This past Tuesday I left to a resort on vacation to the Dominican Republic, my family and I were sitting at an Asian restaurant and I decided to take my first picture of flames without knowing Gizmodo had a challenge going on since I had no internet access.
So I got home Sunday and looked at the Giz challenge and I happen to have taken this shot and immediately decided to submit it. Canon T2i 17-40mm at 40mm, IS0 200 F4 1/30.
-Ian De La Cruz
With a post on Facebook I discovered that a couple friends of mine were fire eaters and breathers. My girlfriend and I met with them after dark and started snapping. Tag teaming this was the best picture I shot. Taken with our D90 with the 50mm lens f/1.8 with an exposure of 1/60.
-Steven Unverzagt
We met Chip out in a field after discovering via Facebook that he and a friend of his were Fire-breathers when asking for help with this contest. After a few quick test shots we got serious with it. It was nearly impossible to pick which shot to send due to how many excellent ones I got. I really hope you guys can make an exception for the dimensions, this was the only way we could send this picture to you and feel good about it. We estimate that plume to be around 5-6 feet as Chip is a pretty tall guy.
Nikon D90
50mm lens
F-stop: 1.8
Exposure: 1/60 sec.
-Ashley Chavez
My Friend Nils and me, we had a funny day playing and testing with our camera gear. So we had the idea to shoot some Matches with a 105mm Macro Lens pimped with 7!!! Macrorings (another 150mm). Unfortunately it did not work that way we wanted. so we took 3 Rings off the camera and did burn another pack of matches :-) Here you can see the outcome.
Nikon D300 92mm Macrorings, SB 900 remotely triggered, 105 mm micro, F8, 1/13 shutter speed iso 200.
-Markus Enderlin
With this picture I wanted to accentuate the contour of a toy car by applying a wind tunnel-like method only with fire, to achieve this I used a simple lighter and sprayed it with an axe bottle, what made the fire extend. Special thanks to my girlfriend, who helped me!
Canon T2i
Shutter Speed 1/1000 sec
f /3.5
ISO 3200
18mm
-Diego Ramírez
I knew when this contest was announced I didn't want to just do a shot of a flame. It just so happened I had scheduled a photo shoot for a local model who isn't afraid to do anything, so after some brainstorming I decided to try a shoot using nothing but candles. That idea grew into 100 tea lights setup on a mirror (seen in the photo), then another mirror out of the frame to reflect the light back on her face. To get any kind of light from this I used the fastest lens I have (50mm f/1.4) on my Canon 60D. After battling the wind trying to blow out my candles, I was able to get a good glow on her face, but with that much of a zoom it was hard to get the flames in the picture. For the final photo, I actually stitched together 4 photos to create a sort of panoramic of the scene. Shot settings were f/1.4 & 1/40sec @ ISO 320.
-Tommy Byrd
First time submitting to the photo challenge, When I first read the challenge my mind was saying "lets make an epic fire somewhere and take PHOTOS!" but i didnt want to cause any forest fires so i ended up doing a little science project i remembered seeing on TV. All this was done in my kitchen on the STOVE! ( cause I didnt want to burn my house down :P) I laid down a sheet of glass that was on top of my bed room's cabinet and got some books to create the BG. I had some tea candles left so I took out the tea candles, use the holders and filled them up with methanol (bought at Home Depot), to create the Orange/Redish flame I added salt which had Magnesium Sulfate. The green flame was from Boric Acid and The Blue was from pure methanol. I had to use a couple regular candles to create the lighting for the background.
Camera : Nikon D80
Lens : Nikkor 18-105 f:3.5-5.6
ISO : 640
Shutter : 1/1.6
Aperture : f7.1
-Jack Yerabutar
Nursing Fire
I just read about this contest last Friday morning, the same day I was going out camping ... and what says fire better then camping! The shot is for some friends trying hard to keep it going :)
Nikon D5100
18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Nikkor Lens
Exposure Time : 1 sec
F 3.5
ISO 100
-Wissam Chedid
Nikon D5100 with Nikkor 18-55mm Lens
4 sec / f9 / ISO 200
Fire Ghost :
The guys were struggling to start the fire, and mostly only smoke was produced ... until it started happening in bursts, illuminating the plume of smoke ... or that's what we tried to make ourselves believe :)
-Laura Salim
This shot was taken at an outdoor patio area in a bar in San Diego. When I saw that the outdoor area, had this line of fire to keep things warm outside, I thought that it would make a great shot for this week's challenge. I decided to composed the shot to get the line of fire from the front of the picture disappearing to the back. From where I took the shot I could really feel the heat coming from the flames.
