subject distance, the f11 aperture set on the camera, and the brightness of the sparks. Experiment with your own flash unit you get the results you want. You can play with your flash guide numbers if you have the patience, but, frankly, to me life is too short.

For the picture of the glass-modeller (left) I used two flash units - one from behind the sitter to separate his dark hair from the black background.

Whatever you do, do not use too much flash power. This will destroy the atmosphere. To be effective, most of the light should come from the sparks themselves.

Sometime I do connect the flash to the camera with an extension cable, radio, or infra-red device. Then I prefer to set a fixed shutter speed on the camera (not ‘bulb’ mode). I also set the flash synchronisation mode to ‘rear’. This fires the flash at the end of the fixed exposure, just before the shutter is closed. The reason for firing the flash at the end of the exposure is to avoid the subject’s movement (they often jump) as soon as the flash goes off.

TIP… It is vital that you brief your subject before you start. The subject’s head must be kept very still during the exposure.

TIP.. To find the ‘bulb’ setting is on your camera, set the camera to ‘M’ Manual exposure mode. Slow the shutter speed down as far as it will go. The ‘bulb’ setting is usually the next setting after 30-seconds.

How to photograph sparks - Part 2

Exposure for this picture was simple. I just fixed a cable release to the camera, put it on a good firm tripod, set the aperture to f11 and the shutter speed to ‘Bulb’. There’s no point in trying to take a correct light reading because when the sparks start to fly it will be irrelevant. I set ISO 100.

When my subject was ready and producing sparks, I just pressed the button for about 1sec. You will need slow shutter speeds of at least 1/2sec in order to capture the full trail line of a spark – not just the dot of the spark itself. If you use a faster shutter speed you will just capture a series of frozen dots or very short spark trails. This is not in the least effective. Of course, you could use fixed shutter speeds rather than using the ‘Bulb’ setting, it’s just that I prefer my way. I like to ‘gather’ the sparks as they fall and spread. Then close the shutter when I think I have gathered enough.

I set the ISO at 100 because it is not necessary to set a fast ISO when you are using slow exposures and the camera is on a tripod. Remember - the slower ISO the better the quality and sharpness of your image.

Why f11? Because experience tells me that at ISO 100 sparks from a welder’s torch are just about right at f11. For sparks from a disc cutter or grinder, f8 is often best because they are not so bright. Experiment for yourself and see which you prefer.

Unlike the picture in Part 1, there was absolutely no ambient light for this picture. The workshop was completely black This time there is no light on top of the man’s head – his face is lit solely by the glow of the cutting torch and the sparks. In this darkness I could have left the shutter open as long as I wished – provided the subject kept his head still.

TIP… your auto focus will probably not work with this type of subject. Turn it off and set the focus manually.

Next, in Part 3, I’ll explain the ‘bulb’ setting and tell you how to add some flash

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How to photograph sparks - Part 1

Is there some secret to photographing a wonderful cascade of sparks as an engineer grinds away metal with a disk cutter? Well maybe – but it’s a very simple one. It’s all about light – or more precisely the lack of it - that makes the difference between a picture capturing bright golden spark tracks, and a lack-lustre photograph with washed-out specks where the sparks should be.

Take a look at the main picture of the man producing the great shower of sparks that pour onto the workshop floor and spread out in all directions. You will notice that the background is almost completely dark. His face is lit by the glow of the sparks from below but there is some light on the top of his head. That’s because his workshop was not totally blacked out and has a glimmer of daylight coming down from a sky light above him. Had that light been brighter, it would have put more ambient light onto the background as well, and made the sparks less distinct and bright. As it is, that ambient light is just bright enough to pick out the top of his head while not spoiling the rest of the picture.

However, had there been even less ambient light, I would have been able to use an even longer shutter speed and gather more spark trails – but you must be careful not to ‘over-cook’ it with over-long exposures. In other words, if you leave the shutter open too long you will gather too many sparks and they you will lose the rich orange colours; the sparks will be washed-out. You will also lose the individual lines and patterns of each individual spark and they will become one big white mass.

Of course, with slow shutter speeds, it is essential to have your camera on a good, solid tripod.

Yes, the secret, if there is one, is to work, whenever possible, in almost total darkness.

TIP… Always have a small torch with you when working in very dark situations. It helps when changing your camera settings and when moving around a dark workshop.

Next, in Part 2… what shutter speed should you use for best results?

How to photograph night events. Part 3

This final shot was taken well after dark - when all the light had gone from the sky. Of course that needed a very slow shutter speed - 1/2sec. This meant I had to wait for a moment when the marching bands were actually standing still before pressing the shutter button.

The event ended with a fireworks display, and, of course I photographed that. The problem was that this display happened way over to my right - in another part of the sky. As my client wanted photographs that would promote the town in brochures and posters, this called for a little artistic license. I simply put the images together on the computer by using the layers and mask layer facility. In fact there are three pictures layered together here. One for each firework, and one for the street scene. I very carefully used the polygon lasso tool to select an area around the castle so that the images of the fireworks would appear to be in the sky some distance behind.

