Capturing fire

[JayT]

So we were all at my Brother-in-law's house enjoying a somewhat sizeable fire, and after I had run out of light to get all of the photos of the family, I decided to start shooting the bonfire. Here are a couple of of the pictures that I came out with.

What I am going for is getting the full vivid color of the coals and flame while trying to capture the flames as if they are frozen in time. On the first picture, I was pleased with how the flames came out, but in the second, I like the range of all of the colors of the flames, and the fact that nothing was overexposed.

Any hints on shooting what is basically direct light without blowing it out while balancing getting the full palette of the colors in the flame? I am a complete new guy at this, and am trying to get the technical aspects of photography down. I do not have a DSLR, but I do have a very nice Canon S5 IS that does afford me a lot of flexibility for shooting.

I know that I am essentially asking how to walk a tightrope while still learning to crawl, but I did like how some of my fire pictures came out. I took quite a few.

Pic #1:
F-stop: 4.5
Shutter length: 1/8
ISO: 400
Exposure bias:-0.7 step


Pic #2:
F-stop: 6.3
Shutter length:1/4
ISO:100
Exposure bias:-0.7 step

Be as harsh as you like. I would rather learn something than have my feelings not get hurt. Thanks for looking!