The was taken with a Canon 7D with a 24-105L lens. The settings on the camera were ISO 800, f/5.6, 1/25 sec.
-Robert Nakama
for this weeks shooting challenger I got excited because I am kind of a pyromaniac, like all guys. We also discovered our friend has a macro lens attachment for her 50mm canon lens. We put the 50mm Macro on her 5DMII and shot a lighter being ignited at 1/4,000 shutter. This picture is of the gas being ignited by the sparks from the flint on the lighter. On the bottom you can see the top of the wheel of the lighter, Canon 5DMII 50mm Macro F1.8 1/4,000 shutter ISO 650.
-Ian Yee
31 Candles
I used my iPhone4 with the Slow Shutter App. I found a flag on google and saved it as desktop image. I then lit one candle and placed it on a stool with a star design on the top. I started the frame and burned the flag in then placed my hand between the lens and the screen. I turned around and focused on the candle and removed my hand for a split second to burn the candle in and then slowly moved away from the candle and removed my hand for a split second 30 more times. I wanted it to look like 31 candles floating off into the distance. Slow Shutter was set to "Light Trail" Infinite Exposure 1/16th Sensitivity.
-Brad Bogle
There was a forest fire in Wyoming, close to where I am staying, so a friend and decided to go find a good place to shoot it. Here is a shot from the timelapse I did of the fire.
5D Mark II
24mm f/1.4L II
24mm @ ISO 1600, f/2.2
12-Second Exposure
-Eric Hines
I moved in recently to this town. Last month there was a spate of hillside fires. I thought of calling the authorities at first. On enquiring the locals I gathered it was controlled fires for a local festival called mayana-kollai (looting the graveyard) for the blessing of the dead, where they burn the hill tops. It was apt for this weeks contest. I wasted no time. This was taken from my terrace using my Nikon D7000, AF-S18-105mm f/3.5-5.6 VR Lens , 30sec, f/5.6, 98mm, ISO 100, 0 with VR-off . I have resized it with photoshop (not touched).
-Blessed Winston
-Katherine Castano
My sister, Laura, and I have been following the Shooting Challenge for a long time, and couldn't resist entering as participants when we saw the fire challenge come out last week! We had no idea what we'd get when we decided to capture the amazing fireballs that are the result of aerosol meeting lighter. We started with a can of yellow spray paint, but that mostly just turned the tip of the lighter yellow. After about 20 frustrating minutes of not being able to capture any flames, I dug around the garage and found some brake cleaner. The flame problem was solved :-)
This photo is completely raw and unedited.
Nikon D90
Kit lens 18-105mm
Manual mode, f/4, 1/4000
-Matt and Laura Pavlovich
Playing with Fire
"Time Palms" is an image I've been thinking about for awhile and the "Playing with Fire" challenge provided the perfect motivation to realize the piece. The "Timelight Picture Study" is the result of drawing and painting with light during a prolonged exposure. An armature was attached to the top of the pylons equipped with Spinning Fireworks to create the Palms. Highway Flares and Sparklers provided the additional lighting effects. The resulting image was then flipped to create the panorama and reflection. View is looking out across the Boston Harbor...
Camera: Nikon D 5000
35mm B setting
ISO 100
Light Sources: Fireworks, Highway Flares, and Sparklers
-Gary Stubelick
As I'm reading Tolkien's "The Hobbit" in anticipation of the coming film, this week's shooting challenge came out. It seems a little nerdy to take a picture that's dragon themed, but after reading about Smaug for several nights in a row I just couldn't resist. The small dragon toy is submerged in rubbing alcohol, which is then set on fire. I wanted something that was true to this week's challenge, but also something more than campfires or candles. Nerdy or not, there's something compelling to pass up about the dreaded dragon Smaug.
