Imitate Fire with a Flash

[Pichead]

I had a vision of myself standing outside, in the snow or rain with my coat on, lighting a cigarette. It was a shot I wanted to try for awhile but I was tired of waiting for the snow and/or rain so I set up my gear inside and did it this way:

Feisol-mounted D700 with Nikon 24-70 2.8 lens. I set the ISO to 200 to minimize noise, as I knew much of the photo was going to be black or very dark. I had my aperture set at f/11 in order to have sharpness throughout the photo and my shutter speed (after several test shots) turned out to be 1/50th of a second for optimal results.

I stood in the dark with a cigarette in my mouth and an SB-600 unit in my hands, turned down to 1/3rd power so as to not overpower my face. This needed to resemble a lighter so I covered the front of the SB unit with a 'Full-Cut' CTO gel which gave it the orange glow. Also in my hand was my remote trigger which fired the camera...

I'll eventually try this in the snow or rain but, for now, this will hold me over...

[princesswoo]

I love this shot.

I shall have to give it a try myself when i have worked my way through all my other projects on my to do list.

[FuriousE]

Very cool - and I'm with you, I think the snow and or rain would REALLY spice it up. As it is, though, great capture!

[zona5101]

Very nicely done, well thought out and executed.

[KagoGrl]

Very neat! What a great effect!!

[sk66]

Well done! It's actually very convincing and nicely exposed.

But I have to ask, why didn't you use an actual lighter? I assumed it was because snow rain meant wind and you had to do it indoors...bt then you used the flash.
I *think* the lighting will be much "harsher", and much less widespread, when using an actual lighter...it will have a "rougher" feel.
To closer simulate a lighter I would try "slitting" the flash.

[Glayva]

Brilliant shot. Very well done and perfectly exposed. Thanks for sharing

[PBW]

Very clever idea and great shot. I am new to photography and new to the site but constantly amazed how creative some people are on here.Good inspiration for me
Cheers
Pete

[MrBeta]

Very slick shot indeed.

[Pichead]

Originally Posted by sk66

Well done! It's actually very convincing and nicely exposed.

But I have to ask, why didn't you use an actual lighter? I assumed it was because snow rain meant wind and you had to do it indoors...bt then you used the flash.
I *think* the lighting will be much "harsher", and much less widespread, when using an actual lighter...it will have a "rougher" feel.
To closer simulate a lighter I would try "slitting" the flash.

I've played around quite a bit with actual lighter shots, but 1) I wanted to try and fake it as an experiment, and 2) the lighter is a lot harsher and, in most instances, won't light up my entire face and parts of my coat. During the conception phase of the shot, I was anticipating being outside in snow or rain and wanted to be sure I lit up more than just my mouth, for example. I guess I just carried that 'inside.'

Thanks.