If you do this sort of composite picture of a public event, I feel it is important that you tell that client exactly what you have done.

The original shot of the street - without fireworks - is shown here on the right.

How to photograph night events. Part 2

It is sometimes possible to mix and match some of the three methods I mentioned in Part 1 with good results. For instance, you might use flash with a slow shutter speed. The duration of the flash is very short indeed and will freeze any action or movement. The slow shutter speed, however (maybe around 1/30sec or less), will cause the shutter to remain open long enough to capture some of the natural light. Any moving subject lit by this light will appear blurred. This creates a sort of double exposure – one for the flash and one for the available light. It is a technique that can prove highly effective and, if done properly, will inject a powerful sense of movement into the picture.

This was the first picture I took as darkness fell, the action really began. I upped the ISO to 400 and used flash for this picture. I set the shutter speed to 1/30sec and the aperture to f8. This combination has nicely balanced the flash with what little daylight remains in the sky. Had I used a faster shutter speed – say 1/125sec, the sky would have become almost black and the flash would have dominated. Notice how the reflective sign on the very left of the pictures has bounced the light of the flash back again. Beware of this if street signs are in your picture. This time it can be easily cropped off or cloned out.

A little bit of pre-planning can really pay dividends when covering a street event. You may have to decide between finding one good vantage point (see Part 1) from which you can photograph the entire event, or moving around the scene to shoot pictures of the action.

In the photograph on the right you can see that night has fallen. I have used a very slow shutter speed, 1/8sec with flash set to Rear Sync (sometimes called Rear Curtain). This fires the flash at the END of the exposure and creates trails behind any object in the image that moves while the shutter is open before the flash has fired. This can be an effective way of creating the sense of movement within your picture. Experiment - it's fun.


In Part 3: A little post-production work to create something special

How to photograph night events. Part 1

Outdoor events after dark, present one of the most challenging of assignments; and coping with the light – or lack of it – is at the top of the list of problems you'll face.

The photograph here is of the Kirkudbright Tattoo. A wonderful event of Scottish pipers, marching and music. The shot was planned some days before the event. I secured the use of an upstairs window overlooking the street where the action would take place. From this vantage point I could see everything that happened below and had the backdrop of the castle. The camera was mounted on a heavy tripod which extended out of the window. The ISO was pushed up to 800 and an exposure of 1/8sec at f4 was used. With such a slow shutter speed it was inevitable that there would be some movement in the marching pipers, but as they are marching almost directly towards the camera, this is hardly noticeable. The important aim was to capture the atmosphere and splendour of an outdoor night event in the street.

There are broadly three methods of dealing with the difficulties that low light levels present.

1
Put your camera on a tripod and use a slow shutter speed. You will not need to bother about using a fast ISO, and you will be free to use a smaller aperture with its greater depth of field to get more of the scene in focus. Good, you should have a sharp picture of the overall scene - the buildings and surroundings, and that slow ISO will give you fine quality. But hang on, that’s okay if nothing within the scene moves. If it does, your long exposure may render it as a blur.
2
Whack up the ISO as high as possible, maybe ISO 1600, and use the fastest possible shutter speed to freeze the action. Bearing in mind the low light conditions, you may also have to use a wide aperture to achieve this fast shutter speed, this means you will have less depth of field, and the image will be of poorer quality due to the faster ISO. It’s all a compromise, really. However, this method can achieve some wonderfully atmospheric pictures using what little natural light is available. It's a useful technique.

3
Use eletronic flash. This can freeze any action, but the downside is that it is likely to eradicate any atmosphere with its harsh, ‘press photo’ results… and remember - when shooting with flash outside at night any distant background may become totally black because the light of the flash will not carry that far.

In part 2… I'll show you how to combine some of these methods

Capturing action photographs

I’ve talked about how to shoot action with fast and slow shutter speeds, and demonstrated with two pictures of the horse trotting races. That evening, my group of students and I also spent time looking around the stables between races. This was all part of my plan to keep everyone ‘visually aware’. I did not want them to get fixated on one aspect of the event, but to explore their subject thoroughly.

I spotted the horse tethered to a short chain. He obviously wanted to see inside the stable door and kept stretching as far as possible. I wanted to see the top of his head because I thought it created such a beautiful and unusual angle. Especially as his mane dangled down and the combination of colours was so good. The horse's movements were very quick indeed – just snatches of action. They had to be anticipated, so the only place for the camera was firmly fixed to my eye.

That may sound obvious, but it is amazing how many photographers lower their cameras between shots and raise it again when they think the action is happening – don’t do it! The camera belongs to the eye. It is the only place if you want to capture instant action.

I waited several minutes for this picture, but feel I was well rewarded for my patience.

The light was fading, but I kept the ISO down to 200 for reasonable quality.
1/125sec f5.6