Fire Fan and Palm Torch Photography
In my last post, before I covered how to photograph fire breathers, I made several assumptions about your photography, some of which I will repeat here:
- You have access to a camera with manual settings.
- You know how to change those settings relatively quickly.
- You’re familiar with how Aperture, Shutter, and ISO interact with each other both with exposure and with each individual setting’s other effects.
- You’ve read other parts of this series on how to photograph fire performers.
- Your performer has a safety and you, yourself, are comfortable with being a safety if needed.
- You and everyone involved are clearheaded, sober, and have safety equipment and procedures in place.
- You have read through Section X and Section XI of my Terms and Conditions page. (You HAVE read it, right?…)
Ready? Good, let’s begin.
WARNING – DO NOT ATTEMPT
I shouldn’t have to say this, but here we are.
I am an experienced fire performer photographer. Photos taken with fire involved professional fire performers with proper fire safety training, equipment, and procedures in place.
The use of fire comes with inherent risks to life, limb, or property. Any action you take based on any information on this website is strictly at your own risk and I will not be held liable for any loss or damages you caused to yourself or others because you chose to use fire in any way.
TL; DR: Don’t be a bogan wook. Leave the siiiiiiiiick fire trails and fire plumes to the professionals and support them by cheering their performances in person!
In this post I am going to discuss primarily fire fans; however, things are also applicable to palm torches since they are functionally similar from a photography perspective.
Of all the fire props and flow toys out there, my favorite to photograph are fire fans for two simple reasons:
- Fire fans, more than any other prop, are an effective two-light source. A key-light and a rim-light, fill-light, or back-light.
- There is always a natural pause in movement at full extension just before a transition to another movement and, if you’re lucky, great expression.
Settings can vary, depending on what you’re going for. Can you get siiiiiiiiiiick textures in the flames? Sure, but often times at the expense of all that fantastic portrait lighting, by underexposing the performer. You can even get some fire trails with fans, with some siiiiiiiiiiick flames. If that is your goal, then be sure to have some softened speedlight flash ready and use 2nd curtain sync to help time the shot. I am always amazed at the ability of flash to freeze motion on long exposures, as long as your ambient light is dark enough.
Personally, I like to treat a fire fan performance as a candid portrait photography session with highly variable light placement. My focus will be to watch for, and expose for, those expressive moments so, for me, I want fast shutter speeds to freeze motion and apertures as wide as possible to force those faster shutter speeds with ISO around 800-2000 to help with skin exposure. Typically I’ll be around f1.8-f2.8, and shutter speeds ranging from 1/25″ to about 1/800″. For certain shots, I’ve pushed to 1/4000″ with a wide open aperture and ISO2000.
The challenges at those extreme apertures happen when wider apertures create an incredibly thin depth of field, and auto-focus getting easily fooled by the very bright shiny light source that can get between you and the face, a mere arm’s length behind it. If you can be positioned so that the fans are at a near right angle from you and the performer at full extension, the odds of such a thin depth of field becoming apparent are greatly minimized.
Because focus becomes so challenging at wider apertures, whatever features your camera has for auto-focus tracking and continuous auto-focus, etc, become crucial. Learn about backbutton auto-focus. Make use of those features as often as you can. Some would also suggest turning on Servo mode, or continuous shot mode. You know, that 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 – 20 frames per second your camera is capable of. As much as I hammer on the idea of using Manual exposure mode, you could try the “Sports” Scene mode, if your camera uses it, as a starting point.
Speaking of Manual mode, personally, I tend to use Single Shot auto-focus with the classic half-press of the shutter to engage and lock focus and Single Shot mode rather than focus-tracking auto-focus and Servo mode, because I prefer to maintain as much control over the shooting process as possible. It’s something I will continuously adjust while looking through the viewfinder, until I take the photo. For follow up photos, I won’t raise my finger all the way, in favor of keeping the half-press on the shutter button. This is not the way you’re normally taught to handle action shots.
Think of it as having an A, B, and C position on the shutter release button. A = Your shutter finger is lightly rested on the shutter button. B = You half-press on the shutter to engage and lock auto-focus. You’ll feel it. C = Push the shutter button all the way to take a photo.
Most people will only follow this finger sequence: A (Rest) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter release) -> A (Reset) before preparing to take the next shot.
Instead, try this finger sequence to improve shot to shot times: A (Rest) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter Release) -> B (Auto-focus) -> C (Shutter Release)
If you’re familiar with shooting a fire-arm, and riding the trigger’s reset between shots in order to increase shooting speed, you’ll find sequence this very familiar.
By altering your finger sequence, you can also improve your odds of nailing focus in single-shot focus mode, the way I do. Track the performer with the camera held to your dominant eye, while keeping both eyes open: A (Rest) -> B (focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) until you’re ready to shoot on -> C (Shutter) -> B (Focus stays locked) -> C (Shutter) -> B (Focus stays locked) -> things changed so then A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> A (Reset) -> B (Focus) -> C (Shutter), etc.
It takes a bit to get used to, but once you’re used to it, your auto-focus and shot to shot times improve all while you maintain as much control over your camera as possible.
Additional Photo Gallery
So, how do you photograph fire fans:
Make full use of the two-point lighting that fire fans or palm torches create.
If there is any light in the background, even better; you now have a three-point lighting system at your disposal.
Watch for natural pauses in movement.
This is your best chance to catch a performer in a pose at their most expressive. Those pauses also are less likely to be motion-blurred by the performer while your shutter speeds decrease due to dimmer flames over time.
Adjust camera settings as fuel burns off.
You ARE adjusting your shutter speeds to maintain exposure while the flames dim, right?..
Remember your depth of field.
Be wary of thinner and thinner depths of field as you push your apertures wider and wider.
Use auto focus effectively.
If your camera has subject tracking auto-focus, use it. If you have Ai Servo focus or something similar, use it.
Use servo mode.
Since you’re shooting fast action, make use of the fast frames per second that your camera is capable of.
Learn to use single-shot auto focus instinctively.
Really work to improve your use of Single Shot mode and Single Shot Auto-focus to improve your auto-focus and shot-to-shot times. It’s like learning where the trigger breaks and resets on a semi-automatic fire-arm to increase shooting speed.
Use a single focus point.
The center one. If you use any kind of auto-focus zone, set it to a small zone focus area, centered on the center focus point. It’s always the most sensitive one.
More Fire Performer Photography Tips
If you liked this blog post and want to learn how to photograph fire performers, I’ve been compiling my best fire performer photography tips for you to explore.
I hope you find them to be useful!
