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My First Experience Photographing Fire Spinners

My First Experience Photographing Fire Spinners

My First Experience Photographing Fire Spinners

Apr 6, 2015 | Posted by Brian Beard | Stories | 0 comments |

I think there are some awesome things that can be done with light trails, whether from cars in traffic, steel wool spinning, or just plain-old fire twirlers. But I had no idea whether it would work with an iPhone, and I hadn’t seen any information about it (or hadn’t looked, either one). So when I found out there would be fire twirling at First Fridays in April (FF is a monthly art festival in Richmond), I knew I had to go.

Side note: I almost didn’t go at the last moment. I wasn’t feeling well, but Erin talked me into it anyway, and it was AWESOME. Just another notch in the belt of “you regret the things you don’t do more than the things you do.”

In addition to the fire spinners, there were acrobatic yoga displays, dancers, singers, cool music, and a ton of interesting people. Even if I hadn’t gotten any good photos it would have been a good night. But taking photos was what I went to do, and I had a couple apps on my phone ready for the occasion. Having forgotten to bring along my tripod (doh!), I staked out a spot where I could sit down on the curb and not bother the people behind me. This way, I could use the ground  to stabilize my phone, which only worked because I was planning to use a shutter speed of just a couple seconds at the most.

First was AvgNiteCam, which I’ve been using to simulate long exposure shots. It takes a bunch of photos in quick succession and blends them together. I fiddled with the settings a few times, but to be honest, I was underwhelmed. Because of the nature of the app, I think it works best for landscape long-exposure. In the case of the fire, you can see balls of light at each point that another image was created. Here’s what I mean:

Fire Spinners at First Fridays, Richmond
Fire Spinner, using the AvgNiteCam app.

So I switch to another app, called SlowShutter, which also aims to mimic long-exposure. There are some additional settings in this app – in addition to selecting the light sensitivity, you have to choose the shutter speed (length of time), and what SlowShutter calls Capture Mode. For most of my photos of the fire spinners I used Light Trail mode, and I ended up with the best results when I used a light sensitivity of 1/2 (nearly the max) and shutter speed of 1 second or less.

I was able to get some really cool shots! I wouldn’t had believed it myself, but the iPhone can take some great photos, even in a tricky situation like this one. Here are some of my favorites out of the 150+ photos I took that night.

Fire Spinners at First Friday, Richmond
Double-handed fire spinning
Fire Spinners at First Friday, Richmond
This guy was throwing the fire in the air!
Fire Spinners at First Friday, Richmond
Fire Spinner showing off at First Fridays
Fire Spinners at First Friday, Richmond
Dueling fire spinners!

Having seen how well light trails can work on my phone, I can’t wait to get out at night at try some other new things! Have you ever taken light trail photos with your phone? How did it go?

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Tags: fire spinnersfirst fridaysiphone photographyiphoneographylight trailslong exposure
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About Brian Beard

Brian is an aspiring entrepreneur, traveler, and athlete. He's a seasoned analyst with a passion for measuring everything and using data to understand the world. He's also an adventurer with passport stamps from 31 countries and counting. You can find him on twitter and instagram.

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Thanks for visiting! I'm Brian, and I'm on a mission to prove that your smartphone is the only camera you need. I have no photography background, and I've never owned an expensive DSLR. I simply enjoy taking the best photos I can with the device I carry with me everywhere - my phone! iPhone photography is only a hobby for me, but as I go, I'll share my stories and photos, along with any tricks I've learned. I hope you'll follow along and be inspired to take better smartphone photos yourself!

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Thanks for making it this far down the page! My name is Brian, and one of my favorite things to do is travel and take pictures wherever I go. I have no photography background, and simply enjoy taking the best photos I can on my smartphone. It's only a hobby for me, but as I go I'll share my stories and photos, along with any smartphone photography tricks I've learned. I hope you'll follow along and be inspired to do some traveling yourself!

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