Photgraphing Bonfires

[CindyChris]

I would very much appreciate suggestions and tips on photographing bonfires. I took several photos of a bonfire my son and his friends had in our backyard and the exposure is all wrong. I tried a few different settings but never achieved decent results. I wasn't going for any particular effect, just some nice looking photos. Most of the photos I took look like this example.

[sdjl]

Can you give us an indication of some of the settings you tried using?

[CindyChris]

Well, let's see....this one was set at ISO 200, 1 second exposure, f3.2. I was just moving settings up and down trying to change how much light I was letting in, etc. I tried using a flash but that didn't work. Cindy

[Saralonde]

The image is a little small, but I'm guessing from the appearance of the fire that you used a slow shutter speed. A faster shutter speed will give more definition and sharpness, if that is what you are looking to do. Since fire, like water, can move quite a bit, perhaps setting your camera on TV would help. If you are interested in a softer image, perhaps as a background to a silhouette of a person, a slow shutter speed might be good. It depends what works for the situation.

[Beaches]

I take alot of photos of fires and what I do is move in and get the fire, the sparks, the colors, etc.

When I figure out how to upload a photo, I'll show you.

I'm just learning my way around this site tonight.

Best Regards,
Beaches

[NaturesPixel]

in my low light book by Lee frost he uses...

camp flames : all @ F16
ISO100 2 sec, ISO400, 1/2sec, ISO1600 1/8sec

Person Lit by Camp fire flames... he suggests Aperture of F5.6
ISO 100 2sec, ISO400 1/2 sec, ISO1600 1/8sec

hope this helps.. he also says .. when using these exposures.. you can also Bracket at least 1 stop over or under

each situation will be slightly different.. and use a tripod

[ram1945]

This was just a quick shot. I was playing around with my Canon A430 and took this picture. Shooting information at:

http://www.flickr.com/photo_exif.gne?id=423926615

This shot isn't perfect but you can get the feel and correct camera setting on your own camera.
ram1945