Canon 550D
ISO 200
-1.67 ev
f/3.5
1/10 second
EF 50 mm f/1.4
-Matthew Ragan
Had a little backyard campfire with my fiance to enjoy the summer evening instead of spending the night watching TV. We had a few drinks and spent most of the time playing around taking pictures of the fire. This was our favorite picture because of the texture of the wood burning and changing into ash and the little streaks of flying embers. This is my first submission into a photo contest and it was shot with a Nikon P500 with settings at ISO-3200 f/8 and 1/100.
-Joey Henderson
Technique I used for this shot is simple. Dark environment, long exposure and moving light source. I was experimenting with this technique for a while and this challenge was a first good chance to actually make something out of it. Electric guitar and a zippo lighter are the main stars of this picture. I took a couple dozens of shots, chose the first one (of course...), threw some color correction on top and that's that.
Equipment: Canon 550d, canon 50mm f1.4, tripod
Settings: ISO 100, f2.8, 3s
-Karolis Kveselis
The Mermaid
After seeing this challenge, I instantly knew what I needed to light on fire. Lighter Cubes that I use as fire starters for my grill. I was excited to use my newly acquired all manual Russian lens. Industar 61LZ Macro. (It's an M42 mount but i just picked up a converter) In the middle of my day, I stacked 3 of them outside in the driveway and light them up. I decided that everyone would shoot fire in profile, so I shot it from above. I really love the shapes fire makes from above.
Canon t1i
Industar 61LZ macro. (all manual baby)
1/640 shutter speed
ISO-100
F2.8
-Nikita Ostrovsky
When I saw the idea of fire for the next photo challenge the first thing that popped into my head was the torches from Minecraft. I recently bought the game and ended up playing it for three days straight. I only stopped for fear of blood clots.
I made most of the blocks from papercraft patterns I found online. I had to make the torch paper model by hand in photoshop, making sure to give each pixel the right color by color sampling from screenshots. I also had a hard time making sure that the torch was proportional to the blocks, and I couldn't get quite the right angle.
I inserted a birthday candle into the paper torch and lit it up. I was able to take 4 photographs before the blocks burst into flames. This shot is the first one. The only editing done to this photo was an automatic adjustment to the white balance in adobe camera raw, and then resizing in photoshop.
Even though this photo contains things from Minecraft, I figure it is still within your contest rules because I actually got the block patterns from a third party site and Minecraft really only seems concerned with people stealing the software, not using Minecraft textures to make fun photos.
Pentax K20D
f/4.5
1/10 sec.
400 ISO
58mm Lens/87mm equivalent
-Jon Crooks
A very simple match shot.
Canon T2i, 100mm, f/4
-Diego Jimenez
I have a Square Vase... so what I did was fill it with water inserted a Wick and froze it. then when it was frozen, I took a heating iron and melted a cavity around the wick, which I filled with melted candle wax... waited till dark and took 40 shots at various Tv's and this is what I came up with. It was shot with a Canon 60D, on a Manfrotto Tri-Pod with a 50mm Sigma 1:2.8 DG Macro...The Av was f:8 @ 1/500 sec. the ISO was 640, with a –1.3 Step. What I would have rather done was Burn something Really Really Big...But I live in a smallish town and they sort of frown on that sort of thing...
-Charlie Carroll
Every summer on visits to my wife's parents we seem to make some gigantic bonfires. This was a little one, but still put off some heat. A few years back the fire department dropped by to check out one of our masterpieces. We always keep them under control with water hoses ready. Shot with a Nikon Coolpix P7000, f/2.8, ISO400. I forget the shutter speed, but somewhere around 1-2 seconds.
-Weldon Sams
This was taken with my Nikon D60 with a Tamron 18-270mm lens. ISO 400, shutter 1/15 sec. I was out with some friends roasting some marshmallows and I couldn't resist taking some shots of the campfire. This one caught my eye with the fire flickering and the hint of the blue flames by the wood. The shots turned out great, but the same couldn't be said for the marshmallows...
