Beach Bonfire Photo Shots (Night)

[Kwak]

Hi ya'll,

I'm seeking your expertise on how to shoot certain shots.
Planning on shooting lots of photos at the beach bonfire, which will take place at night.

There will be a bonfire and two lanterns. I will be using a Canon Powershot S50 digital camera.
Would like to know what is the recommended setting to shoot night shots to get printable photo shots...


Thanks in advance. Please ask question if I didn't provide much details. Take care!

[Axle]

Full manual. You'll need a tripod. The results should be stunning having the people lit by nothing but the fire.

I've only shot one camp fire before and was very pleased with the result, I was also using a SRT 102 a 35mm manual SLR with a 50mm f/1.7 lens. The trick I did was using colour film (Kodak HD ISO 400).

I setup my camera on a tripod and attached a cable release. First shot was at f/1.7 and a four second exposure using the blub setting. I reset the shutter without advancing the film, and did a double exposure, shooting a f/1.7 at 1/60 over top the first one.

[another view]

With a dark sky and no other lights than the fire and lanterns, there will be too much contrast to have detail in everything. This is one of those situations where you will have to pick what's most important and expose for that. For example, spot metering off of someone's face and setting your exposure at one stop over the reading should work pretty well. Of course, you would have to have a camera with a spot meter and full manual control to do that. The other option would be just to try different settings and see what you get. That camera may have a night scene setting which will give you a little flash with it - this might work well too although it's a different look.

[photophorous]

I've tried this a few times, but I can't say I've perfected it. AV is right about the contrast though. If it's totally dark, and you want the fire to look nice (not blown out), anything lit by the fire will most likely be too dark. If you expose for what is lit by the fire (people's faces), the fire itself will be a white blob.

You can compromise and expose somewhere in the middle, and it might work out. If your camera has exposure compensation, try increasing the exposure to get the surroundings lit better. Try different levels of compensation to see what works best.

If you use the night portrait mode you can get a flash on the surroundings and the fire may still look good.

Or, take the shots when it is still somewhat light outside. This is probably your best bet, if possible.

Use a tripod no matter how you do it and a timer so you don't shake the camera pushing the shutter button.

Hope this helps.

Paul

[photophorous]

Full manual. You'll need a tripod. The results should be stunning having the people lit by nothing but the fire.

I've only shot one camp fire before and was very pleased with the result, I was also using a SRT 102 a 35mm manual SLR with a 50mm f/1.7 lens. The trick I did was using colour film (Kodak HD ISO 400).

I setup my camera on a tripod and attached a cable release. First shot was at f/1.7 and a four second exposure using the blub setting. I reset the shutter without advancing the film, and did a double exposure, shooting a f/1.7 at 1/60 over top the first one.

Hi Axle,

I'm just curious. Can you explain what effect you get from doing a double exposure, as you explained? Does the 1/60 exposure just add the sharpness to the flames? Your picture looks nice.

Thanks,
Paul

[Chunk]

Here are some 1/4 sec. spark trails taken when someone was poking the fire with a stick. I was wishing for an off camera flash to get a little light onto the folks around the fire.

[another view]

Can you explain what effect you get from doing a double exposure, as you explained? Does the 1/60 exposure just add the sharpness to the flames?

I'll take a stab at it, and it is well done. The 1/60 exposure will add some sharpness and definition to the flames, as well as keeping the red color. The long exposure used with it would make the fire into a light colored blob, but it brings up the exposure into the background.

[Axle]

I'll take a stab at it, and it is well done. The 1/60 exposure will add some sharpness and definition to the flames, as well as keeping the red color. The long exposure used with it would make the fire into a light colored blob, but it brings up the exposure into the background.

^^ what he said.

[Ronnoco]

I would cheat, so-to-speak. Put a small Smith Victor light on the ground hidden behind the fire and directed toward the campers. At a camp site there would be electricity from the trailer or I would use an inverter from the car battery. That would give me a higher shutter speed and perhaps not require the tripod at all. If I was shooting film, I would use a filter to warm up the light from the auxiliary unit or in digital either the white balance control or one of the built in colour filters.

Good luck!

Ronnoco

[Ronnoco]

Here are some 1/4 sec. spark trails taken when someone was poking the fire with a stick. I was wishing for an off camera flash to get a little light onto the folks around the fire.

If you are shooting digital, consider the Vivitar DF200 slave On a low tripod you could flash through the fire (fractional output) at the folks around it. Inexpensive for a digital flash.

Ronnoco