-Trey Mortensen
A simple, untouched candle shot after a night working on this challenge with my girlfriend and her camera. I personally like the reflection on the wax. Thankfully the wind died for the moment to allow for it.
F9 1/40" 400 ISO
-Zac Wallace
This is a picture of tealights floating on the pool. I like how this one came out (how they arranged themselves).
1/30" at F4.5 and ISO 400
-Liz Fleming
This past weekend our family and my brother's family went camping. I took a few shots of the campfire at various times during the weekend (during the day, at dusk, at night) but nothing really stood out. At one of the noon lunches, we made pizza pies in these camping pie irons. I thought the orange glow of the fire stood out against the soot-black of the irons and grate for a nice contrast. The pizzas turned out wonderful.
Camera – Canon T2i
Lens – Tokina 12-24mm F/4 Pro II
Settings – Camera set in "P" Mode, ISO400, 17mm focal length, hand-held. Camera set on auto exposure, auto white balance, and auto aperture.
-Shane Zeppelin
Last week a friend of mine showed me a neat trick that involves heating and compressing the remaining alcohol fumes from a liquor bottle. I knew I wanted to try to capture that on capera for this week's shooting challenge. I used an old empty bottle of wine that I had lying around and fueled the flames with Jack Daniel's vapors.
Canon 10D. Shutter speed 0"3 f/6.7 iso 1600
-Will Aisenberg
This is my first submission. Picture taken with a Panasonic Lumix. Just thought the flame created a beautiful design.
-Valerie Carrasquillo
My wife and I really think we have a chance here with this weeks contest (we really enjoy photographing fire!) so here goes ;)
The weather this weekend really couldn't have been any better. We took a short drive to my parents house in order to borrow their back yard fire pit and started experimenting as soon as the sun went down. We tried almost 100 shots of regular old fire in a variety of ways but felt that we were chasing something that had been done a million times just as well or better.
So, we decided to try our "secret weapon". We had purchased a package of "funky flames" the day before just in case we couldn't come up with anything spectacular. After stoking the fire and getting the flames high, my wife dropped the package of "funky flames" crystals into the fire and "stirred the pot", so to speak, with a stick. I set the camera to burst mode and just let the shutter run until the flames stopped changing colours. The best result (after a Facebook and family/friends poll), is what you see here.
We chose this particular image because, as a friend pointed out to us, if you look JUST hard enough you can see a dragon (made of fire) rising from the pit. All the other images were pretty spectacular as well, but this just "felt right".
After playing with the contest and the fire had died down, we noticed that the Aurora Borealis (or as we northerns call them, the "northern lights" lol) were out in the sky in force and proved to be willing subjects as well! All in all, not a bad night!
Shot with a Canon T2i with an EF50mm f/1.4 lens at 1/1500sec, f/2.0, ISO800 on a Manfroto tripod. Absolutely NO corrections or edits have been made to this photo and we're pretty proud of that ;)
-Aaron and Jen Judt
I was visiting family in Oklahoma when this contest was announced, so arranging an outdoor fire or camping setting was DEFINITELY out of the question (not to mention currently banned!). I figured my last hope was my trusty gas stove at home, and here is the result. I love the blue flames that it produced! Shot on a DMC-LX5, 24mm Leica lens, ISO 200, F2.0, and a 2 second shutter speed.
-Chris Wildt
Although I am known as the pyro of the family I was not planning on being around any fire this weekend. To my excitement we had a bonfire at my in-laws and I instantly thought of this challenge! I was only equipped with my iPhone 4 but we made the best of it. I tried taking regular pictures of the fire but was not getting anything I felt was special especially in low light. I thought then to take a stick that had only its end in the fire and had my father-in-law try drawing a smiley face that would show the light trail with aid of a slow shutter app. After a few takes I was happy with the result!
-Jared Grayden
Shot with Nikon d40x on a family vacation to Newport!
-Chris Petruccio